Tennessee State Capitol

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Listed in the National Register of Historic Places

A National Historic Landmark, the Tennessee State Capitol sits on the highest hill in the central city.  Designed in the Greek Revival Style by architect William Strickland who moved to Nashville from Philadelphia, it is his last and perhaps his finest work. Strickland began his career as an apprentice to Benjamin Latrobe, the first architect of the U.S. Capitol. He died in 1854, before the completion of the Tennessee State Capitol, and, according to his wishes, was buried in the walls of the northeast corner of the building. Built with Tennessee limestone, the building employs the Ionic and Corinthian orders, the two most highly regarded in Greek architecture. To match the elegancy of the exterior, Strickland makes extensive use on the interior of cast iron, an avant garde building material of the 1840s, as seen in the highly decorative spiral staircase and library balconies.     

Also on Capitol Hill are various other monuments including the tomb of President and Mrs. James K. Polk, an equestrian statue of President Andrew Jackson by Clark Mills, monuments to Civil War hero Sam Davis and World War I hero Alvin York, and six cedar trees planted to commemorate the six million Jews who died as a result of the Holocaust.