More Than A Makeover
Restoring a historic landmark for modern use
By Jenny Hannon
Photos: Trent Rosenblom
French for “an alley in a park lined with trees,” the Allée is a beloved setting for weddings, engagements, and family events, as well as for running, hiking, and horseback-riding on the connecting trails and bridle paths into the forest of Nashville’s Warner Parks. The Allée steps are a favorite for athletes and weekend warriors who utilize them for rigorous workouts.
Designed by the noted landscape designer Bryant Fleming in the early 1930s and built by Works Progress Administration (WPA) craftsmen, the structure includes mortared limestone columns, steps, terraces, and curving walls. Completed circa 1936, the Allée provides scenic views of the front entrance and introduces the scenic trail system of the park.
When I started as executive director of Friends of Warner Parks (FOWP), the board initiated a $3-million capital campaign to restore the Allée steps and surrounding woodlands at the main entrance to the park —perhaps the most iconic and treasured place/landscape on the park property.
A Little Background
Friends of Warner Parks is a 32-year-old, non-profit organization dedicated to protecting Nashville’s Edwin and Percy Warner Parks—known as the Warner Parks; it covers 3,200 acres with 60.5 miles of hiking, biking, and horse-riding trails, and scenic paved roadways. The Warner Parks also includes 500 acres consisting of the Burch Reserve, a forested natural area, and the Hill Forest, a designated state natural area, considered to be the largest tract of old-growth forest in an urban setting in the Southeast. The park has more than 1-million visitors per year.
Friends of Warner Parks works in close partnership with Metropolitan Nashville Parks and Recreation Department, the parks’ owner. Friends funds much of the trail maintenance and invasive-plant control in Warner Parks and supports various funding of the Nature Center staff and programs. The public-private partnership between Friends and Metro Parks leverages taxpayer dollars and charitable contributions to accomplish more than either entity could do separately.
The Allée is a contributing structure for Warner Parks being listed in the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district and as a local landmark with the Metro Historical Commission and Metro Historic Zoning Commission.
The challenge was to restore a historic icon, remaining true to its original intent and landmark status, while accounting for its modern uses. The restoration of the historic Allée includes the repair of severely damaged historic stonework, as well as addressing structural integrity and critical erosion concerns around the site.
To address historic integrity and modern uses/athletic pursuits, the Friends worked with the Metro Historical Commission, which approved some justifiable changes to the original design of the Allée, addressing erosion and drainage issues as well as the contemporary public use of the limestone steps and scenic overlooks. For example, sandstone pavers with polymeric sand joints are being used to replace small-grade limestone gravel material. This will provide safer footing for park visitors and a more stable surface to control erosion, while maintaining the aesthetic to which park users have become accustomed.
Construction Begins
The first phase of the six-month Allée Rehabilitation project began on January 6, 2020. As a lead-up to the renovation, we proactively shared with constituents the temporary closing of the Allée. This was especially important as hundreds of park visitors use the steps in their daily workouts as well as its providing access to the connecting trails. No weddings would be scheduled until September, and the Allée would not serve as its usual, beautiful background for family picnics, fun runs, and prom pictures. We utilized comprehensive signage, social media, email blasts, television and newspaper coverage, outreach tents in the park, and site tours to spread the word, well before the work began.
The renovation was conducted by skilled masonry contractors, The Tradesmens Group, Inc. The first phase of work, from January through April 2020, included site staging, securing the construction area with fencing and appropriate signage, materials delivery, equipment rental, masonry cleaning (i.e., joint removal and tuck pointing), drainage and erosion controls and soil stabilization, selected tree pruning (i.e., removal and stump grinding), and sandstone-paver installation.
The next step was undertaking significant masonry repairs and replacing damaged stones, repairing and installing drainage culverts, resurfacing impacted asphalt drives and a parking lot, implementing a landscape-design plan that included native plantings and woodland restoration, installing a new irrigation system, and upgrading lighting for the flagpole at the base of the Allée steps.
Counting On Contractors
The significant rainfall in the Nashville area last winter was a challenge. The contractor overcame this by maintaining a flexible schedule to take advantage of good weather, and by supplementing the workforce with nine crew members from a job site in another state.
We have worked closely with The Tradesmen Group, Inc., and other primary contractors, including Collier Engineering Co. and Tara Armistead Landscape Architecture. There are subcontractors working on tree pruning, removal and stump grinding, landscape planting, asphalt removal and resurfacing, lighting and irrigation, and invasive-plant removal. We also engaged the pro bono services of a former board member, Larry Wieck, who is a professional construction expert, to serve as the “owner's representative” and to provide recommendations on all aspects of the project, including the approval of the contract, progress review, and payment applications.
The general contractor has a professional strategy for success:
Bi-weekly meetings to review all aspects of the project
A 3-week- ahead schedule of activity and priorities for progress
”Mock-ups” and samples of masonry techniques and materials for review and approval by the project committee
Emergency call lists with contact information for addressing issues in a timely manner.
This strategy has been extremely helpful in keeping the project on track.
The approximate total cost of the project is $2.6 million. There were additional costs for civil engineering and design planning in advance of the construction phase. The funding was raised through the “It’s My Nature” capital-campaign efforts. There have also been significant in-kind contributions of staff and board member time by FOWP, the Metro Parks Department, and the Metro Historical Commission.
The project was completed and reopened to the public on October 2. A key to success was communicating with constituents to save these steps and sustain the legacy of Warner Parks for future generations, and in preparation for the centennial anniversary in 2027.
Jenny Hannon is the Executive Director for Friends of Warner Parks in Nashville, Tenn. Reach her at (615) 370-8053, or Jhannon@warnerparks.org.