Fairlane Hotel Nashville, An Original By Oliver Hotels ★★★★

A 1970s Bank Turned Mid-Century Playground

The Fairlane occupies a former bank building raised in the 1970s, and rather than erase that decade the renovation leans into it: warm tones, unusual color accents, and a mid-century modern vocabulary that reads as a deliberate choice rather than a budget constraint. The hotel operates as one of Oliver Hospitality’s Original properties, a small collection built around giving each building its own character instead of a shared brand template. Set in Nashville’s Arts District, a short walk from the Broadway strip, the building keeps its civic-scaled lobby and turns it into something closer to a living room than a check-in counter, with low furniture groupings and a working fireplace that invite guests to linger rather than pass straight through to the elevators.

Why It Works

We selected The Fairlane because it commits to an identity most downtown hotels avoid: a real design point of view, carried from the lobby through four distinct food and drink concepts, down to a signature detail as specific as the peek-a-boo showers in the 81 guest rooms. Nothing about the property reads as a default choice, which matters on a strip where several towers compete mostly on floor count. For a traveler who wants Nashville’s creative-city reputation reflected in where they sleep, not just where they go out, this is the address that backs it up, and the follow-through from public spaces to guest rooms is consistent rather than front-loaded into the lobby alone.

Why This Location

The Arts District puts the hotel within walking distance of Broadway’s honky-tonks without sitting directly inside the noise, and the neighborhood’s galleries and studios give the area a daytime identity that the entertainment district alone doesn’t have. It is an easy walk to the river and to the museums clustered downtown, which makes The Fairlane workable for a trip that mixes live music at night with something quieter during the day. The walk back from Broadway is short enough to make on foot after a late set, and the surrounding blocks stay interesting for a morning stroll rather than functioning only as a corridor to somewhere else.

Fast Facts

• Price: €€€

• Vibe: retro mid-century, playful boutique

• Chambres: 81 rooms

• Best For: design-minded travelers, couples, small groups

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: the peek-a-boo showers built into the guest rooms

• Dining: Ellington’s (retro dishes and cocktails), Bouquet Bar (champagne), Cheese Gal, Bagelshop

• Amenities: rooftop terrace bar, fitness center, meeting facilities, pet-friendly rooms

• Attractions: Broadway honky-tonks (short walk), Arts District galleries, downtown museums

Four Rooms to Drink and Eat In

Rather than a single hotel restaurant, The Fairlane spreads its food and drink program across four distinct spaces built to be visited separately. Ellington’s anchors the indoor-outdoor dining with retro-leaning dishes and cocktails; the Bouquet Bar narrows its list to champagne for anyone who wants a glass rather than a full dinner; Cheese Gal builds a destination around boards and wine; and a Bagelshop covers breakfast and lunch for guests who want something faster. The rooftop terrace bar adds a fifth register, elevated above the Arts District for evening drinks with a skyline view that takes in both the honky-tonk lights of Broadway and the quieter rooftops of the Arts District itself. It is a lot of ground to cover for an 81-room hotel, and that density is part of the appeal: guests can move between concepts over a single evening without ever leaving the building.

Rooms With a 1970s Wink

The guest rooms carry the building’s period through vintage-inspired furnishings and abundant natural light, rather than stripping the interiors back to a neutral, placeless standard. The peek-a-boo showers, partially open to the room rather than sealed behind a solid door, are the detail guests mention first, a playful choice that fits a hotel unafraid of its own decade. Several rooms also keep tall original windows that look out over the Arts District’s low rooflines, a view that feels distinctly local rather than generic. The result favors travelers happy to stay somewhere with a clear point of view over those who want a predictable, interchangeable room, and it rewards a second visit the way a generic chain property rarely does.