The church on Fatherland was built in 1908 with an education wing addition in the 1950s. It is located in Historic Lockeland Springs in the heart of East Nashville. The building has beautiful wood trusses, solid masonry walls, and details unique to the early 1900s style of architecture.
Centric rebuilt the old bell tower which was destroyed in a fire in the 1950s. There was a fair amount of structural damage to the base of the tower in the parts of the church that remained that is being repaired. Some stained glass windows remained and they were repurposed. The remainder of windows were replaced to match what was historically in the building. Multiple visits with Metro Historic Commission were made for approvals that were needed for the roof, windows, tower and other exterior changes.
The church has also been repurposed by a music management organization for their offices. There is a small soundproof listening room on the lower level and we kept the existing sanctuary open with the old choir mezzanine repurposed for the break area.
This project was an extensive renovation/restoration/reuse project which included a new roof and insulation, masonry repair throughout, new HVAC systems which was an extensive process to run ductwork and linesets that also satisfied the energy code, new windows throughout, a small roofdeck on the rear of the church, new electrical service plus lighting, and reconstruction of stairs to code compliance. The church is ADA compliant and an elevator was added. We had to fit this between the large trusses that made up the sanctuary roof structure so there was detailed work and coordination with the elevator supplier to find a model we could construct in this location. We also worked to create a modified elevator pit based on the existing rock with the church and the difficulty of removing it.
