INTERIOR RENOVATIONS TO THE CUSTOMS HOUSE, NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE
One of Nashville’s most prominent buildings is the American Victorian Gothic style U.S. Customs House. The center portion of the building was built in 1877 and the building was expanded in 1905 (rear addition) and 1912. Initial restoration and renovation began in 1982. One of the first large-scale historic rehabilitation projects in Nashville, the 1982 121,000 square foot renovation and restoration of historic Customs House provided new speculative and government office space. The project included significant detailed restoration of ornamental plaster, wood, iron, and stone throughout the building.

In 1994, a 45,000 square foot interior renovation project included remodeling and expansion of the U.S. Bankruptcy Courts and the U.S. Trustee Department in the historic Customs House. This project entailed extensive architectural millwork and conservation of historic materials as well as structural modifications to accommodate two new additional courtroom spaces within the existing building. Our firm has been fortunate to maintain a long-lasting relationship as the “architect for the Customs House” and, thereby, has had numerous projects building out tenant spaces throughout the building. Large tenant spaces generally deal with the U.S. Courts or related agencies, but other smaller tenants – ranging from law firms to public relations firms to the IRS and even some telecommunications companies, have used our firm to craft their spaces. In each case, the ability to design creative, functional solutions without the historic but oddly-configured floor plans of the Customs House was a challenge worthy of our best efforts. Awards.