Nashville Civic Design Center
ROLLING MILL HILL & THE RUTLEDGE HILL NEIGHBORHOOD FINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS 2002
TABLE OF CONTENTS
This document was produced to help guide development of the Metro- owned properties known as Rolling Mill Hill. These holdings include the site of the former Metropolitan Hospital and the area of the historic trolley car barns. The work was produced by the Nashville Civic Design Center in concert with the greater Nashville community. The design staff and interns of the Civic Design Center during the study were: Mark M. Schimmenti, Design Director; John Houghton, Design Assistant; and the design interns Blythe Bailey, Ted Booth, Abbie Lee Majors, and Catherine Tracy. The historical research was conducted by Astrid Schoonhoven. The geological study was by John Houghton. Judy Steele of the Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency, Randall Hutcheson of the Metro Planning Department, and Jeff Campbell of Metro Public Works contributed significantly to the report. Questions and comments may be directed to: Nashville Civic Design Center 700 Church Street #102 Nashville, Tennessee 37203 (615) 248-4280 voice (615) 248-4282 fax info@civicdesigncenter.org Š2002 Nashville Civic Design Center Nashville Civic Design Center Report: Rolling Mill Hill page 2
Executive Summary
4
Study of the Site
6
Geology of the Site
8
History of the Site
10
Development of the Site
18
Recommendations for Development
27
Appendix
30
Second Avenue/Lower Broad Entertainment District Shelby Street Pedestrian Bridge
Proposed Gateway Bridge
Cumberland River
Rolling Mill Hill
Rutledge Hill Neighborhood
Metro Offices Children’s Theater
I-40 Academy Place Footbridge
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Howard School area and the neighborhood of Rutledge Hill.
The following are the recommendations of the Civic Design Center for the development of the Metro properties known as Rolling Mill Hill. This summary is followed by a report outlining the research, community input and design analysis that led to these recommendations. The recommendations are governed by a main principle of the design of cities: the neighborhood and district are the fundamental building blocks of great cities. This implies that quality growth should be considered a diverse systematic endeavor rather than an isolated event. The past efforts to develop Rolling Mill Hill did not address this principle directly. Considering this, and other factors outlined in this report, the Civic Design Center recommends: •
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when considered together with Hermitage as their “main street,” constitute a new urban neighborhood. Development plans need to address both the city-owned property and the Rutledge Hill neighborhood as parts of a whole.
The commissioning of a team capable of realizing a strategic development plan for the area. This plan would require the urban design, economic strategies, transportation plans, and infrastructure needs to be considered as one coordinated community derived vision. The site of the city owned property, Rolling Mill Hill, and the Rutledge Hill neighborhood should be seen as contiguous with each other along Hermitage Avenue. These two areas,
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The area comprising the Howard School Office Building, other metro offices and the children’s theater should be incorporated into the neighborhood. Development of the area should be considered in both the short-term (5 years) and the long-
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term (20 years) to help ensure the building of a quality urban environment. The city should investigate the different economic models for the build out of the property. The goal of this effort would be to balance short-term gains with the long-term quality of the new neighborhoods. Hermitage Avenue should be treated as an urban street/boulevard and should not be designed and detailed like a highway. Plans to widen part or the entire avenue should be reconsidered. The success of the area depends on the proper design of this urban street. The redevelopment district should be expanded along 4th Avenue to Lafayette. The boundaries do not reflect the natural boundaries of the neighborhood. The historic structures of the hospital complex, the corner of the original building, the 19th century wing, the addition of 1931, the boiler house, the stack, and the two nurses’ buildings are of very good architectural character and significance. They should be considered for incorporation into the design. The car barns on the north end of the site should be reused maintaining their architectural character. The edges of the site along the river should be public parkland and the views through the site
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from the Rutledge Hill neighborhood should be enhanced. The planned Greenway should be incorporated into the redevelopment plan including strong ties to the interior of the neighborhood. Once the area has been established through the definition of neighborhood edges, civic
squares should be located as neighborhood •
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centers. The Academy Place footbridge should be refurbished. A study should be conducted to determine steps that would help ensure safety and deter crime associated with the bridge. The area should be strongly linked by public transportation to the central business district.
ROLLING MILL HILL AND THE RUTLEDGE HILL NEIGHBORHOOD
STUDY OF THE SITE Research The Design Center has conducted a substantial amount of historical research on Rolling Mill Hill and the Rutledge Hill neighborhood throughout the course of the study. Since June, historical maps, drawings and photographs of Rolling Mill Hill and the Rutledge Hill neighborhood have been collected and catalogued. The Center accessed historical material through the Tennessee State Archives, the Metropolitan Archives, the Nashville Public Library, the Metropolitan Historical Commission, The Metropolitan Development and Housing Agency, and the Metropolitan Planning Department, as well as through a general literature search. In addition to the historical documents, the Design Center added recent development proposals for Rolling Mill Hill to its resource library. The historical material and the development proposals became the basis for the public meetings. A number of longtime Rutledge Hill residents who attended the public meetings also contributed to the Design Center’s understanding of the project site. The Center completed a three-hour interview with one resident in August for an oral history of the neighborhood.
Public Meetings The Design Center conducted six public meetings in July and August. At the first public meeting, held in early July at the Center, seventeen community residents and business owners discussed issues and ideas related to the development of Rolling Mill Hill. Design Center staff canvassed the neighborhood door-to-door with announcements to notify Rutledge Hill residents and business owners of the meeting. To reach residents immediately south of Rutledge Hill, a second public meeting took place at Sudekum Homes. Scheduled in conjunction with a regular meeting of the residents’ association, the public meeting attracted ten residents. At the end of July, the Design Center organized two full-day workshops, on a Friday and Saturday, open to the public. At the workshops, participants and staff translated issues and ideas to base maps, generating conceptual designs. The workshops were not widely publicized and drew small groups, seven to ten people, of mostly local design and development professionals. The Design Center organized two additional public meetings for Rutledge Hill residents and business owners during the first week of August. Held at Metro Planning’s offices in Lindsley Hall, the afternoon and evening meetings attracted the largest
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groups, twenty-one and twenty-four respectively, and the broadest spectrum of residents and business owners. Again, Design Center staff canvassed the neighborhood with meeting announcements. Analysis At each step of the process, the Center has produced analytical drawings illustrating the historical development of Rutledge Hill, past development proposals, and current features of the neighborhood. A first set of drawings tracked the changing building fabric of the community as well as the basic structure of the more recent development proposals. These drawings provided a framework for introducing the site and summarized its history. During the public meetings process, a number of participants raised the importance of additional analytical diagrams. A second set of drawings, then, added specificity and detail to more general neighborhood observations on issues such as traffic, topography, schools, parks, greenways, and crime.
Nashville Urban Design Forum roundtable discussion on the issues surrounding the development of Rolling Mill Hill.
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ROLLING MILL HILL AND THE RUTLEDGE HILL NEIGHBORHOOD GEOLOGY OF THE SITE Building a site, as opposed to site planning, begins with naming the place and engaging the land. Accordingly, understanding the site geology of Rolling Mill Hill generates a series of descriptions about the place that can inform subsequent decisions about building the site. Rolling Mill Hill, situated on an escarpment above the Cumberland, is part of the southeastern most knob that anchors a chain of hills encircling downtown Nashville. From Rolling Mill Hill, the hills move southwest to include Fort Negley, Reservoir Hill, and Belmont University, and then turn northwest to the hills west of Centennial Park and Tennessee State University. Because it sits apart from the chain, the most prominent knob in Nashville is the State Capitol site. The hills provide the underlying structure of Nashville, locating the historic pikes or roads that lead into the city as well as the rail lines, and give the area its distinctive topography of gently rolling hills. Geologically, Rolling Mill Hill and its sister hills separate themselves from the rest of Nashville through the character of the underlying rock. Cannon limestone is the bedrock upon which much of Nashville has been built. Within Cannon limestone, one finds the white limestone that has been used in many Nashville buildings, including HumeFogg High School, the McKendree United Methodist Church between 5th and 6th Avenues on Church Nashville Civic Design Center Report: Rolling Mill Hill page 8
The ring of hills in relation to the grid of Nashville, historic pikes, and railroad corridors.
The Rolling Mill Hill bluff as it leads down to the river.
Street, and most of the older buildings on the Fisk University Campus. The rock found on the hills that encircle Nashville, though, is younger than the Cannon limestone and is identified as the Cathys formation. Stone in this rock formation tends to contain clay that leaves the weathered stone more mottled and has larger quantities of shale. Uses of Cathys formation limestone are road material, concrete aggregate, and to a lesser extent, building stone. Another important geological feature related to Rolling Mill Hill is a prominent fault that runs northeast-southwest from near the Shelby Street Bridge to 8th Avenue South and Fogg Street. The axis of the fault coincides with the topographical basin that lies north and below Rolling Mill Hill and strikes a course similar to the Wilson Spring Branch, a creek that once openly flowed from a spring at 7th Avenue South between Shirley and Peabody Streets to the Cumberland River near Demonbreun. Cedar trees and privet bushes characterized the land around the spring; cane the banks of the creek. To the south of Rolling Hill Mill, the oldest exposed formation in Nashville, the Carters limestone, can be found along Brown’s Creek. The process of building, and shaping the earth, engages, then, the geology of the site and the city. The most explicit geological-related traces of this process are the many quarries that provide stone for
roads, walks, retaining walls and buildings. Rolling Mill Hill is notable too in this regard for the former quarry behind the School for the Blind, the exposure behind the car barns, and the escarpment beside the railroad tracks. Building the site involves cutting and
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filling, but also the naming of centers and edges – all in relation to other landforms and the urban terrain.
ROLLING MILL HILL AND THE RUTLEDGE HILL NEIGHBORHOOD HISTORY OF THE SITE
“Rose Hill”, The Rutledge Family Home.
The Rutledge Hill neighborhood and Rolling Mill Hill are two South Nashville areas that were developed separately, despite their relative proximity. This is mainly caused by the topographical conditions of the area in which both sites are situated. As the names indicate, both Rutledge Hill and Rolling
Mill Hill are situated on higher terrain. These “hills” are separated by a pronounced groove on the surface, which was later formalized as a road, the present day Hermitage Avenue. The urban development of what was later to become known as Rutledge Hill started in 1796,
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when part of the area was chosen as the new site of the then 11- year old Davidson Academy.1 The site chosen was approximately the present area bounded by 3rd Avenue South and Peabody Street. In the first half of the 19th century the area was not densely populated, though some prominent citizens built their family homes in the vicinity of the Academy grounds. Rutledge Hill derives its name from the first upper-class family that moved into the area, the Rutledges, Henry Middleton and his wife Septima Sexta, who possibly settled permanently on the hill as early as the 1820s. The grounds of “Rose Hill”, which was the name of the Rutledge family home, were laid out in a series of terraces, that sloped down towards College Street (now 3rd Avenue). Unfortunately, the residence burned partially in the 1860s, and the only remaining part of the original structure was later incorporated in the home of the Baxter family, which still stands at 101 Lea Avenue. Together with 10 other structures, the residence is now on the National Register of Historic Places. However, by the mid 1800s the area was still more country than town. Only a few residences were scattered throughout the area. In this early period, the Rolling Mill Hill area was occupied by the old City Reservoir and pump house, stone quarries, and lumber companies. When the City of Nashville began to extend across its original boundaries, South Nashville was
Pastoral scene of the bluff along the Cumberland River looking toward Nashville in the 1850s.
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The City of Nashville 1860.
one of the first areas to be developed. Using the grid pattern of the existing urban center as a model for urban development, the Academy grounds and existing residences on Rutledge Hill became incorporated in residential blocks from the 1850s onwards. By the end of the 19th century, Rutledge Hill had become the most elegant residential neighborhood of Victorian Nashville and the town’s center of higher education. Most of the historically significant buildings of the area that survived the ages, both residential and other, date to this period. As stated before, the Rolling Mill Hill area was developed in a somewhat different manner. High upon the bluff, two grand institutions were erected, respectively the Tennessee School for the Blind (1872) and the City Hospital (1890). Surrounded by beautiful grounds and shady walks, the Tennessee School for the Blind was razed in 1959, seven years after the opening of the new school building in Donelson. It was in the 1950s and 1960s that the area started to change its appearance more drastically. Aerial photographs of the area of this period show the more prominent alterations. In the late 1940s, the Tony Sudekum housing complex replaced many of the original house blocks to the south. In the late 1950s, work on the Interstates 40 and 65 started, which again caused the removal of a large part of the original blocks in the area. Nashville Civic Design Center Report: Rolling Mill Hill page 12
historic map of nashville
The original building of the Tennessee School for the Blind. “The elegant red brick building with towers and turrets, stone trim and arched windows,” was designed by the architectural firm of Thompson and Gibel.
The City Reservoir and the Tennessee School for the Blind prior to 1890.
The mansions that remain of the prosperous Victorian period are scattered throughout the area. Most of these houses lost their original function and are now used by architectural and legal firms. The structures that survived are outnumbered by many vacant lots, which originally housed similar residences, since the Nashville Metropolitan General Hospital moved to its present location on the Meharry Medical College Campus. Frank Duncan, former resident of the area and present owner of a bakery on Hermitage Avenue, observes: “ There ain’t nothing left there on the hill, Rutledge Hill is all gone, except for the little corner where we are.”
In an effort to save the core of this once prosperous area, part of the Rutledge Hill neighborhood was placed on the National Register of Historical Places in 1980. The Rutledge Hill Historic District includes 11 structures that are all situated on either Rutledge Street, Middleton Street or Lea Avenue.2 Other buildings in the area that were placed on the National Register before this date are two former university buildings, Lindsley Hall and the Litterer Laboratory, and the James Geddes Company No. 6, a Victorian fire house. Lindsley Hall was accepted on the national register in 1971 and the two other buildings in 1978.
photo of original building
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The Litterer Laboratory was constructed in 1896 as part of the University of Nashville and subsequently donated to Vanderbilt University by William Litterer, who was mayor of Nashville in 1891. The James Geddes Company No. 6 building was constructed in 1886. The fire house was named for James Geddes, a surveyor of the railroad line between Louisville and Nashville in the 1850s. In 1984, three churches of the late 19th century were also placed on the National Register. The churches include the Lindsley Avenue Church of Christ at 3 Lindsley Avenue, the primitive Baptist Church at 627-629 3rd Avenue South and the Elm
The Rutledge Hill neighborhood and Rolling Mill Hill in 1970.
Street Methodist Church at 616 5th Avenue South. Unfortunately, many of the original structures of the area did not survive. With the exception of Lindsley Hall and the Litterer Laboratory, all university buildings are now gone. Other prominent buildings that were demolished are the Medical College Hospital and the old Howard School. Also razed was what was probably the most impressive structure on Rolling Mill Hill, the Tennessee School for the Blind. Of the remaining architecture in the area, some buildings architecturally or historically stand out and therefore might be considered as worthy of preservation. Some scattered Victorian residences of the area, that do not form part of the Rutledge Hill historic neighborhood, fall into this category. However, they may have to make way for a coherent redesign of the area at large. More unique in character and also better located are the General Hospital and the seven car barns, for which structures adaptive reuse is recommended. The Metropolitan General Hospital started out as the City Hospital in 1890. Of the earliest building only a small part remains on the east side of the present conglomerate of buildings. The first addition to the hospital was the east wing that looks out on the Cumberland River. It was added to the existing building in 1911 by the same architectural firm that had designed the original building. The east wing Nashville Civic Design Center Report: Rolling Mill Hill page 14
Lindsley Hall in the late 1800s.
Lindsley Hall today.
survived all changes that were made during the 20th century. The new General Hospital reopened on July 24, 1932, “ (the) interior and exterior beauty … compares favorably with other notable architectural gems in the city … (which)… situated as it is on top of the bluffs bordering the Cumberland River … can be seen and its beauty admired for some distance.” (Reporter Jack Monroe of the Tennessean) Another interesting part of the present building is the T-shaped addition to the hospital. This addition was built in 1931, when the enlarged hospital reopened under the new name of General Hospital. The addition is partially hidden behind
later additions but the original Art Deco construction and its decorations might be retrieved, restored and reused. Other buildings that are worthy of preservation are the Howse Wilson Hall, a school for nurses (built 1922, enlarged 1931), and the hospital’s boiler house (built 1926-27) and smokestack. The car barns, which are now used by the Metropolitan Police for storage and repair to police cars, previously fulfilled the same function in the 1920s for the streetcars of the city and in the 1940s for the trucks of the City Sanitary Department. The function of the site is more or less continuous from
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The Lindsley Avenue Church of Christ (detail), originally the Grace Presbyterian Church, built in 1894.
the early 20th century onwards. The Sanborn Fire Insurance maps of the year 1914 mark the area as the City Stables, prior to the erection of the car barns. The potential for preservation of these structures is good, and they can be adapted for reuse with little difficulty.
BIBLIOGRAPHY AND SOURCES
The Litterer laboratory (left) and the James Geddes Engine Company No. 6 (right).
Adams G.R.; Christian R.J., Nashville, a pictorial history, Norfolk VA, 1981.
Aerial pictures of the area, Metropolitan Archives, Green Hills.
Egerton J. (ed.), Nashville, the faces of two centuries, Nashville TN, 1979.
Endnotes 1 The Academy would change its name to Davidson College in 1806 and subsequently to Cumberland College (1809), The University of Nashville (1824), and Peabody College (1875). As the Peabody School for Teachers (1907) it would eventually merge with Vanderbilt University.
Newspaper clippings from The Metropolitan Archives in Green Hills and the Nashville Room of the Main Library. Interviews with Mr. Frank Duncan, former resident of the Rutledge Hill neighborhood. Vintage pictures of several buildings that are/were situated in the area (Tennessee State Library and Archives (Library Collection and Manuscripts), Metropolitan Archives at Green Hills and the Metropolitan Historical Commission). Architectural drawings of the City Hospital, selection, Tennessee State Library and Archives (manuscripts). Hopkins Engineering Atlas 1889 and 1908, Tennessee State Library and Archives. Sanborn Fire Insurance Maps, Tennessee State Library and Archives.
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2
Not all the late 19th century mansions that survived in the area are included in the Rutledge Hill Historic District. An earlier nomination included more structures, but was rejected since the buildings listed are too spread out across the area to speak of a proper district.
The 1931 addition to General Hospital.
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ROLLING MILL HILL AND THE RUTLEDGE HILL NEIGHBORHOOD DEVELOPMENT OF THE SITE
Nashville Figure Ground 1890.
The figure ground drawing of Rutledge Hill in 1890 provides a baseline for understanding the changes that have occurred in the neighborhood and on Rolling Mill Hill over the past century. The simple black and white drawings depict the twodimensional space that the buildings occupy and the space that buildings do not occupy, as well as highlight three evolving neighborhood conditions: First, the continuity of the neighborhood’s street grid with downtown to the north and the neighborhoods to the south; second, the complexity of the fabric of the neighborhood’s buildings, streets and civic space; and third, the number and variety of neighborhood centers. The street grid established by the first city plan extends into and through Rutledge Hill by 1890, providing a clear and strong sense of connection between city and neighborhood. The only deviation from the grid at this time is Lebanon Pike/Hermitage Avenue and the streets perpendicular to it, a consequence of the changing course of the Cumberland River and the hill topography of the neighborhood. The buildings on Rolling Mill are oriented to the river. In 1890, Rutledge Hill is also an intricate mix of different building types serving different functions, streets that change in character, and civic space that is both highly articulated by buildings and not. Although the neighborhood fabric is intricate, it Nashville Civic Design Center Report: Rolling Mill Hill page 18
Rolling Mill Hill
Nashville Figure Ground 1908.
oscillates between complexity and simplicity with large areas of one or the other. Rutledge Hill is a neighborhood of many centers in 1890. The two most prominent centers in scale are the ones built on the hills adjacent to Lebanon Pike/Hermitage Avenue. The figure ground suggests that the distinction between these centers, the University of Nashville and the City Hospital, depends mostly on the road itself. There are other centers in the neighborhood as well, ranging from important civic and religious buildings to linear concentrations of commercial scale buildings to smaller campuses and estates. By 1908, Rolling Mill Hill and the Rutledge Hill neighborhood have undergone changes that begin to anticipate its current development. The street grid remains intact, though along the edge of the Cumberland River the long buildings signal the growing importance of the railroad and streetcars, relatively new forms of commercial and personal transportation. Increased commercial activity, then, produces a neighborhood in 1908 that is characterized by a much more intense complexity in building fabric and civic space. The drawing shows Rolling Mill Hill and Lebanon Pike/Hermitage Avenue to be more urban with a greater number and variety of building types. The many centers in Rutledge Hill are by now also changing in character as the neighborhood Nashville Civic Design Center Report: Rolling Mill Hill page 19
Rolling Mill Hill
Nashville Figure Ground 1998.
around them develops. Some buildings associated with earlier centers are missing, suggesting a future change in land use, while new buildings have been added to streets, campuses, and former estates. Ninety years later, the Rutledge Hill neighborhood has been almost entirely transformed. The most significant change in the figure ground drawing of 1998 is, perhaps, the presence of the interstate and the interruption of the street grid to the south. It should also be noted that the neighborhood forms a more definitive edge on the east, suggesting a reduced role for the land immediately adjacent to the river. Only a handful of buildings can be traced to the earlier figure ground drawings. Among these are several residences and buildings associated with the university and part of the hospital. The fabric of the neighborhood has been dramatically altered and is much less intricate and complex, dominated instead by large building blocks. Finally, the many centers that characterized the earlier diagrams are difficult to identify. In their place, a much greater number of specialized centers has evolved. Relying heavily and almost exclusively on form and scale, the centers turn inward and no longer engage the neighborhood. An interrupted grid, an altered fabric and specialized centers have, in 1998, produced a very different neighborhood than the one that existed a century earlier. Nashville Civic Design Center Report: Rolling Mill Hill page 20
Rolling Mill Hill
CLARKE AND RAPUANO CENTRAL LOOP GENERAL MASTER PLAN -
1963 The Clarke and Rapuano Plan.
The title of this project stems from the interstate highway that forms a loop around the central part of Nashville. The general master plan covers an area of almost 2,000 acres centered on the State Capitol and adjoining downtown business district. The planning and design of the interstate loop was executed by the firm and preceded the general master plan. The plan called for the creation of a large linear green space extending along the river from downtown to the I-24 bridge at the Cumberland. Many of the changes in downtown were based on the recommendations of this study. One of the most significant changes was the demolition of most buildings along Deaderick Street. In addition, the buildings surrounding the Davidson County Courthouse were demolished to provide better access and increased parking.
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NASHVILLE DOWNTOWN PARTNERSHIP PLAN FOR ROLLING MILL HILL - 1996 Nashville Downtown Partnership Plan.
The Nashville Downtown Partnership studied the possible reuse of the Metro General Hospital in the fall of 1995. The following excerpts are from the project description: • Center of the neighborhood located at the intersection of Hermitage and Middleton. • Highest density residential located along Hermitage Avenue. • Parking behind buildings facing Hermitage. • Major pedestrian link running the entire length of the site along the river’s edge. • Pedestrian friendly residential design. • East/west parking from the bluffs, through the hospital site, to the Howard school complex. • Conversion of the car barns to a “guild”. • West side of Hermitage developed with commercial on the ground floor and office above. • Lower density residential development would fill the Rutledge Hill area. • Property southeast of the development could be developed with boat slips and recreation playing fields. • Distinct thresholds where Hermitage Avenue crosses under the interstate, at the intersection of the new Franklin Street Boulevard, and at Elm Street and 4th Avenue.
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THE PLAN FOR SOBRO - 1997 The SoBro Plan.
In January 1997, a diverse group of interested individuals joined together to participate in a charrette that would culminate in a plan for SoBro. Urban designers, brought to Nashville, led participants through a three-day design charrette to develop ideas for the land south of Broadway. Key points made by the group: •
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Franklin should be a Boulevard, not a Corridor, like Commonwealth Boulevard in Boston or Monument Avenue in Richmond. Preserve the Demonbreun viaduct and do not allow Franklin to bridge the Gulch directly. Promote and build places of public life, civic spaces and great streets. Develop an urban park for the gulch. Participants cite Edinburgh as an example of a highly landscaped ravine in the center of the city. Participants suggested the development of a riverfront park stretching from the existing Riverfront Park to Rolling Mill Hill. Fourth and Fifth Avenues are suggested as the focus of the live work district in SoBro. These streets were suggested because they are uninterrupted by buildings and provide a clear connection downtown. Single-family architecture should emphasize the use of front porches to create public space on the street.
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Rendering showing street scene in the Rutledge Hill Neighborhood.
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Rendering showing street scene in Rolling Mill Hill.
Through streets and landscape design create a neighborhood that is “pedestrian-friendly”. Provide for ecologically sound development and where feasible incorporate existing trees and transplant existing trees. Participants suggested that Rutledge Mill Hill and Rolling Mill Hill become the residential heart of SoBro. Franklin Boulevard/Rolling Mill Hill Design Guidelines- The SoBro charrette was a catalyst for the creation of design guidelines for Rolling Mill Hill and Franklin Boulevard.
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TRAMMEL CROW/TUCK - HINTON PLAN FOR ROLLING MILL HILL - 1997 The Trammel Crow Plan.
Design Program for Rolling Mill Hill •
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An initial residential base of rental apartments of approximately 300 units. Future rental apartment development should accommodate an additional 300 units. Total gross density per acre should approach 18 dwelling units. Where feasible, convert existing buildings to loft apartments or condominium units. Provide a base of “for sale” housing that will lend stability to the neighborhood. Provide a complete community center. Provide a means to interconnect the neighborhood. Design a plan that can be neatly phased and adjusted as market and economic conditions validate or modify initial assumptions. Commercial base initially focused on necessary commercial needs of the neighborhood. Maximize the viewshed of downtown. Bring the Cumberland River to the city. Create streetscapes of a human scale but provide ample density to create the necessary excitement to make the development successful. Provide space to draw arts-oriented activities.
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THE POST PROPERTIES/MATHEWS CO. PLAN FOR ROLLING MILL HILL - 1997 The Post Properties/Mathews Co. Plan.
Design Program for Rolling Mill Hill •
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A mixed-use development proposal with 104 fee simple townhouses, 1320 rental units, 150 hotel rooms, 180,000 square feet of commercial, 30,000 square feet of retail. The historic buildings were to folded into arts flex space and historic continuity. The master plan employed “new urbanist” planning principles and promoted the development of a mixed-use sustainable community. The plan called for street activity, a connected fabric through pedestrian-friendly streets, midrise height limits, a detailed public space program, and a detailed parking strategy. Architectural articulation to engage the street for safety and to promote a pedestrian friendly environment.
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ROLLING MILL HILL AND THE RUTLEDGE HILL NEIGHBORHOOD RECOMMENDATIONS FOR DEVELOPMENT These procedures and design recommendations stem from the Nashville Civic Design Center’s research, community visioning, and analysis of Rolling Mill Hill (RMH) and its context within the fabric of Nashville. In the study, RMH emerges as a significant opportunity to serve as an example for future development within the downtown loop. The development of RMH could become Nashville’s newest vibrant neighborhood.
the team would establish a vision for the neighborhood based on community input and involvement. The nature of these services requires a specialized design firm . The Request for Proposals needs to be specific ( Appendix A). The RFP should ask for deliverables that will initiate a pedestrian-friendly, smart-growth neighborhood. The design team will need to be diverse and responsive to the community. The Area in Question
The development of a neighborhood from scratch can be a daunting task. It requires a welldefined methodology and a team of specialized skills to develop the proper strategic plan, and necessitates a long-term method of administration and design oversight. Methods of financing may need to be created that promote long-term, smart-growth within the area. A Strategic Development Plan The development should be part of an overall vision for the neighborhood as well as for the city. A specialized team of experts in urban design and economic development would best develop this vision for the birth of a new neighborhood. Similar to the methods used in recent successes like West Palm Beach , a team should be assembled to conduct an Urban Design Charrette. During the Charrette
The Metro owned properties around RMH do not meet minimum requirements for a diverse mixed use neighborhood development. Neighborhoods function in relation to their size and the distribution of the program within their area. RMH is split by severe topography into two distinct zones, the Metropolitan Hospital area and the lower area of the historic car barns. These smaller areas cannot sustain the diversity of uses and product necessary in a smart-growth neighborhood. Expansion of the development area would add to the viability of development on RMH. To produce new neighborhoods this expansion needs to include other areas by logical extension and strong linkages. The expansion should take natural boundaries and pedestrian accessibility into account. An accepted measure for neighborhood size is a 5- minute walking distance. Applying this measure to the RMH
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properties produces a distinct area encompassing Hermitage Avenue and the Rutledge Hill neighborhood, and supports the goal of producing a diverse, pedestrian-friendly community. When Rutledge Hill is considered part of the study area with Rolling Mill Hill, Hermitage Avenue becomes central to the success of the development. With a daily car count of approximately 16,000 vehicles and the current right-of-way, Hermitage can be made into a pedestrian-friendly shopping street. The car counts, when combined with the numbers in the potential development and the existing population of Rutledge Hill, help considerably to make certain kinds of retail development feasible. The Civic Design Center envisions Hermitage as the “main street” of the Rolling Mill Hill/Rutledge Hill neighborhood serving a similar function as 21st Avenue in Hillsboro Village. The Time Line Neighborhoods, like the cities they comprise, are not built in weeks, months, or years, but are established on tens of years of growth and investment. Over this period of time the growth must respond to changing markets and financing in order to be sustained. Such growth is a major part of the Strategic Development Plan and needs to be addressed in the phasing of the projects.
Method of Development Both short- term and long- term strategies should be developed for financing the project. The city should explore the options in this area and consider setting up a dedicated entity to oversee the development. This would also act as an independent watchdog to help ensure the proper implementation of the plan. This is a departure from how Nashville has worked in the past, but necessary to reach the goals outlined in this study.
Five minute walking distance centered on the Arts Park
Linkage The success of a city depends on well defined neighborhoods that have strong links to one another and access to resources such as civic spaces, social services, service retail, and emergency services. These connections not only provide accessibility, but also, act to position the neighborhood within the overall community. This will help establish Nashville as a city of neighborhoods. The Rolling Mill Hill/Rutledge Hill neighborhoods have the opportunity for direct linkage to the river, the planned greenway, downtown, and the bordering neighborhoods. These connections should be strengthened in the strategic plan. Specifically, our study shows that the greenway should be strongly linked to a parks and recreation strategy within the
Five minute walking distance inclusive of the Rolling Mille Hill Properties and Rutledge Hill
study area incorporating at least one park; the Academy Place footbridge that links the area to the neighborhoods south of the interstate highway should be reconditioned and better designed for crime prevention; and mass transportation links into the downtown should be implemented in concert with the development process.
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Linkage to the area immediately north of Rolling Mill Hill/Rutledge Hill would add significantly to the viability of both areas. A circle representing a 5minute walking distance, see diagram above, north and adjacent to the Rolling Mill Hill/Rutledge Hill area encompasses many significant Nashville structures and public spaces including: the Arts Park, the
Gaylord Entertainment Arena, The Nashville Convention Center, the Ryman Auditorium, the Country Music Hall of Fame, the new home of the Nashville Symphony Orchestra, the Lower Broadway Entertainment District, the entry to the Shelby Pedestrian Bridge and Riverfront Park.
design provides a sense of continuity that smooths the newness of the rest of the development. The size and richness of materials provide a context of human scale and architectural dignity along with a message that our past can be an important part of our future. The historic structures should be seen as amenities.
Amenities The value of an urban neighborhood is measured in relationship to its civic space. The quality of the street environment makes a neighborhood pleasant and desirable. The streets work in concert with the public spaces and civic structures to define the civic realm of a neighborhood. While developers who work in the suburbs provide amenities to augment the residential construction program the urban neighborhood derives its quality from the definition and design of all public or civic space. Rolling Mill Hill is formed on one edge by the Cumberland River. This important resource should relate to the whole and should remain visually and physically accessible through its landscape architecture. With the edge public and well connected, the entire Rolling Mill Hill/Rutledge Hill area can be identified with this unique amenity. The numerous historic structures are features that should lend great character and value to the development. Incorporating these structures into the Nashville Civic Design Center Report: Rolling Mill Hill page 29
APPENDIX: WORK PERFORMED BY THE STRATIGIC DEVELOPMENT TEAM
The organization of the work should include at least two public sessions.
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The first public session, The Preliminary Design Workshop:
Typical Preliminary Design Session Schedule:
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Day One Evening: Design Team arrives, briefing by the owner and review of participating consultants. Public lecture on the design principles to be used in the project. Day Two Morning: Site visit with the Owner and his representatives. Tour of significant Architectural and Urban sites in and around Nashville, including East Nashville and Hillsboro Village. Afternoon: Conduct public visioning process. Meetings with the owner and his representatives to refine the program, land use, and marketing issues. Evening: Conduct a second public visioning process.
Assemble with the Design Team in the proximity of the site to perform the schedule of work. •
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Familiarizes the team with the issues and the community. Familiarizes the community with the team and the process. Prepares the team and the community for the second public session.
The second public session, the Urban Design Charrette: • • •
Occurs over a week’s time. Operates with full public access. Produces a detailed vision for the study area.
After the Charrette the team fine tunes the vision into a Strategic Redevelopment Plan. What follows is a typical production for this type of work. This list is meant to serve as an example for the services requested of the design team. Phase I, The Preliminary Design Workshop The Team Should:
Day Three Morning: presentation of findings to the owner and his representatives. Design Team departs.
Phase II, The Charrette The Team Should: •
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Assist the Owner in the review of staff and consultants including, the Mayor’s Office, Metro Public Works, Metro Attorney(s), Metro Development and Housing, Metro Planning, utility providers, and private sector development and banking interests. Provide a preliminary program. Identify a variety of regional building types which fulfill the required residential and commercial program. Assemble a Design Team consisting of urban designers, landscape architects, city planners, retail and housing experts and production staff.
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Standards & Codes Analysis - Together with the Owner and the Owner’s consultants determine the parameters of all applicable Standards and Codes and determine their impact upon the design of neighborhoods. Preliminary Site Analysis - Access the site to identify opportunities and constraints related to views, environmental, landscape, and riverfront conditions, and vehicular access. Preliminary Master Plan - Design a colored Preliminary Master Plan that illustrates the layout
Assemble the Charrette Team consisting of urban designers, neighborhood designers, architectural designers, drafters, standards writers, computer imagers and others such as the Team deems necessary to execute the work. Assemble with the Charrette Team in the proximity of the site to perform the schedule of work. Together with the Owner’s representatives, the urban designer should consult with all of those deemed important to the success of the project during the Charrette.
Together with the Owner, the Owner’s representatives, consultants, and representatives from local, state, and federal agencies the Charrette Team should: •
Typical Post Design Workshop Production List: •
of streets and areas including public and private lands. Strategy - Develop a strategy for the follow-up work leading to the Charrette.
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Further assess various sectors within the project site to identify opportunities and constraints related to views, topography, environmental, and landscape conditions, and vehicular access and to consider their implications on building location and type. Produce a Strategic Development Plan that illustrates the layout of all areas including civic, commercial, and residential, the subdivision of land, the public spaces, the landscaping, the vehicular and pedestrian networks, and the phasing. Identify a variety of regional building types which fulfill the required program and develop Urban and
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Architectural Standards that define these types in terms of building envelope, the definition of public space, and typical materials and methods of construction. Prepare the Administrative Procedures for the presentation and review of work by others. Graphically present the above Analysis, Master Plan, Urban Standards with drawings, attendant diagrams, computer generated images and perspectives with sufficient graphic quality to use in promotional activities, the production being described below. Prepare dimensioned drawings in Computer Aided Design as a base for the integration of relevant design and technical information from the other Consultants. Contribute to the promotion of the project through press coverage of the Charrette. Together with the Owner’s consultants develop strategies for the development of homeowners associations.
Typical Charrette Schedule Day One Morning: The setup team arrives. Afternoon: Setup Evening: Charrette Team arrives. Initial meeting with the Owner. Day Two Morning: Lectures on the Architectural, Urban, and Social History of Nashville. Lunch: Box Lunch while historian(s) give the Charrette Team and the Owner a tour of the significant local precedents. Afternoon: The Charrette Team visits the site with the Owner and consultants. Meeting with the Owner and consultants to further develop land use strategies.
Dinner: The Owner speaks to the Charrette Team. Evening: Team leader talks about the design strategies for the project. Evening cont.: Design begins. Day Three Morning: Meetings with the Owner and his Consultants to further define the program. Design continues. Afternoon: Design continues with Owner and consultants on hand. Meetings with others. Evening: Design continues with Owner and consultants on hand. Day Four Morning: Design continues with Owner and consultants available. Afternoon: Design continues with Owner and consultants available. Evening: Presentation of revised Master Plan to the Owner, consultants and the general community for feedback. Day Five and Six Production Day Seven Morning: Production Afternoon: Public presentation of Strategic Development Plan Typical Charrette Production Master Plan: • Colored rendering graphically conveying the idea of the Master Plan for use in publication and general promotion of the project. • A drawing showing the Vehicular Network. • A drawing showing the Pedestrian Network. • A drawing showing the Existing Conditions. • A drawing showing the Street Designs. • A drawing showing the public squares, greens, parks, etc., and their relationship to the private buildings, illustrating the public realm of the
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Master Plan amid the existing and proposed landscaping. Perspective images or renderings in color of the typical street design, other public space in relation to the proposed structures, and an aerial perspective of the new neighborhood. A drawing showing the private construction and lots. The buildings will be shown in hypothetical footprints. A map of the proposed Land Use Zoning. A map of the Phasing.
Buildings: Model Residential Types: • plans and elevations (4 or 5). Public Buildings: • drawings and/or images showing the scale and character of the proposed public buildings and entrance. The Standards (design guidelines): The Urban Standards outlining each type of building in the Master Plan in terms of: • Placement of lots including setbacks, minimum and maximum, and easements. • Maximum and minimum heights for all site structures. • Sizes and placement of porches, balconies, outbuildings, garages, etc. • Requirements of site elements such as walls, fences, accesses, etc. • Location and requirements of on-site parking. • Massing and footprint requirements to give specific typological character. • Allowable ranges for geometric massing such as roof pitches and projections. • Location of services such as utility meters and trash containers.
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The Architectural Standards outlining the materials and methods of constructions required to design and construct the buildings.
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The Administrative Procedures to help the Owner and the Supervising Architect administer the Standards.
Phase III, Development and Implementation The Design Team should: •
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Assist the consultants in the production of documents for official review and approval by local authorities and other governmental agencies. Advise the Owner in the hiring of project supervisor. Review design proposals by other architects, landscape architects, and designers until such a time that the Supervising Architect retained by the owner is deemed ready to do so by mutual agreement of the Owner and the Team. Oversee and assist in the implementation of the working drawings produced by the Civil Engineer. Review the shop drawings of benches, signage, lamps, sidewalk materials, and other site furnishings or infrastructure. Visit the site on a periodic basis to advise on road location and to determine if the quality of the work is proceeding in accordance with the Master Plan and Standards (estimated to be two or three trips per year). Assist in the marketing effort through lectures, interviews, and publications of the Project. Refine and update the Master Plan and Standards as necessary to reflect developing site and market conditions and changes required by the enactment of laws and regulations subsequent to the preparation of the documents. Coordinate brochure drawings and renderings. Coordinate the dimensioned drawings with the other Consultants.
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Preliminary requirements for waste disposal including means, methods, and suitable locations. Preliminary calculations on water retention, runoff, and impervious surfaces. A program listing building uses with their required sizes and quantities. This program should include quantitative, marketing, and scheduling information as well as general objectives.