Eight structures may make history

The Mayor's Office has nominated eight local structures - the City Cemetery, the City Reservoir, Fort Negley, Lindsley Hall, the Omohundro Water System, the Shelby Street Bridge, Sunnyside at Sevier Park and the Trolley Barns - as historic landmark districts.

Historical Commission spokesman Tim Walker said the commission will meet Aug. 18 to approve the sites and adopt design guidelines.

"It's the Mayor's Office who is requesting that they become historic landmark districts," Walker said. After the Historical Commission approves the sites, the Planning Department and the Metro Council will review the proposals.

Nominations of the eight structures follows the recent landmark designations of four local schools - Hume Fogg Magnet, 700 Broadway; Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet, 613 17th Ave. North; East Literature Magnet, 112 Gallatin Ave.; and West End Middle, 3529 West End Ave., plus the King Buell House, 3210 Avenal Ave.

The eight city-owned structures the Mayor's Office nominated for the historic landmark districts are already listed on the national register, Walker said.

However, the national register protects historic structures only from federal, not from local development.

The Old City Cemetery on Fourth Avenue South opened in 1822 and more than 22,000 people including Nashville founder James Robertson and his family are buried there.

Metro Water Services oversees the City Reservoir, located on Eighth Avenue South. It was built between 1887 and 1889 and is an elliptical masonry structure with a holding capacity of more than 51 million gallons in two sections.

Nashvillians can soon enjoy access again to Fort Negley, which was closed for more than 60 years in need of renovation. Fort Negley is on top of St. Cloud Hill off Chestnut Street and was a Union army fort.

Lindsley Hall off Second Avenue South currently houses the Metro Planning Commission. The 1853 Collegiate Gothic Revival style structure is the only surviving building from the University of Nashville.

The Omohundro Water Filtration Complex was started in 1888 and was the first step in a plan to improve Nashville's waterworks system. The complex consists of an intake device in the Cumberland River and brick buildings along the shore, which pump and temporarily store the water. It is still in use.

The recently refurbished Shelby Street Bridge was built as the Sparkman Street Bridge from 1907-1909 with Howard Jones as the designer and construction supervisor.

Sunnyside at Sevier Park is a Greek Revival house built by Mary Childress Benton in 1852 and named for its open and bright location. Sunnyside is now home to the Metro Historical Commission and the Historic Zoning Commission.

The Trolley Barns on Rolling Mill Hill off Hermitage Avenue were built in the 1930s as part of the New Deal public works building projects of the Depression era.