Union Station

What do Al Capone and Nashville’s Union Station have in common? On May 4, 1932, Capone was escorted through the station as he was transported to the Atlanta Penitentiary before his ultimate destination—the federal prison on Alcatraz Island. Completed in 1900, the Nashville Union Station is an example of late-Victorian Romanesque Revival architecture and is highly castellated. The architect, Richard Montfort, was influenced by Henry Richardson, a prominent American architect who made the Richardsonian Romanesque style so popular. The building, constructed of Bowling Green gray stone and Tennessee marble, has a central interior arcade and features skylights. The tower is topped by a bronze statue of the Roman god Mercury.

Union Station is the former railroad terminal that served passenger operations for the eight railroads that provided service in Nashville. The most well-known train company was the Nashville, Chattanooga, St. Louis Railway. Train service was discontinued to the station in 1979, and the building sat empty until Metro government acquired it in 1985. Soon after, the city leased it to developers, who renovated and reopened it as a luxury hotel. Step inside the lobby to see many original interior details. Unfortunately, the train shed on the south side of the building was demolished in 2001 after major damage from a fire in 1996. This shed, which had an open clear-span width of 200 feet, was an engineering feat for its time as it was the longest single-span gabled roof structure in the United States. It covered ten trains and their platforms for over a century.

Of particular note is the clock tower. Today you’ll see an analog face, but when the station opened in 1900, it had a mechanical digital face, one of the first in the country. Union Station was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1969.

When you leave Union Station, turn RIGHT. You should be able to see the US Post Office, as it shares a parking lot with the Union Station. The Post Office is connected and beneath the Frist Art Museum, which faces Broadway.