Estes Kefauver Federal Building

Designed by the Nashville firm of Marr and Holman, under the direction of the U.S. General Services Administration and architect David Allan Thorn, the Federal Office Building’s construction was completed in 1952. The first floor is clad in dark-mahogany polished granite, and the upper floors are clad in buff-colored, shot-sawn limestone. This streamlined and minimally adorned style was very popular for federal buildings at the time, and as there was a greater demand for federal space after World War II, the GSA constructed buildings with cost effectiveness in mind. In 1974, a nine-story annex was added to the building on the south side that is connected by a recessed hyphen.

In 1970, the building was renamed the Estes Kefauver Federal Building and Courthouse in honor of Tennessee Senator Estes Kefauver, who served in the US House of Representatives from 1939 to 1949, and as a Senator from 1949 until his death in 1963. Kefauver ran as the Democratic Vice-Presidential nominee with Adlai Stevenson, losing to Dwight Eisenhower and Richard Nixon in the presidential election of 1956.

Also on this site, marked with a historic marker, the Nashville Centennial Exposition took place here in the spring of 1880. The expo celebrated a century of progress since the days of Fort Nashborough in 1780. There were parades, exhibits, theatrical performances, dances, and music. The local newspaper paper reported that the expo featured the “grandest display of fireworks ever seen in Nashville.”

Continue down Broadway to reach the Customs House on your right. You will pass by two plaques, one notes the life of Captain John Gordon and the other describes the South Field, within the Customs House grounds. As you cross Eighth Ave. South, look to your right to see First Lutheran Church Nashville, which is on the Old Time Religion Tour.