December 19, 2025–August 1, 2026
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (November 12, 2025)—The Frist Art Museum presents A Landmark Repurposed: From Post Office to Art Museum, an exhibition celebrating the historic building the Frist is privileged to occupy—Nashville’s former main post office. The exhibition will be on view in the always-free Conte Community Arts Gallery from December 19, 2025, through August 1, 2026.
Commemorating the Frist Art Museum’s 25th anniversary, this exhibition with updated design and an expanded narrative highlights the building’s role as a civic institution, from its creation as the city’s main post office in 1933−34 to its reopening as an art museum on April 8, 2001. Through archival images, architectural drawings, “Then and Now” photographs, news clippings, and original planning documents, guests will learn about the building’s distinctive architectural styles, as well as how historical events affected the construction and function of the post office.
“As we enter our 25th year as an arts institution, we grow ever-more passionate about our building and are eager to share this wonderful deep dive into our history with everyone who passes through our doors,” says Seth Feman, First Art Museum executive director and CEO. “We get so many questions about our building, its aesthetic details, fascinating quirks, and historical lore. Though we don’t have a permanent collection of artworks, we are honored to be the stewards of this building, one of the most important and beloved artistic and architectural treasures in the city, and we admire how the original design at once emphasizes respect for the past and a drive toward the future—an elegant expression of the museum’s own creative vision.”
Constructed in 1933–34 under the direction of local firm Marr & Holman, the building was financed by the US Treasury Department’s Office of Construction. Following guidelines from the Office of the Supervising Architect, the building displays the two most distinctive architectural styles of the period: “starved” or “stripped” classicism and art deco.
During the Depression, architects working for the federal government were expected to express in their buildings the values of permanence, stability, and order—values that a classical style had traditionally embodied—but in forms streamlined to suggest progress and simplified to lower production costs. Inside the Frist’s building, cast aluminum doors and grillwork, as well as colored marble and stones on the floors and walls, follow the more decorative trend commonly known as art deco, which had developed in commercial interiors during the 1920s.
The building has long been central to the life of the city. During its construction, unemployed workers gathered by the hundreds at the building site, seeking jobs. World War II soldiers sent last letters to loved ones from the post office before boarding trains next door at Union Station on their way to the European front. Every April, long lines of last-minute tax filers formed here, with postal workers sometimes accepting the returns in the street.
In 1984, the post office building was officially added to the National Register of Historic Places. Two years later, however, a new main postal distribution center was constructed on Royal Parkway, near Nashville International Airport, and much of the old building was no longer needed. Opening an art museum downtown was originally inspired by Nashville’s Agenda, a 1993 community-wide visioning project. Dr. Thomas F. Frist envisioned a museum that would be “a place that will bring the power of great visual arts to the center of our city and the center of our lives.”
Kenneth L. Roberts, then president of the Frist Foundation, envisioned the museum would become “a key element in our culture and in the revival of downtown” and set Nashville apart. Tuck-Hinton Architects of Nashville guided the preservation of the post office building’s architectural details and spirit. “The task for the renovation designers was to carve out galleries and open sight lines and predictable avenues through areas of the building that had once been off-limits to the public,” writes Anne Henderson, Frist Art Museum director of education and engagement. The original pine floors were taken up, refinished, and reinstalled, and the huge high-ceilinged sorting rooms in the center of the original facility were naturally suited to their new role as spacious exhibition galleries.
© Frist Art Museum.
The former skylight in the center of the building, previously covered in the 1950s, had its function resurrected in the new design, accompanied by clerestory windows that now light the atrium and the grand staircases. In her essay for the exhibition catalogue, historian Christine Kreyling writes, “Designed as a civic monument, the Nashville post office adapted to its new civic purpose with the nonchalance all fine old buildings are good at—absorbing the present moment into the larger context of history.”
Approximately seven thousand guests attended the opening celebration when the building began its second life as the Frist Center for the Visual Arts on April 8, 2001. From the outset, the Frist’s mission has been to present and originate high quality exhibitions with related educational programs and community outreach activities. Since opening, the museum has hosted artworks from collections in six continents and invited Nashville’s community members and visitors to share in our vision of inspiring people through art to look at the world in new ways. On April 2, 2018, the Frist’s name was formally changed to the Frist Art Museum to more clearly convey what we offer. The Frist is projected to welcome its five millionth visitor before the end of 2025.
The Frist is dedicated to caring for and preserving its historic building and to investing in energy efficiency to reduce the museum’s environmental impact and energy costs. An LED retrofitting project and multiple upgrades to the building air conditioning systems have reduced energy use. The museum’s eighty-three windows, an integral element of the building’s art deco style and among its most admired attributes, were fitted with single-pane glass and provide little insulation, which has led to corrosion of the frames and decorative spandrels. An ongoing pilot project, to be completed in 2026, will evaluate the feasibility of two approaches to address these challenges, providing a model for future renovations that maintain the historic character of the building and strategically reduce energy consumption.
Exhibition Catalogue
A 20th-anniversary edition of the exhibition catalogue, titled A Landmark Repurposed: From Post Office to Art Museum, is available in the Frist’s gift shop. The volume features a preface by Billy Frist, chair and president of the Frist Art Museum board of trustees, and an epilogue by the Frist’s previous executive director and CEO Susan H. Edwards.
The contents from the original book include historian Christine Kreyling’s essay about the landmark building and its position within Nashville’s architectural history. This revised edition was designed and produced by renowned art book publisher Lucia | Marquand.
Programs
Architecture Tours
Offered every Saturday and Sunday at 3:30 p.m.
Meet in the Grand Lobby
Free; no reservations necessary
Enjoy a guided tour of our landmark art deco building every Saturday and Sunday afternoon starting at 3:30 p.m. On the first Saturday of each month, certified American Sign Language interpretation is provided for this tour. Visit our accessibility page to learn about arranging for ASL interpretation at other times.
Exhibition Credit
Organized by the Frist Art Museum
Supporter Acknowledgment
Presenting Sponsor: HCA Healthcare/TriStar Health
The Frist Art Museum gratefully acknowledges the generosity of our Founders’ Circle donors in funding this exhibition.
The Frist Art Museum is supported in part by The Frist Foundation, Metro Arts, and the Tennessee Arts Commission, which receives funding in part from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Connect with us @FristArtMuseum #TheFrist
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION AND IMAGES
Buddy Kite: 615.744.3351, bkite@FristArtMuseum.org
Ellen Jones Pryor: 615.243.1311, epryor@FristArtMuseum.org
