Building Tour Series: Metro Historic Commission

AIA Middle Tennessee

AIA Middle Tennessee Building Tour Series: Metro Historic Commission

Sevier Park

Join us for a tour of Metro Historic Commission/ Sunnyside Mansion Renovation, hosted by the AIA Middle TN Emerging Professional and Government Relations committees.Equal parts architecture, archeology, forensic study, and engineering, the Sevier Park/Sunnyside Mansion project has taken on many forms since Metro first sought to renovate the historic structures in 2017. The history of the property spans back to the Revolutionary War, when Thomas Harriman was gifted 640 acres of land for his service. Passing through several hands, Mary Benton eventually came to purchase 38 acres of the property with an existing log cabin. In today’s renovations, the log cabin is being preserved and framed around, with areas of its walls exposed, revealing the layered history of the property. Mrs. Benton lived in the log cabin throughout the construction of the mansion, a brick vernacular interpretation of popular antebellum architectural styles, featuring Italianate decorative brackets, a central porch, two story columns, and the symmetrical layout of the Greek Revival era. The log cabin was incorporated into the construction of the Ell, a traditional frame building behind the mansion with two rooms downstairs and two rooms upstairs, each on either side of a central hall. Mary Douglass, the niece of Mrs. Benton, named the home Sunnyside after its bright and open hillside location. The property continued to change hands until on December 15, 1864 Sunnyside became part of the front line between the Union and Confederate forces. To this day, the porch door and columns bear artillery scars. The mansion became a makeshift hospital for wounded Union soldiers and was not used as a residence until the war’s end. In the 1880’s, Dr. L.G. Noel modernized the mansion with the introduction of indoor plumbing and a telephone line. In 1927, General Granville Sevier—the son of Mary Douglass—purchased the property and brought his mother back to her childhood home. Sevier added the brick wings, expanded the basement (some believe as a prohibition-era speakeasy), and built the stone office building. After his death in 1945, the city of Nashville purchased the property and opened Sevier Park in 1948. The family of the parks Department Superintendent lived in Sunnyside until 1987. Sunnyside now houses the Metro Historic Commission and Historic Zoning Commission. The current design under construction reconnects Sunnyside with the Ell, preserving the mansion and rebuilding much of the Ell around the original log cabin. The project seeks to provide a more comfortable working environment for the Metro employees while also providing a place for the community to visit and engage with the storied history of this property.

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Building Tour Series: Metro Historic Commission

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Building Tour Series: Metro Historic Commission

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