Home     Daily Blog     Galleries     Maps     Contact

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Davidson Co. Courthouse (New) & Ben West Bldg.

Davidson Co. Courthouse (New) & Ben West Bldg.

The building in the back is the newer Davidson County Courthouse, also known as the Justice Adolphus A. Birch Building and before that it was the Beverly Brian Building.
The New Courthouse, which is practically across the street from the old still-in-use courthouse, was completed in 2006, is 6 floors and 128' tall. It was completed at a cost of just over $40 Million, has 16 courtrooms, a mixed-use jail, connects to the older Ben West building in front of it.

The Ben West building was built as the City Market in 1922, which remained there until the Farmers Market opened up where the Bicentennial Mall is Today, then it became the Ben West building functioning as city hall. Now, among other things, it is used as law enforcement offices with the old courthouse across the street and the new courthouse in the background. Of architectural significance is the Dome on top with a monopteron and the portico main entrance.
This photo was taken from the Public Square observation deck.

Ben West was mayor of Nashville from 1951-1963.
Beverly Briley was mayor of Nashville from 1963-75. Adolphus Birch was the first African-American to serve as Chief Justice of the Tennessee Supreme Court.

1 comment:

  1. The Ben West Building was built in 1937, not 1922.

    ReplyDelete