Ryman Auditorium

Built as a religious venue, the building was commissioned by steamboat captain Thomas Ryman after he had a powerful religious conversion experience while attending an 1885 revival of the famed preacher Sam Jones. Construction took seven years and cost roughly $100,000, which equals nearly $3 million dollars today. Gaze up at the building from Fifth Avenue to see the original engraving at the top of the building that reads: Union Gospel Tabernacle, 1891.

Architect Hugh Cathcart Thompson designed the building, which features a gabled roof, a gabled front entrance, and Gothic lancet windows in the Victorian Gothic style. The balcony, originally known as the Confederate Gallery, was built in 1897 through a donation from the United Confederate Veterans. The new gallery doubled the seating capacity, making the Ryman the largest auditorium in the South. The first stage was built in 1901 to accommodate a performance of the Metropolitan Opera. Lula C. Naff, the Ryman’s manager, booked the country’s best speakers and talent for the venue including John Philip Sousa’s band, Helen Keller and her teacher Anne Sullivan, Enrico Caruso, Booker T. Washington, Susan B. Anthony, Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and William Taft, Charlie Chaplin, Harry Houdini, Will Rogers, Katherine Hepburn, Mae West, W. C. Fields, Louis Armstrong, and Bob Hope, among countless others.

From 1943 to 1974 the Grand Ole Opry broadcast its live shows at the Ryman and called it home. This period gave the Ryman its reputation as the “Mother Church of Country Music.” After the Opry moved to a new venue off Briley Parkway, the auditorium was shuttered. When the owner announced plans to demolish the building, both local and national public outcry helped to save the Ryman. After new ownership in 1983, renovations began in 1989. Major changes included an addition to the back of the building and the entrance was moved from Fifth to Fourth Avenue North. In 1994, Ryman Auditorium reopened as a premier music venue and historic museum. The building was designated a National Historic Landmark in 2001, one of only six in Music City. The Grand Ole Opry returns to the Ryman for performances for three months each year.

Once you have viewed Ryman Auditorium, return to the Fourth Avenue visitor entrance by way of the Ryman Alley on the building’s south side, turn RIGHT on Fourth Avenue and then turn RIGHT on Broadway. You are now in the heart of the Broadway National Register District, where several historic music venues opened that built on the Grand Ole Opry’s music tradition. Continue on Broadway, away from the Cumberland River. You will reach Fifth Avenue, opposite of Bridgestone arena. You have arrived now at your next destination—the Broadway Historic District and Fifth Avenue Residences.