1919 Wildwood Avenue

In 1901 the Belmont Land Company secured a franchise to run a street railway up Belmont Boulevard, and the land south of Adelicia Acklen's Belmont estate began its conversion into one of Nashville's streetcar suburbs. The oldest plats in Belmont-Hillsboro date to 1890 and 1891; the blocks filled southward for half a century, and a large portion of the neighborhood was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

The southern streets came last, built out around 1940 in the brick cottages of the era. 1919 Wildwood Avenue went up in 1941 in the subdivision recorded as Belmont Terrace Annex, a two-story brick cottage on a corner lot of just under a third of an acre.

The house has been renovated whole, and the record survived the work. A wood burning fireplace with its marble surround anchors the living room, alongside original built in shelving, detailed ceiling trim, and the original light fixtures that hang through the house. The original stairwell, carrying a Turkish runner, climbs to a sitting room with white painted hardwood floors and an upstairs bedroom and bath with original fixtures over a new marble floor.

The kitchen is new: custom cabinets, quartz counters, brass hardware, a built in Sub-Zero, a dual gas range, and a farm sink fitted with Delta Professional hardware. Downstairs bedrooms carry custom wardrobes with inset doors and handmade hardware. Plantation shutters run throughout, and the basement is fully encapsulated with painted white floors.

Across the lot, with its own street entrance, stands a 1,060 square foot guesthouse: living and dining areas below, a bedroom, kitchen, bar seating and full bath up a run of painted white stairs. Skylights bring the light in, antique bronze chandeliers hang from the outside dormers, and a Trex deck extends the living space. A short term rental permit is in place.

Four gas lanterns light the approach, and an electric gate opens the side driveway. French doors carry the dining room out to a tree lined patio with a gas fire table, and the yard works hard behind its privacy fence: workshop, wood shed, fire pit. 12 South is a walk from the front door, with Green Hills and downtown minutes beyond.