The historic Warren House on Broadway has been sold, prompting preservationists to step in to try to save it.
Developers have bought the land the home sits on and plan to build apartments and a hotel. The home, built in 1888, will be demolished to make room for that development.
"This house really is worth saving," Chris Redman said. "It's rock solid from the outside. It hasn't deteriorated. It's really hard to believe it's 128 years old."
Redman has hatched a plan to try to save the home.
Instead of buying the land back, Redman has decided to hire a company to move the home from its lot near Midtown to a lot in Marathon Village.
"It is a crazy undertaking, but we can't rebuild a house from 1888," Redman added.
The Canadian-born preservationist has enlisted the help of Barry Walker, the man who developed Marathon Village. Walker has donated a significant amount of money and the land the home will go on.
The two have a few months to continue raising $800,000.
"If it can be accomplished, it'd be a great thing to be able to try to do this and save some of the wonderful historic structures in Nashville," Walker said.
The home once housed Atlantic Records and was most recently a law firm. The Warren House was placed on the "Nashville Nine" list in 2014. The list highlights the nine properties that are most endanger of being demolished.
"[Demolishing the home] is going to leave us Nashvillians behind with all these big shiny buildings and no history," Redman said.
The majority of the money will go to preparing the home to move and the actual move itself. Once it's in place at the corner of 14th and Clinton Street, Walker will work to restore it. He hopes to open it as a restaurant or bed and breakfast.
"Literally picking up an entire 500 ton structure and lifting it and carrying it several blocks over is incredible, and it's kind of making history at the same time," said Walker.
If you'd like to donate, there is a Warren House Preservation fund set up at all First Tennessee Banks. There is also a GoFundMe page. You can access that here.
