A $45 million contract has been awarded by the state of Tennessee to Skanska, a global construction and development company, to renovate the historic Cordell Hull office building and add an underground state capitol building connector.The project also includes exterior renovations.

Preservationists who consider the art deco style building and the adjacent facilities historically important to Nashville are celebrating the plans.

“Built in the early 1950’s this building is one of the best examples in the state of a mid-century modern civic building,” said Metro Historical Commission Executive Director Tim Walker.

Designed by the firm Hart and McBryde, the building, which was completed in 1954, housed the offices of a growing state government.

Recommendations to demolish the building were made in 2013 by some members of then-Nashville Mayor Karl Dean’s administration, who believed tearing the building down would cost less than paying for repairs and maintenance.

But, according to Walker and his peers in the historic commission, the nine-story, 350,000-square-foot office building, which sits across from the state capitol, speaks to the architecture in vogue of the 1950’s. In addition to the design, the facility is named for Tennessean Cordell Hull, who served as Secretary of State under President Franklin D. Roosevelt and was the first Tennessean to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

The state departments of Health and Children’s Services, as well as other departments, were placed in the building when it originally opened. Today, the facility has the capacity to house about 1,000 workers, of which approximately one-third are state employees.

But, that is about to change. Renovations began earlier this year with completion expected in late 2017 when the legislature will move into the updated facility.

“The building was constructed when civic buildings were grand and honored. The exterior appears stripped down because the influence of contemporary architecture of the time,” explained Walker.

Inside the building is where grandeur exists. The entire building is floor-to-ceiling Tennessee marble, both decorative and practical in public areas and restrooms, some of which is a type of dark marble that no longer exists in the area.

Each corner of the building features a sculpture grouping by Puryear Mims, former Vanderbilt University sculptor-in-residence, that depicts Tennesseans at home, on the farm, in industry and at war.

The state’s $100 million investment in this project is expected to create a more visually appealing travel destination for employees and other visitors to the state capital.

“The new building will be more accessible to the general public,” said Walker.
The building is already eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places.