Tennessee Real Estate

Tennessee is home to many great buildings. It makes sense given the numerous famous cities located on this southern real estate. Knoxville, Memphis, and of course Nashville all contribute to the persona that is Tennessee. Whether the architecture is incredible old, circa 1850, or still a newborn on the real estate scene, there are fantastic structures worth visiting during a tourist trip of the Volunteer State.

            We know Tennessee is one of the country music capitals of the country so what better place to learn about Tennessee real estate than in Nashville. Besides being known for the music, Nashville is also the capital of this state, and therefore is the home of the Tennessee capitol building. Right off the bat this building is different than eighty percent of the capital buildings in the country. What is different about this piece of real estate? It doesn’t feature a dome. While many federal structures in this country utilize the Roman dome to add a certain grandeur, the Tennessee State Capitol doesn’t need it. The grandeur radiates from the magnificent, columned front porch. It looks as if it could call ancient Greece home and that makes sense given it is of the Greek Revival architecture style. This building took over fourteen years to actualize and was finally opened in 1859, right in the middle of the Greek Revival era.

            Characteristics of the Greek Revival movement that are seen all over the Tennessee State Capitol. This includes the special attention and elaborate decoration placed on the front entrance to the building. Similarly the cornices lining the roof are widely accented with a straight line of trim. Everything on this piece of real estate is rigidly worked around the power straight lines. Nothing on this capitol home is cured, asymmetrical, or skewed in any way. The entire thing screams balance and peaceful neutrality. In residential Greek Revival real estate, the homes are constructed at a cheap cost and therefore build using wood. The wood is then painted white to resemble the look of Greek marble. However the State Capitol was not built cheaply, this icon of Tennessee was made to last and that means real marble was used in the majority of this design.  It worked out too, this building not only lasted, it is one of the oldest capitol buildings still functioning today.

            The new American government was strongly influenced by the ancient Greek civilization, as clearly seen with our democratic system. This perhaps explains the abundance of Greek architecture amongst the beginning of the United States. Nashville not only has a capitol building based on Greek styles but nearby, on Tennessee real estate, is a replica of the Greek Parthenon. This Nashville Parthenon is the only copy in the world that can boast about being the full-size of the original. Before known for their country music, Tennessee was appreciated as being the “Athens of the South”. It was on their centennial birthday in 1895 that Tennessee dedicated the real estate to build their own Parthenon.

            On a different theme completely, another place to visit in Nashville is the Hermitage. Now a museum, the Hermitage was the home of Andrew Jackson during the last forty years of his life. When it was first built in 1804, the home was nothing but a log cabin. Cabins were particularly popular in wooded, unsettled areas because of how easy they were to build. If constructed with grooves in the logs, the entire home could be raised without a single nail. These houses were easy and sturdy. Over time, however, as families became settled, log cabins were usually replaced for a more traditional home of whatever the current style was. That is exactly what Jackson did in 1821, razing his cabin, and putting up a shiny new mansion. The home was a lavishly Federal design. Federal style was the first architectural movement started in the United States. Often houses of this style used delicate and small details to give the home a certain polished feeling. Jackson built his home out of brick and devoted a lot of energy into creating a house he was proud of. Slave homes, outhouses, fireplaces, and smokehouses were all given special attention in the final stages of construction as they were finishing touches. Though Jackson had to leave the home for a while when he became president, he left his son in charge and used the time to further enlarge the home. Sadly, around 1834, the home suffered intense fire damage. Rather than salvage the remains, Jackson used this opportunity to rebuild and modernize. He updated to the Greek Revival style with the traditional columns and marble, and happily lived there until 1845, when he passed away.

            The final piece of real estate in Nashville that helped shape the culture of the state of Tennessee was the Grand Ole Opry House. The Grand Ole Opry existed since the early twentieth century, but the officially house was not named until 1974. The House is nationally recognized as a revolution to the country music scene, along with the home to country music. This real estate is used for just about anything, including concerts, graduations, benefit shows, and award shows. The auditorium seats over four thousand people and has had numerous superstars perform on its stage. The Grand Ole Opry radio show that started it all continues to run weekly. Although in May of 2010 the Cumberland River flooded the Grand Ole Opry House, leading to the indefinite closing for now. 

            Although this is just a survey of the spectacular architecture in Nashville, there is definitely sites worth sighting in other areas of Tennessee. The home of Elvis, for example, is located on the far west corner in Memphis. Graceland real estate has been open to tours by the public since 1982. Also in Memphis are the tallest buildings in Tennessee and of course plantation real estate is featured all across the south giving visitors a peak into the beginning days of this country.