Ryman Auditorium: The Birthplace of Country Music

In this installment of ‘Larger than Life: Architecture Through the Ages,’ we see where country music started in Nashville, Tennessee.

Situated among skyscrapers and modern all-glass buildings, Ryman Auditorium stands out with its red brick facade and Victorian Gothic Revival adornments. Pointed arched windows, classical pediment elements, and a centerpiece tracery window (divided into ornamental sections) at the top, capped triangular portion set the auditorium apart from the rest of the neighborhood. Courtesy of Deena Bouknight

A surfeit of sights and sounds have emanated from Nashville’s historic Ryman Auditorium for more than 100 years.

The Victorian Gothic Revival brick structure, designed by architect Hugh Cathcart Thompson, was built by riverboat captain Thomas Ryman. Initially, it was a venue for the late 19th-century evangelist Sam Jones and called Union Gospel Tabernacle, but when Ryman died in 1904, the structure was renamed in his honor.