elegant nashville hospitality
Southern hospitality is alive and well and strong enough to compete with international competition
client
Union Station Hotel
location
Nashville, Tennessee
project
Rebranding
Category
Hospitality
Originally built in the year 1900, Union Station served the city of Nashville as a major local train station and epicenter for travel. The imposing Gothic design, complete with turrets and towers, made Union Station an architectural marvel in its day, delighting travelers with its beautiful detailing, including ornate wood carvings, sparkling stained glass, beautiful Italian marble, and soaring ceilings.
As the years passed and times changed, the once heavily trafficked station had begun to fall into obsolescence. After nearly 100 years, a National Historic Landmark designation, and a $15.5 million renovation, Union Station was breathing a new life as Nashville’s newest luxury hotel.
No longer just for passing through, Union Station had become a destination, finished with modern touches that invoke the spirit of a new and nostalgic Nashville. Today, the hotel in the heart of the city offers 125 uniquely decorated guest rooms and suites, an on-site bar and restaurant, beautifully appointed event spaces, and more.
In 2015, new competition from new, international hotel brands began to encroach on the Union Station market and Panzano+Partners was brought into the rebrand the hotel.
We took the strengths of the historic property and the unique nature of the project, and created a position that only they could own. The Marriott or the W Hotel might be very nice and clearly modern, but no one could replicate the elegant southern hospitality of Union Station, so we set about capturing that.
The building was still the main focus, but the stories that are created within those walls transcend time.
When everyone is trying to be new, rely on your history.
Union Station in Nashville had always been a larger than life character in a town of larger than life characters. Once the hub of life for anyone traveling to or from Nashville, Union Station had been transformed into a hotel that served the very best. Performers, actors, musicians and politicians all chose Union Station as the place to be. With new competition opening just blocks away, it was important to remind the community that Union Station was still the place to be and no amount of modern steel and glass would ever compare to the legacy of the old South.
history
We wanted to embrace our past, not chase the future.
utterly unique
The architecture and details of the building have always been the star.
the place to be
Despite newer options, Union Station was still the place to be.
