Music Row, the central point to Nashville's booming music industry centered around 16th and 17th Avenues, has received "National Treasure" status from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, according to The Boot. The push for the label has come in the wake of the near demolition of RCA Studio A during 2014, in hopes to counter other attempts to remove other buildings essential to the creation of the "Nashville sound" in the future (for the record, RCA Studio B was listed on the National Register of Historic Places during 2012).
"Music Row has been the focal point of Nashville's music industry for almost 70 years," the National Historic Society website reports. "From within its modest homes and small commercial buildings, artists, songwriters, producers and publishers have created a remarkable canon of popular music...despite its significance to the identity, economy and culture of Music City, Music Row remains vulnerable to Nashville's booming development."
Part of the complaints made against the continued existence of facilities such as RCA Studio A is that many buildings don't have the same economic efficiency as they once did. Part of the deal that comes with being a national treasure is that the National Trust will research and aid in planning to make the buildings more sustainable, perhaps as tourist attractions or otherwise.
Issues that immediately rise from the National Trust's announcement, according to The Tennessean, is the trouble in defining "Music Row." Everyone accepts that the row has never been one street worth of buildings, and the disparate age and architectural designs present separates from other historic neighborhoods. The encroachment of growing (and profitable) residential neighborhoods surrounding Music Row make decisions tougher yet.
