The Smith House is the only grand townhouse remaining in downtown Nashville. Built in the late 1840’s, it is a magnificent example of ante-bellum Italianate architecture. With six bedrooms and bathrooms on three floors, two parlors, a large kitchen, outdoor courtyard, a formal dining room, a breakfast room, a game room (which featured Nashville’s first bowling alley), two trap doors, and a grand ballroom for 200 guests… the home is deceptively large.
Three famous Tennesseans – John Overton, George Deaderick and Jacob McGavock- all separately owned the property prior to the building of the house. During the 1840’s the Claiborne family built the house that stands today. Records reveal that Mary Claiborne ran a respectable boarding house for many years naming many of Nashville’s most prominent citizens as residents. During the Civil War, Union soldiers occupied the house and used the prominent second floor library for strategic meetings and planning for the battle of Nashville.