Frist Art Museum

As you turn away from Union Station, you will notice the Frist Art Museum that sits just above the low-lying Gulch area. Upon its completion in 1934, it became the main postal distribution center for Nashville. Its location near Union Stationwas convenient for mail distribution, since most mail in the 1930s was transported by train. With a design inspired by the local architecture firm Marr & Holman, the building’s façade is made with white Georgia marble and gray-pink Minnesota granite. As the nation endured the hardships of the Great Depression, architects sought to design buildings thatrepresented and reinforced values of stability, order, and strength. While the outside of the building follows a classical style, the interior is all Art Deco—a popular architectural style in the 1920s and 1930s. 

A new main postal distribution center was built in 1986, which reduced the downtown facility’s functionality to only one floor in the three-story structure. In 1998, the call for a major visual arts facility was heard, and Metro Nashville purchased the building from the federal government for $4.4 million. The city contributed $15 million toward renovation of the building, and the Frist Foundation and Frist family contributed $25 million for the renovation and began an endowment for the museum. The 24,000 square foot art museum opened in April 2001 and features artists from across the nation, as well as major U.S. and international exhibitions. If you go inside to visit, check out the many remnants of the old post office as you gaze from floor to wall to ceiling in this amazing space. And if you need to mail a letter, well there is still a U.S. Post Office on the lower level of the Frist Art Museum.

To learn more about the building’s history, you can attend the Museum’s Architecture Tour, offered on the first Saturday of every month at 4:30 pm.

Continue on Tenth Avenue South, walking away from Broadway and the Frist Art Museum. Once you reach Demonbreun Street, cross to the far side of the street and turn RIGHT. As you continue down Demonbreun Street, you will notice that you are walking over the railroad tracks and the site of the former train shed.  The entrance to the Gulch will be on your left, marked with a sign on the right side of the Gulch Crossing building. Behind the sign, take the stairs leading you down to the Gulch. As you walk down the stairs, you will see two large murals on your right, marking your next stop.