'An icon for Nashville' The Batman Building turns 30 years old

Of all the architecture in Downtown Nashville, you might call it the hero of the Nashville skyline. It technically has other names — 333 Commerce or the AT&T Building — but most call it the Batman Building. Mainly, that's because of the striking resemblance to a certain caped crusader.

"That is the Batman Building," Kenneth Payne said, as he walked to lunch downtown. "It definitely stands out among all the other buildings downtown."

"We know it as the Batman Building," Gary Goforth said, as he walked across the Seiganthaler Pedestrian Bridge. "You’ve got the two ears that look like ears of the batman hat or hood that he wears."

"Whatever people want to call it, it’s become an icon for Nashville," Ron Lustig, a Principal at Earl Swensson Associates said.

Lustig played a pivotal role in the design of the tower, which officially opened for business 30 years ago. But he wants to make something very clear — B-man wasn't the inspiration for the iconic skyrise. "They wanted something that identified South Central Bell with this city, that people knew they were here," Lustig said.

Back in 1991, Earl Swensson Associates was hired on to design a new downtown tower for the telecommunications company that is now AT&T. "It was a lot of creative ideas that worked through the process," he said.

The team wanted to pay honor to South Central Bell's line of work with twin radio tower spires outside, and a fitting homage inside the grand glass lobby. "If you look down into the Winter Garden from up above, it looks like an old rotary phone," Lustig said.

The CEO of South Central Bell loved it from the moment he saw the model of the proposed building. "Wood Ezell said, that’s it!" Lustig recounts.

But not everyone was exactly enamored with the renderings when they first came out. NewsChannel 5 found an old clip in our archive from 1992 when one Nashvillian said he wasn't sure what to think of the top of the building. "It’s unique. I don’t know about being very attractive, but it’s very unique," said the man in an aired interview.

Slowly but surely, as construction neared completion in 1994, Nashville's bat senses started tingling. A front-page story from the Tennessean newspaper certainly fed into the idea.

"Do you like the comparisons, personally?" NewsChannel 5 asked Lustig. "Doesn’t bother me," he replied.

But if you ask Ron, it's not being the Dark Knight doppelganger that makes the building iconic. It's some of the flourishes, even the literal positioning of the building. "This building got turned 45 degrees on the grid, and that’s part of what makes it recognizable. Because all of a sudden you see it from all different parts of the city," said Lustig. "I drive down Hillsboro Road at night, I can see it."

Whatever the reason, as the Batman Building celebrates 30 years on the Nashville skyline, much like its namesake, it's become larger than life. "Never did we think it would be as big as it turned out," Lustig said. "It’s one of the most recognized buildings in the world."

Do you have more information or memories associated with this story? You can email me at Chris.Davis@NewsChannel5.com .

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