The Hermitage Hotel is an architectural treasure, prompting countless visitors to marvel at its grandeur over the past century. The high quality of construction and workmanship ensured that the original marble, the ornamental plaster detail, and many other original attributes of the hotel remain intact today. The landmark’s lasting splendor is credit to the builders, the architect, and the citizens of Nashville who made it possible.
The Hermitage Hotel is Nashville’s finest remaining example of Beaux Arts architecture, a style ubiquitous throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. At the time, many large public buildings including as courthouses, universities, railroad stations, theaters, and hotels were constructed in such fashion. Today, The Hermitage is greatest local testament to that era in architectural history.
A native of Columbia, Tennessee, James E. R. Carpenter attended the famous architectural school in Paris, the Ecole des Beaux Arts. J.E.R. Carpenter served as architect of the Hermitage Hotel, and then went on to become a premier designer of luxury high-rise apartment buildings in New York City. Many of his buildings still stand today as highly covetable addresses along Park and 5th Avenues, a testament to the enduring style of his works.