Mount Olivet Chapel

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"Gothic Revival Chapel" at Mt. Olivet Cemetery~This beautiful old chapel is believed to have been designed by Ryman Auditorium architect Hugh Cathcart Thompson. The brick chapel has many unique architectural features, such as a cathedral ceiling with its original woodwork in its octagonal vestry, a built-in vault, and pointed arched windows.The chapel, built in stages between the 1870s and 1940s, also housed the offices of Mt. Olivet Cemetery in a more modern building attached until the new funeral parlor and offices were built in 1996. Since then, the graceful little chapel has been left to rot, with vines climbing up over the roof and choking its two bell towers (and the original bells within). The Tennessee Preservation Trust placed this building on its endangered properties list in 2005, the same year the entire 206-acre Mt. Olivet cemetery with its 192,000 burials was listed in the National Register of Historic Places." 

The Fire...

"The fire completely destroyed this beautiful chapel. The two bell towers are GONE. The crew couldn't permit me to go inside because it looked like it could collapse at any moment." ~Morgan Adams  (See video below)

"A fire badly burned the Mt. Olivet Cemetery Chapel & Office on Sunday night, January 27th, 2015, despite years of effort by Nashville preservationists to save the historic landmark. Firefighters responded just before 9 p.m. to the Gothic Revival-style building at 1101 Lebanon Pike and found that flames were already taking hold of the abandoned chapel, said fire spokesman Brian Haas. About 4,000 feet and a hill separated the two-alarm fire from the nearest hydrant so firefighters chained engines together in order to pump water onto the blaze, Haas said. Crews made the decision not to enter the building to fight the fire, which caused several sections of the building to collapse. Built in stages between the 1870s and 1940s, the historic landmark likely was designed by Ryman Auditorium architect Hugh Cathcart Thompson. It functioned as the chapel and offices for the cemetery until it was replaced with a new facility in 1996. Historic Nashville Inc. put Mt. Olivet Cemetery Chapel & Office on its inaugural list of the city's most threatened historic places. The nonprofit advocacy group launched the Nashville Nine list in 2009 at the chapel and The Tennessean's coverage of the first list is what inspired Melissa Wyllie, the organization's current president, to join the fight to save Nashville's historical buildings. "It was a beautiful, beautiful building and it was so different and Gothic," Wyllie said. "I was very sad, just deeply saddened. It's an irreplaceable part of Nashville's history and architecture and it's just hard to imagine it's gone." The fire severely damaged the chapel and heavy equipment will likely be needed to help arson investigators safely comb through debris. Investigators are searching for a cause and making certain no one was inside during the blaze, Haas said. The cause of the fire is suspicious since the vacant building has no electricity, was fenced off..."