Historic Nashville is now accepting nominations for the 2024 Nashville Nine, our annual list of neglected and endangered historic properties, including landmarks, bridges, signs, and neighborhoods in Nashville and Davidson County. We also recently put together a map of past Nashville Nine properties, and you’ll see they range far and wide!
The deadline to nominate a property for this year’s list is September 15. We will announce the list later this fall.
The Nashville Nine program gives Historic Nashville members, as well as citizens of Davidson County and surrounding areas, the opportunity to prioritize historic places in Nashville currently in danger of being lost. It has been one of the organization’s most effective tools for saving places unique to our city.
We continue to see the successful results of these efforts. The Henry Allen and Georgia Bradford Boyd House at 1601 Meharry Boulevard on the Fisk University campus (seen below in 2020 and today), was a 2020 Nashville Nine property. The National Register-listed home of this influential African American family who did so much for our city’s business, educational, social, and civic pursuits had fallen into disrepair and its future was uncertain.
Public attention to this issue and fundraising by Fisk, the community, and Boyd descendents resulted in a $1.4 million transformation of the space into administrative space for the university that preserves and shares the Boyds’ legacy for generations to come. You can read more about the remarkable Boyd family, the campaign to save the Boyd House, and the restoration at these links:
- The Boyd House fundraising site (2020)
- Deadline looms to save historic Nashville home of prominent Black family (WPLN, 2021)
- Preservationists see the Boyd House as an example of how to protect Nashville’s history (Nashville Scene, 2021)
- Renovation gives Fisk’s historic Boyd House new life (Nashville Post, 2023)
- The Boyd House restoration profile (2023)
If you know of a historic property in need of preservation, or one that is threatened by sale or development, please let us know. This advocacy campaign is vital to preserving the history and vitality of Nashville and is essential to the community. Past preservation successes include “unmistakably Nashville” landmarks such as the Ryman Auditorium, Union Station, and the Hermitage Hotel.
For more information and to nominate a historic property, visit the HNI website at historicnashvilleinc.org/
Remember, the deadline for nominations is September 15.
