Jubilee Hall is the oldest academic building on the campus of

Fisk University Fisk University is a Private university, private Historically black colleges and universities, historically black Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Nashville, Tennessee. It was founded in 1866 and its campus i ...

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

, United States. Completed in 1876, it was the university's first permanent building, and is a good local example of Gothic Revival architecture. It was designated a

National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a National Register of Historic Places property types, building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the Federal government of the United States, United States government f ...

in 1974, in recognition of the university's place as one of the first

historically black colleges and universities Historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of serving African Americans. Most are in the Southern U ...

to be established after the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...

. It presently serves as an undergraduate residence hall. In 2017 the Tennessee Historical Commission installed a marker honoring the

Fisk Jubilee Singers The Fisk Jubilee Singers are an African-American a cappella ensemble, consisting of students at Fisk University in Nashville, Tennessee, Nashville, Tennessee. The first group was organized in 1871 to tour and raise funds for college. Their early ...

, whose 1870s European tour raised the funds to pay for the building's construction.

Description and history

Jubilee Hall is located on the Northern side of the Fisk University Campus, on a loop drive at the Northern end of 17th Avenue North at Meharry Boulevard. It is a large L-shaped masonry building, six stories in height, with a hip roof adorned with gabled dormers and projections. Its main facade is divided into a central section and slightly projecting end sections, with a tower rising at the junction of the center and right sections. The tower rises to an open octagonal belfry and steeple, all adorned with Gothic spires. Windows are generally set in segmented-arch openings, either singly or pairwise, with arched stone lintels. The main roof cornice has decorative brick corbelling. and Fisk University was founded in 1865 through the efforts of the antislavery

American Missionary Association The American Missionary Association (AMA) was a Protestant-based abolitionist group founded on in Albany, New York. The main purpose of the organization was abolition of slavery, education of African Americans, promotion of racial equality, and ...

, and was named for Clinton B. Fisk. The school was qualitatively different from other schools, in that it was designed from the outset to provide a full liberal arts education to its African-American students. In 1871, the financially troubled school raised funds to build Jubilee Hall by sending the

in their first

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

singing tour in 1873.Fisk Jubilee Singers: Our History
, accessed August 4, 2009Kay Beasley
Fisk Jubilee Singers (1871–)

Tennessee State University Tennessee State University (Tennessee State, Tenn State, or TSU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Founded in 1912, it is the only state-funded historically black university in Tennes ...

. Accessed 31 August 2006. Jubilee Hall was built in 1873-76 with proceeds from the tour. It was designed by New York architect Stephen D. Hatch. Although its exterior is little changed, the interior has been completely modernized to provide dormitory facilities. It also houses a floor-to-ceiling portrait of the original Jubilee Singers that was given to the university by

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

during the 1873 tour.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places National Historic Landmarks in Tennessee Buildings and structures in Nashville, Tennessee Fisk University University and college buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Tennessee National Register of Historic Places in Nashville, Tennessee

Description and history

See also

References