House of David

House of David owner David Briggs told the Tennessean in 2016, “[A] tracking room inside the house has an inconspicuous floor panel that opens to a stairway connected to the basement garage so Elvis could enter from the alley on 16th Avenue South without being mobbed by fans.” Though he passed away before he could use the secret passage, this is but one of many features that makes the House of David studio such a Music Row treasure. 

This studio is actually two houses combined. The first is a 1913 brick Colonial Revival foursquare at 1205 Sixteenth Avenue South and the second is a 1909 Colonial Revival style bungalow at 1207 Sixteenth Avenue South. The 1913 building was originally owned by landscape architect George Moulder, while Edward Dakin, editor of the Nashville Banner newspaper, owned the 1909 building. Both buildings were purchased for $20,000 by musician David Briggs in 1972 and then repurposed into recording studios in 1978. The first client to record in this studio was Joe Cocker in 1982. 

David Briggs is also a music legend. He caught the eye of Owen Bradley who signed him to a record deal, and as a pianist he has accompanied everyone from Charley Pride to Loretta Lynn to Elvis Presley. He co-owned Music Row’s iconic Quadraphonic Studio in the 1970s, which actually led him to purchase these two properties. In an interview with the Tennessean, Briggs said, “Quad got so successful at the time that I couldn’t get in. . . so I built this to have a place to go. . . And I’d come here to write . . . with artists, [as] more of a creative place because Quad had become a commercial monster.”

Named in 2016 to the National Register of Historic Places, the House of David now has some federal protection to prevent redevelopment. But it also remains a premier place to record music right here in Nashville. According to current management at the House of David, “Our 4,000 sq ft studio located on Music Row features three different tracking rooms. The vintage API console and Burl converters will amaze your soul. The studio is set up for full band tracking; not too many studios are left where you can actually play together as a band.”

Continue heading north on Sixteenth Avenue South and cross Edgehill Avenue. After about a block, you’ll see Landmark Community Bank on your left.