Owners Of Tornado-Hit Tennessee Historic Buildings Face Difficult Choice

Property owners affected by the tornadoes earlier this month now face two options: rebuild or bulldoze. The storms damaged or destroyed hundreds of homes and businesses throughout Middle Tennessee. And historic buildings will require extra care.

Just hours after a tornado tore through East Nashville, architectural historian Robbie Jones stood outside his office in Five Points.

The 125-year-old building was in shambles. Jones couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“We all cried, and then we rolled up our sleeves and got to work because we had to get our offices, what we could, salvaged, out, before the building — it was actually collapsing while we were salvaging things, the roofs were caving in,” Jones says.

A week later, Jones and I are standing on the front lawn of his crumbling office building on South 11th Street, soaking in the scene.

Most of the street is blocked off by utility trucks, as crews work to replace downed electric poles. Windows are boarded up, roofs covered with blue tarp. Piles of rubble spill from the outer walls of collapsing homes.