Long before it was a historic hotel, the Nashville, Tennessee, Union Station was a key center in America’s economy and transportation. Opening on October 9, 1900, for the Louisville & Nashville Railroad, the building’s imposing Gothic design featuring a soaring barrel-vaulted ceiling and Tiffany-styled stained glass, was a testament to U.S. ingenuity and energy. During railroading’s glory years, Mafia kingpin Al Capone was escorted through here on his way to the Georgia penitentiary. Other fascinating facts surrounding this historic Nashville station include:

Ewu a malitere na August 1, 1898
Station officially opened on October 9, 1900
The track level once held two alligator ponds
The Train Shed was the largest unsupported span in America, housing up to 10 full trains at once

Architect Richard Montfort (1854-1931) designed the Nashville Union Station for the Louisville & Nashville Railroad. The monumental station is truly special for the following characteristics:

Heavy-stone Richardsonian-Romanesque design
65-foot, barrel-vaulted lobby ceiling, featuring gold-leaf medallions and 100-year-old, original Luminous Prism stained glass
Marble floors, oak-accented doors and walls, and three limestone fireplaces
20 gold-accented bas-relief angel of commerce figurines
Two bas-relief panels—a steam locomotive and horse-drawn chariot ̶ at each end of the lobby

The station reached peak usage during World War II when it was the shipping-out point for tens of thousands of U.S. troops. After the war, it started a long decline as passenger rail service in the U.S. generally was reduced. By the 1960s, it was served by only a few trains daily. Much of its open spaces were roped off and its architectural features became largely the habitat of pigeons. The formation of Amtrak in 1971 reduced service to the northbound and southbound Floridian train each day. When this service was discontinued in October 1979, the station was abandoned entirely. The station fell into the custody of the United States Government’s General Services Administration. In the early 1980s, a group of investors came forward with a plan to finance the renovation of the station into a luxury hotel which was approved. After extensive renovation, the new investor group who bought the hotel out of bankruptcy was able to operate it profitably.

By the mid-1990s they had restored the statue of Mercury to his place atop the tower, albeit in a two-dimensional form painted in trompe l’oeil style to replicate the original. This was destroyed in the 1998 downtown Nashville tornado but was soon replaced.

Frommer’s Review reported in the New York Times:

Built in 1900 and housed in the Romanesque Gothic former Union Station railway terminal, this hotel is a grandly restored National Historic Landmark. Following a $10-million renovation, completed in 2007, all guest rooms and public spaces have been updated. The lobby is the former main hall of the railway station and has a vaulted ceiling of Tiffany stained glass…

The Union Station Hotel Nashville, Autograph Collection is a member of the Historic Hotels of America and the National Trust for Historic Preservation since 2015. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1977.

Stanley Turkey akpọrọ ka 2014 na 2015 Ọkọ akụkọ ihe mere eme nke afọ site Historic Hotels of America, mmemme mmemme nke National Trust for Historic Preservation. Turkel bụ onye ndụmọdụ ụlọ oriri na ọṅụṅụ kacha ebipụta na United States. Ọ na-arụ ọrụ ndụmọdụ ụlọ oriri na ọṅụṅụ ya na-eje ozi dị ka onye akaebe ọkachamara n'okwu metụtara ụlọ oriri na ọṅụṅụ, na-enye njikwa akụ na ụba na nyocha franching ụlọ oriri na ọṅụṅụ. A kwadoro ya dị ka onye na-eweta ụlọ oriri na ọṅụṅụ Master site n'aka Ụlọ Akwụkwọ Education nke American Hotel na Lodging Association. [email protected] 917-628-8549

Akwụkwọ ọhụrụ m "Hotel Mavens Volume 3: Bob na Larry Tisch, Curt Strand, Ralph Hitz, Cesar Ritz, Raymond Orteig" ebiela ugbu a.

Akwụkwọ nkwari akụ ndị ọzọ ebipụtara

Great American Hoteliers: Ndị ọsụ ụzọ nke ụlọ ọrụ nkwari akụ (2009)
Ewuru Ka Ọ Ga-adịgide: Ụlọ oriri na ọṅụṅụ 100+ Afọ na New York (2011)
Ewuru Ka Ọ Ga-adịgide: Ụlọ oriri na ọṅụṅụ 100+ Afọ Ọwụwa Anyanwụ nke Mississippi (2013)
Hotel Mavens: Lucius M. Boomer, George C. Boldt, Oscar nke Waldorf (2014)
Great American Hoteliers Mpịakọta 2: Ndị ọsụ ụzọ nke ụlọ ọrụ nkwari akụ (2016)
Ewuru Ka Ọ Ga-adịgide: Ụlọ oriri na ọṅụṅụ 100+ Afọ Ọdịda Anyanwụ nke Mississippi (2017)
Ụlọ oriri na ọṅụṅụ Mavens Mpịakọta 2: Henry Morrison Flagler, Henry Bradley Plant, Carl Graham Fisher (2018)
Great American Hotel Architects Mpịakọta I (2019)

Enwere ike ịnye akwụkwọ ndị a niile site na AuthorHouse site na ịga www.stanleyturkel.com na ịpị aha akwụkwọ ahụ.

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