For 13 years, Monell’s at the Manor made Nashville natives and tourists share a table and bond over a mouth-watering plate of family-style Southern food.
But on April 21, Monell’s at the Manor closed its door after the Metro Nashville Airport Authority refused to extend the restaurant’s lease.
With the airport eyeing runway expansion, many are unsure if the near-century old mansion can be saved from demolition.
“I know it's just a building, but it would be painful to see it torn down,” said Marianne Mashburn, owner of the Save the Manor – Save Monell’s Facebook page.
Even with there being another Monell’s location opened, for many, demolishing Monell’s at the Manor would mean demolishing history.
“I’d hate for this historic building just to be gone, you know, there's not a whole lot of them around anymore,” said Megan Baltz, a frequent customer at the restaurant.
The current Colemere Mansion that Monell’s inhabited was built in 1931 by E.W. Cole’s daughter after her father’s mansion burned down in 1929.
In 1940, the city of Nashville claimed the mansion, allowing it to become the Colemere Club in 1948.
The historic men’s club was known as “a favorite hangout of the city’s political set,” according to an article in The Tennessean.
Whether it be politicians, civil rights leaders or famous entertainers, when important people touched down in Nashville, they would set foot in the mansion.
For many Nashville residents, the mansion was known for its annual Easter egg hunt where families would scavenge the lavish property in search of golden eggs with grand prizes.
The Colemere Club shut down in 1973, leaving the mansion empty until the New Orleans Manor opened in 1977 – a fancy New Orleans-style seafood restaurant that was known for hosting formals, proms and wedding receptions.
In 2008, New Orleans closed its doors, leaving the once-lively mansion vacant yet again.
In the midst of a recession, there was seemingly no answer for who would call the mansion home as it sat alone behind wire fences and overgrown grass.
That was until 2011, when the Airport Authority approached Monell’s owner Michael King about leasing the location to his restaurant.
Initially unconvinced, King wasn’t interested in the mansion until a tour by the Airport Authority themselves convinced him to fix the place up.
Three weeks later, Monell’s at the Manor opened on Easter Sunday.
13 years later, it was celebrating its final Easter Sunday.
On the outside, the yellow-bricked mansion is supported by four grand pillars, multiple wide-framed windows for natural sunlight and a water fountain out on the lawn showing off the elegance of 20th century architecture.
Even with deep scars that crack the pillar’s base and tarps on the back of the mansion’s roof, the mansion still shines through its decay.
Stepping inside the mansion, customers were greeted with an upmost display of southern hospitality where a hostess’s smile and kind greeting can warm any customer’s heart.
This hospitality was elevated by the mansion’s carefully crafted interior featuring carved wooden floors, a delicately hanging chandelier and spiral stairs that lead to the second floor, reserved for “employees only.”
Inside the dining rooms, guests found themselves staring at old paintings of flowers, deep into their reflections captured by decorated mirrors or directly into an open community of leatherbound books sitting on a wooden shelf.
Seated at oakwood tables, families refreshed themselves with an assortment of water, sweet tea and coffee before the rules of the tables were explained.
“No phones at the table, and if you take a seat, you pay for it,” the waitress said.
Once the coffee was poured and the creamer was mixed, a delicate array of Monell’s famous country breakfast foods flooded the table.
Fried chicken, pancakes, biscuits, gravy, peach preserve, eggs, and grits; if it was in a basket, it was edible.
All foods and drinks were passed to the left, and if anyone needed refills, a Monell’s worker wearing a black apron and purple shirt would jump over the swarm of trays and families to refill some coffee.
After a family finished and looked ready to leave, they were given a laminated meal ticket that says, “I’ve eaten and I can’t get up!”
This cycle repeated itself from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., with the only change involving the menu switching from breakfast to lunch at 11 a.m.
For Noradean Johnson, she spent her last 30 years working busy holidays and shifts at Monell’s.
“They're fun for me because I'm the greeter and we sit here, chit chat, laugh and talk to people,” Johnson said.
On Thanksgiving, Johnson said Monell’s served up to 1,200 people at the Manor’s location alone.
“This lady right here,” Johnson said after getting a lady’s name written down on the waiting list. “She comes every holiday, her and her family.”
Even with such loyal customers, Johnson knew that the mansion that hosted her prom years ago was coming to an end.
“It's bittersweet, because it's just like wrapping up the story,” said Johnson.
Among others whose lives are intertwined with the mansion’s story, Mashburn kept fighting for a resolution that can save the mansion that she has worked alongside since 1992.
“I want them to allow time for all the options to be fully explored,” Mashburn said.
The main option involved extending the lease, which would have allowed time for Monell’s to find land for the mansion’s relocation before the airport begins its runway expansion.
In the scenario, Monell’s offered to cover all the expenses to repair the mansion and prep it for relocation, taking all responsibility from the airport.
Russ Bradford, a District 13 councilmember, got the proposal unanimously passed by the Nashville Metro Council in a non-binding resolution that urged the MNAA to reconsider its decision.
“There's no guarantee that that runway will go there, and even if does it’ll be three or four years down the road, why not extend the lease for a couple years?” Bradford said.
Despite these pleas, Monell’s at the Manor served its last family and moved out on April 30, with no guarantee that the mansion they have called home for the last 13 years will be saved.
As Johnson leans in to write another person’s name down, an airplane whistles through the sky, forcing her to wait until the plane has fully ascended.
“We're going to find another location, and It's going to be just as good as before,” Johnson said.
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This article was written by Seth Thorpe
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