Creating Places: Bad West End architecture

During a recent drive along West End Avenue — and after mentioning the nastiness of the building home to Electronic Express in an earlier post — I took notes regarding buildings that mar what is Nashville's most high-profile street. My apologies to any motorists or pedestrians I may have endangered while doing so. The stretch of West End upon which I focused spans 16th Avenue on the east to I-440 on the west.

We'll start at West End's east edge and focus on one per blog entry.

Here we go:

The building home to Wells Fargo and near the West End/Broadway split. This structure is oriented with its south wall (sans windows, no less) blankly staring at the street. The building's signage is both out of proportion and ugly (the frankfurter red and mustard yellow combine to suggest somebody upchucked a hotdog). Some fairly attractive landscaping helps soften the hideous vibe, but the building offers a suburban feel and uninspired design. Too often, bankers opt for conservative designs for their buildings. The Wells Fargo West End is a classic example.