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Nashville's Art-Deco style Frist Center was formerly its main post office building

The Frist Center for the Visual Arts is an art museum in Nashville, Tennessee.

The museum is housed in what used to be the main post office designed by Marr & Holman Architects for the city of Nashville, which had been built in the 1930s near Union Station, since most mail at that time was moved by train. As the city grew the need for a more up-to-date main facility was obvious. When a new main post office was built in 1986 the historic old facility became a downtown branch using only a small portion of one floor.

In the early 1990s Thomas F. Frist, Jr., and his family, through the charitable Frist Foundation, took up the task of converting the old post office into an art museum. They implemented an interesting public/private venture between the Frist Foundation, the U.S. Postal Service, and the city of Nashville. The museum opened in April of 2001.

In 1998 the City of Nashville took over ownership of the building from the U.S. Postal Service for the purpose of creating the Frist Center for the Visual Arts. A renovated post office branch was opened in the basement in 1999.

As a non-collecting museum, the Frist Center does not have a permanent collection in the truest sense; rather, the museum focuses on creating exhibitions as well bringing in travelling exhibitions, of which several are usually running concurrently.

A primary goal of the center is in supporting arts education. The center provides services such as teacher education, summer arts camps, community outreach programs, and various other programs designed to further arts education.

• Official Web Site