From the Director

On April 8, the Frist Center for the Visual Arts celebrates its twelfth anniversary. Many of our members and visitors have moved to Nashville or been born since 2001. For them the Frist has always been here. For others among us the magnificent building at 919 Broadway still resonates as the former Main Post Office building.

There is no doubt that the adaptive reuse of our historic building preserved one of the great architectural treasures of the community. The Frist Center was founded as a public and private partnership. Metro Nashville purchased the Post Office from the federal government and the building is still owned by the Metropolitan Development Housing Agency (MDHA). We are grateful to the Frist Foundation for supporting the renovations required to convert the building into an art museum. The sensitive preservation of the building’s stunning Art Deco interior is a source of civic pride.

Our members and visitors have come to expect that in the course of a year, there will be a range of exhibitions and programs. The one constant is the building. In architectural terms, the exterior is referred to as stripped classicism, while the interior is an American version of Art Deco. This summer we will present our first exhibition devoted entirely to Art Deco design, Sensuous Steel: Art Deco Automobiles. To learn more about the period and our building’s history, we invite you to join us for an architecture tour of the Frist Center.

Susan H. Edwards, Ph.D.
Executive Director