Avenue Bank Building Elicits Mixed Emotions

I continue to wrestle with my thoughts regarding the recently opened Green Hills building home to Avenue Bank. Located at 3823 Cleghorn Avenue and across the street from La Paz, the building is perhaps best recognized for its barn-like shape. That jarring form, along with the structure's "turning of its side" to the street (with this "anti-urban design model" resulting in the facade facing the building on the adjacent lot), limits my full enjoyment in viewing 3823. Of note, I am hesitant to criticize Nashville-based architect Tuck-Hinton for its design work, as the company may have been limited by a tight budget and the desires of Avenue Bank officials to site the building as is (in part, of course, to accommodate motorists). On a positive note, the building's brick color, sleek roofing material, metal window frames, window proportionality and overall height are all of solid or strong attractiveness.

Compared to First Tennessee's Looney Ricks Kiss-designed cookie-cutter "faux-traditional" free-standers on 21st Avenue, Gallatin Road and Thompson Lane, 3823 Cleghorn is a masterpiece. In contrast, First Tennessee's two contemporary branches (on West End Avenue and White Bridge Road and expertly designed by LRK) are much more eye-catching than the 3823 Cleghorn building. For that matter, I like Tuck-Hinton's quality retrofit of the West End Avenue building home to Avenue Bank more so than the design firm's built-from-scratch 3823 effort.