Nashville Public Library

The Nashville Public Library occupies a city block with a massive limestone facade modeled after the Athenian Parthenon. Inside, the grand courtyard features a sweeping staircase and a vaulted ceiling that echoes the scale of a cathedral. In the nineteen sixties, the library served as a primary site for the city's civil rights struggle. Students held sit-ins at the downtown lunch counters nearby, but they also used these reading rooms to organize their movement, finding a safe space to gather and study.