Monday Night Preservation Co. – Neuhoff Boiler Building & Engine Room
Smith Gee Studio
Monday Night Preservation Co. is a 3,800-square-foot adaptive reuse project located in Nashville’s historic Germantown neighborhood. Housed in the former Neuhoff Boiler Building and Engine Room, the space blends preserved industrial elements with sustainable materials to function as both a brewery tasting room and event venue, while maintaining its historical charm. Designed with future adaptability in mind, it sets a precedent for preserving and repurposing historic properties, contributing to the ongoing revitalization of the Neuhoff District Development.
Awards Year 2024 |
Project Statement
Monday Night Preservation Co., located in Nashville's historic Germantown neighborhood, is an adaptive reuse project that transforms 3,800 square feet of former industrial space in the Neuhoff District into a vibrant brewery tasting room and outdoor event venue.
The Neuhoff District redevelopment began with a charrette organized by the McRedmond family, where community leaders, city officials, and other stakeholders collaborated to envision the future of the property. The consensus was clear: Neuhoff’s unique structures and rich history must be preserved. This vision guided the adaptive reuse of the Engine Room and Boiler Building, the current home of Monday Night Preservation Co., and serves as a gateway to the broader redevelopment of the 13-acre Neuhoff District.
Monday Night Preservation Co.’s taproom, housed in the shell of the old Engine Room, preserves the original brick walls, large steel windows, light fixtures, and polished concrete floors, creating a warm and welcoming environment that is unique to the city of Nashville. The space is thoughtfully designed to celebrate the building’s industrial roots while providing a modern, comfortable experience for visitors, with sustainable materials like IPE wood decking on the expansive patio reflecting the project’s commitment to longevity and sustainability.
The adjacent Boiler Building serves as a covered event space and outdoor extension of the tasting room. Extensive preservation efforts were made, with the deteriorating brick structure stabilized by an internal steel frame that supports the existing steel trusses. These trusses were meticulously cleaned and painted, while the multi-wythe brick walls were repointed and maintained in their ruined form to enhance the dramatic atmosphere. Original wood windows and electrical equipment were left in place, adding to the sense of historical authenticity.
Monday Night Preservation Co. was envisioned as a temporary occupant, as the space was designed for flexibility to accommodate various future tenants. This forward-thinking approach not only preserves the building’s historical character but also integrates sustainable practices and prepares for future transformations. Ensuring the space remains valuable and versatile, this project makes a significant contribution to Nashville’s evolving landscape and embodies a commitment to honoring the past while embracing future possibilities.
Framework for Design Excellence Narrative
## Design for Discovery
The transformation of Neuhoff’s Boiler Building and Engine Room into Monday Night Preservation Co. served as an imperative introduction to the preservation process for the broader Neuhoff Development. This initial project provided valuable insights that were applied throughout the larger development. It functioned as a testing ground for techniques and details, addressing the challenges of salvaging and repairing the severely decomposing brick structures.
The custom storefront not only highlighted the complexities of the preservation work but also drew visitors to the development site, offering them a glimpse of what was to come. By preserving a nearly ruined space, the transformation of Monday Night Preservation Co. fostered a sense of discovery and excitement amongst designers, visitors, and the surrounding community.
## Design for Change
Monday Night Preservation Co. currently resides in the former Neuhoff Boiler Building and Engine Room, intended as a temporary occupant of the space. The buildings were renovated to sufficiently serve tenant needs but limited enough to allow for a smooth transformation to their future final use. While stabilizing the boiler room, these long-abandoned structures initially posed structural safety risks to the neighborhood, careful restraint was exercised in the design decisions. A simple steel frame and minimal roof addition allows for the ruin-like masonry walls to express the character of the space. With preserving the building’s shell and its elements for future use as the priority, this space was intentionally designed to be adaptable and resilient to accommodate changing tenants.
Constructed around the 1940s, the original buildings served as mechanical support spaces for the Neuhoff Meat Packing Plant before transitioning into a leathermaker’s shop. Today, the space has been repurposed into the Monday Night Preservation Co., with future aspirations for transformation into a boutique hotel. As tenants continue to reimagine and adapt this space, the design and preservation of the building enhance its versatility and value.
## Design for Integration
The design of Monday Night Preservation Co. transformed a modest preservation effort into a pivotal gateway for the Neuhoff Development. For nearly three decades, locals, neighbors, and historians lobbied to preserve Neuhoff’s distinctive industrial structures. The temporary adaptation of Neuhoff’s Boiler Building and Engine Room into Monday Night Preservation Co. ensures these historic spaces are preserved as the development advances, allowing new memories and stories to emerge. This transformation has provided visitors and the surrounding community with fresh reasons to appreciate and protect the site.
Although preserving Monday Night Brewery’s space alone might not have been economically feasible, this project was crucial to the larger Neuhoff Development. It harnessed significant investment to maintain these unique structures and enrich the overall environment. The careful stabilization and preservation of the previously deteriorating Boiler Room offer a distinctive experience of space, light, and form, connecting people to Neuhoff’s history while maintaining its authenticity. By thoughtfully integrating original architecture with contemporary elements, the project leaves a lasting impression of the harmonious blending of old and new. Seamlessly blurring the boundary between indoors and outdoors, private and public spaces, and the building in its surrounding neighborhood, the project brings social value to a once-abandoned part of Germantown.
Photo Captions
Image 2 – An aerial view of the Neuhoff Packing Company, circa 1947. By that time, the plant was producing large volumes of fresh and processed meats that were being distributed all across the greater Southeast. The Boiler Building and Engine Room can be seen in the foreground.
Image 4 – Extensive efforts were made to preserve defining elements of the buildings, such as the smokestack. Unsalvageable brick was removed, while any remaining brick was repointed.
Image 5 – A view of the existing loading dock adjacent to the Boiler Building & Engine Room.
Image 6 – A new ramp and amenity deck were built over the existing loading dock to provide an accessible path and outdoor seating area for Monday Night Brewing.
Image 7 – A before view of the gateway to the Boiler Building, left neglected and succumbing to decay.
Image 8 – As part of the first phase of the redevelopment of the entire Neuhoff campus, Monday Night Preservation Co. serves as both a literal and figurative gateway to the historic site.
Image 9 – Enduring decades of abandonment and deterioration, the Boiler Building eventually devolved into a ruinous state. However, the subsequent openings in the structure created a dramatic lighting effect on the interior of the space. The Boiler Building was refitted with new steel superstructure, and existing brick was either repointed or removed if too unstable. The original windows and electrical equipment was preserved in-place. It now serves as a covered event space and temporary extension of the tasting room.
Image 10 – Lots of natural light shines onto the preserved structure through the ruinous gaps in the Boiler Building’s walls.
Image 11 – Maintaining the character of the buildings was a key goal of transforming the buildings. Preserving bits of the buildings’ past, like the electrical equipment in the Boiler Building, connects patrons back to the rich history of the site.
Image 12 – The Engine Room is now the temporary home of Monday Night Brewing, until their final location is completed in a later phase of the campus redevelopment.
Image 13 – The design interventions in the Engine Room were meant to be minimal, and were primarily to make the space compliant with Building and Fire Codes. With the tasting room being a temporary use, the goal was to preserve the building’s unique structures and provide flexibility for future development efforts.
Image 14 – The adaptive reuse of the Boiler Building & Engine Room into Monday Night Preservation Co sets the stage for the 13-acre Neuhoff District and efforts to restore this prominent site within the historic Germantown neighborhood.
General Contractor
JE Dunn Construction
Consultants
Structural Design Group – Structural Engineering, Kimley-Horn – Civil Engineering, I.C. Thomasson Associates, Inc – MEP
Photography Credit
Seth Parker
