Oh, if only walls could talk.
When Jason and Erin Hollis purchased the Douglas Corner Café property and began renovations, they discovered more and more stories with each brick wall and each piece of flooring they revealed. The Hollises, a dream team of musician and designer, were the ideal couple to transform the old Douglas Corner building into a thriving new venue, The Eighth Room.
Jason could envision what the venue could offer, musically, while Erin had the vision for the ambience they sought. The Hollises’ story—and that of The Eighth Room—starts with a walk.
“Douglas Corner was on my walking path, and I saw that it was boarded up and for sale,” says Jason. “Of course, as a musician, I knew it was a musical giant of a building. I remember playing there in the ’90s. Erin and I realized we could purchase the property and transform it into a small, intimate music venue. “We wanted to build on the rich history of this ‘corner’ and ensure that it remains vital into the future.”
Indeed, the building’s history is extraordinary. Douglas Corner hosted Garth Brooks before he was a household name; Big & Rich played there, and Queen played there the night before they performed at Bridgestone. And there’s the unforgettable story of a young Trisha Yearwood being signed when she was on the Douglas Corner stage.
“Our vision was to create a venue where a music producer could walk in and change a young singer’s life,” said Jason. “In our renovations, we wanted to make sure to honor the original space and what it meant to Nashville’s music community. We want to ensure this building will continue to hold a place in the hearts of Nashville’s music community.”
The condition of the original space necessitated the Hollises pulling everything down to the studs except for the historic stage. Some interior brick had been mortared over and stained with 30 years of cigarette smoke. Chipping away at the mortar, the Hollises were able to expose beautiful antique brick. Similarly, when pulling up old carpet, the team discovered five or six layers of laminate floors. At the end, they exposed a concrete floor that had been laid with a technique not done in construction anymore. The Hollises graded the floor down to make it level and smooth, and inlaid a gold foil into all the cracks.
Looking up, the Hollises realized the ceiling had its own stories to tell. The ceiling tiles were lime green, layered with coats of paint. While stripping the paint, Jason discovered four feet of headroom above the ceiling. He spent a month on scaffolding to expose the 106-year-old beams and refinish them.
“Uncovering those beams changed the room’s perspective,” Jason says. “They gave the room depth and a whole new life. “We were careful to stay focused on the music industry while bringing in unique design elements that are not in Nashville yet. That’s where Erin’s design expertise came into play.”
According to Erin, doing renovations on an old building always carries the risk of not protecting the integrity of the structure’s age. She knew she had to respect all the decades that had gone before.
“We installed all vintage chandeliers and furniture from the sixties, seventies, and eighties,” says Erin. “We focused on high-end items; if I couldn’t find a vintage piece, we had it custom made. We were also able to repurpose some items; for instance, the back deck was falling down, so we rebuilt it using the original floorboards from Douglas Café.”
Special consideration was spent on the VIP Green Room, which can be reserved for parties. The Versace wallpaper is the last wallpaper the famous designer was working on before his untimely murder. The silk thread in the wallpaper achieves the elegance Erin was seeking and is one more example of her exquisite attention to detail.
The Eighth Room features licensed prints from Andy Warhol’s collection, as well as 1960s Italian subway tile and lights from the 1940s. It’s as if all of Douglas Corner’s past decades are represented as the Eighth Room takes musicians and music lovers through the next century.
The Hollises use their social media network to inform loyal patrons of the acts that are performing. The Eighth Room is usually open four nights a week. One popular night is the first Tuesday of every month, which is karaoke night. As Jason points out, you never know which famous musician will hop up on stage to sing.
“We love the fact that we are able to continue the love of live music that Douglas Corner fostered,” says Jason. “So many of our events are publicized through word of mouth and social media. It’s definitely an IYKYK situation. Next year we will probably lock down a more regular schedule.”
For now, the couple doesn’t have trouble bringing in the crowds: old-timers who tell stories and new fans who have discovered the intimate, carefully curated ambience. As the couple spent the year of COVID in renovations, they uncovered more of the history of Douglas Corner.
“In its beginning, the building housed a pharmacy, with the pharmacist living in the back,” Erin says. “It is amazing and awe-inspiring to think of what went on within these walls, of this structure being a steadfast witness to Nashville history.”
Turns out, those walls don’t need to talk. The patrons do. Night after night, telling stories and hearing the music that is so distinctly Nashville. (2106 8th Ave S.; eighthroom.com)