Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Mu-
seum of Art
Cheekwood
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
Cheekwood Mansion
Location:
1200 Forest Park Dr.
Nashville, Tennessee
Coordinates:
36°05′21″N 86°52′36″W / 36.0892°N
86.8767°W / 36.0892;
-86.8767Coordinates: 36°05′21″N
86°52′36″W / 36.0892°N 86.8767°W /
36.0892; -86.8767
Built/Founded:
1929
Architect:
Bryant Fleming
Added to NRHP:
August 23, 2000
NRHP Reference#: 00000993
Cheekwood
is a privately funded 55-acre
(220,000 m2) estate on the western edge of
Nashville,
Tennessee
that
houses
the
Cheekwood Botanical Garden and Mu-
seum of Art. Formerly the residence of
Nashville’s Cheek family, the 30,000-square-
foot (2,800 m2) Georgian-style mansion was
opened as a museum in 1960.
The house that coffee
built
Christopher Cheek founded a wholesale gro-
cery business in Nashville in the 1880s. His
son, Leslie Cheek, joined him as a partner,
and by 1915 was president of the family-
owned company. Leslie’s wife, Mabel Wood,
was a member of a prominent Clarksville
family. Meanwhile, Joel Cheek, Leslie’s cous-
in, had developed an acclaimed blend of cof-
fee that was marketed through Nashville’s
finest hotel, the Maxwell House Hotel. Le-
gend has it that Theodore Roosevelt pro-
claimed the blend "Good to the last drop,"
which is still a registered trademark for the
product. Cheek’s extended family, including
Leslie and Mabel Cheek, were investors. In
1928, the Postum Cereals Company (now
General Foods) purchased Maxwell House’s
parent company, Cheek-Neal Coffee,
for
more than $40 million.
With their income secured by the pro-
ceeds from the sale, Leslie Cheek bought
100 acres (0.40 km2) of what was then wood-
land in West Nashville for a country estate.
He hired New York residential and landscape
architect, Bryant Fleming, and gave him con-
trol over every detail - from landscaping to
interior furnishings. The result was a lime-
stone mansion and extensive formal gardens
inspired by the grand English manors of the
18th
century.
Fleming’s
masterpiece,
Cheekwood, was completed