I’m in Nashville this week for the CONSTRUCT show, and I’ve been scoping out some of the beautiful doors in town. My 1 vs. 100 Fire/Life-Safety class went well today…nobody fell asleep or faked an injury so they could leave early. Tomorrow I have 1 vs. 100 Electrified Hardware at 2:45, so if you’re here at CONSTRUCT, head over to the Learning Pavilion. I decided today that the only thing worse than speaking to a large crowd is speaking to nobody, but luckily I had a pretty full class. Tomorrow will be the same “game show” format but with a different topic, so come back if you attended today! On Friday morning at 9:30 (room 205C), I’m participating in the CONSTRUCT Bloggers Panel, so if you’ve ever thought about starting a blog, have any questions about blogging, or just want to meet some bloggers, come on down!

Anyway…I heard a rumor that there were some beautiful bronze doors at the public library in Nashville. I walked by last night and saw doors that looked pretty plain, and surprisingly they were locked from the outside with cables and padlocks!

Exterior at Night

Cable Lock

The padlock theme carried across the street to the bike racks:

Bike Rack

But I had a feeling that there was something special inside, and I went back today while the library was open. On the inside of the doors, there are bronze panels depicting native plants and animals of Tennessee, along with people reading and learning. The bronze doors were created by Nashville artist, Alan LeQuire. I’m not sure how I feel about the second set of doors just inside…I’ve seen this situation on old buildings with large wood or bronze panels that were secured at night outside of the regular swinging doors. But those panels usually open into a 90-degree pocket so they’re not just hanging out onto the sidewalk. The artwork is gorgeous though.

Doors

Panels 1 Panels 2

Panels 3 Panels 4

Panels 5 Panels 6

Panels 7 Panels 8

Panels 9 Panels 10

Panels 11 Panels 12

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