Union Station Hotel

Nashville, TN

Historic Union Station was saved from the wrecking ball in the late 1980's by a group of civic minded investors and preservationists, who adapted the train station into a hotel, leaving the dramatic lobby intact.

By 2005, when the landmark property was acquired by its present owners, the hotel was in need of a major renovation and the owners selected ForrestPerkins to transform it from its mid-market status to a small luxury hotel with a distinctive new restaurant and lounge.

Beginning with the soaring lobby with its original barrel vaulted stained glass ceiling, bas relief angels and iconic Richardsonian architecture, ForrestPerkins replaced the damaged floor tile with a marble floor bordered with a custom multi-colored inlaid border reflecting the pattern in the stained glass above. We designed dramatic custom rugs that also repeat motifs and colors found in the stained glass and updated furnishings in complementing hues to convey a youthful feeling and energetic atmosphere. We chose a polychrome paint scheme to enhance and highlight architectural details and we designed light towers that mask required air conditioning vents and lend human scale to a potentially overwhelming space.

For the guest rooms and suites, ForrestPerkins designed spacious and functional new bathrooms, many with large walk-in showers and all with generous free-standing vanities topped with thick white Carrara marble, large framed mirrors and great lighting. Many of the rooms have very high ceilings with interesting architectural elements and some overlook the five-story lobby, offering dramatic eye-level views of architectural details. Fabrics from ForrestPerkins' Defining Luxury Collection for Kravet form the basis of a design scheme that is refreshingly modern in style yet appropriately traditional in scale and pattern.

We gave the lively new lounge and restaurant that open onto the lobby a citrus, merlot and licorice color scheme and added sparks of Swarovski crystal studding the tufted bar face. The new venues are quickly becoming the place to gather for the sophisticated Nashville music-industry crowd.