Ben West Library

Stand at the corner of Union and Polk and look to the right of the current Mid-Century Modern building in front of you. Do you see old pieces of stone on the ground that look like ruins? Those are remnants of columns of the original Carnegie Library—Nashville’s first circulating public library. Look closely and you’ll even see 1904 inscribed on one of the blocks—this was the cornerstone of the building’s foundation. In 1901, steel mogul and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie offered $100,000 for a new library building if the city government would appropriate $10,000 a year for its maintenance. The city razed the library in 1963 to make way for a new building. All that remains are the columns and cornerstone you see today. Check out the images above to see what the Carnegie Library looked like.

The current building operated as the Ben West Library from 1966 to 2001. The library was named for the city’s mayor, Ben West, who served from 1951-1963. For more on Mayor West, check out our Civil Rights Sit-Ins tour. This structure served as the center of Metro Nashville’s library operations from 1963 to 2001, when the new building on Church Street was completed. Most people don’t know that the Ben West Library was also home to Nashville’s local public radio station WPLN, which launched at the Richland Park branch in 1962 and moved here in 1966. As both a library and broadcast studio, this building has been critical in the education of Nashville’s public for over fifty years.

When the building was purchased by HASTINGS Architecture in 2017 for $4 million, they hoped to restore it and sell it. But in an ironic turn of events, Hastings Architecture ended up renovating and moving their firm to this former library. According to Josephine Minutillo of Architectural Record, “The 20-foot-high, daylight-filled main level is now a soaring studio space, its ceiling exposed and streaked with long LED lights, diagonally positioned to mimic the arrangement of the original book stacks.” In addition, the main staircase and floors were saved and restored. For more on this building take our Capitol and Church Architecture tour.

Fun facts: The first library operated out of the YWCA and to check out a book, patrons had to pay $2 for a “reader’s card.” The card fee was discontinued in 1950, the same year that the library system desegregated. 

Look across the street at the open area next to Watauga Apartments. This is the former site of Polk Place, the home of Pres. James K. Polk. Click “Next Stop” and press play or read along.