Boyd House at Fisk University

The red brick building near the southwest corner of Meharry Blvd. and 16th Ave. N. is Boyd House, on the Fisk University campus. The two-story building dates to around 1910 to 1914 (it is standing on a 1914 map), when it was the residence of Dr. Henry A. Boyd, a leading African American local entrepreneur. Fisk University purchased the house in October 1938 to become a dormitory for women. Boyd House was most recently used at Fisk as a Living-Learning Center but has been vacated to be renovated after a fire and water damage. It was almost demolished in 2020 but was saved after a petition drive. Boyd House is one of numerous buildings that make up the Fisk University Historic District, added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.

Dr. Henry Alan Boyd (1876-1959) was a trustee of Fisk University and a Nashville entrepreneur. His father, Dr. Richard Henry Boyd (1843-1922) was born enslaved in Mississippi. The father and son started a number of Nashville businesses that catered to African Americans, including the National Baptist Publishing Board in 1896 (now R.H. Boyd Publishing), the Negro Doll Company, One Cent Savings (later Citizens) Bank, and a local newspaper, The Nashville Globe (1906). Dr. Henry Alan Boyd was married to Georgia Bradford (1884-1952), a suffragist and a leader in Nashville's Colored Women's Club. Henry Alan and Georgia were the original owners of and lived in the brick house at Meharry Blvd. and 16th Ave. N. Upon the elder Reverend Boyd's death in 1922, Henry Alan took over running the Baptist Publishing Company. Henry Alan was the first treasurer of The Nashville Globe and later served as editor of the newspaper until his death in 1959; the paper folded the following year. He also was a prominent member of the National Negro Press Association.

The Boyd House was designed by McKissack & McKissack, a Black-owned architectural firm. One of the McKissack brothers, Moses, was a graduate of Fisk University. The two-story, red brick house rests on a stone foundation. Its porch, one-story and supported by Doric columns, has been removed some time since the late 1970s. The house is a bit earlier than previously estimated (1915 to 1920). The 1914 Sanborn map of the neighborhood shows the house standing, as a wood frame house with brick veneer on the exterior, with a one-story front porch across the width of the building, facing Harding St. (now Meharry Blvd.). The distinctive bay windows are shown on the home. The rear of the dwelling featured a two-story porch along the western two-thirds of the south facade. There was a two-story wood frame stable/ garage in the southeast corner of the lot, near 16th Ave. N., with a one-story wing to the west.

In the late 1970s, Boyd House was used as an Honors Center at Fisk. The building has also served as a guest house for Fisk and the home of the Race Relations Institute. By 2001, Boyd House contained Fisk's Admission and Financial Aid offices. Fundraising is underway to be able to restore the Boyd House and turn it into Fisk classrooms and a lecture hall. R.H. Boyd Publishing, now headed by Dr. Ladonna Boyd (a great-great niece of Henry Alan), is involved in the effort along with Fisk University to raise the $1.1 million needed.

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Farmer, Blake. Deadline Looms to Save Historic Nashville Home of Prominent Black Family, 90.3 WPLN News. August 29th, 2021. Accessed November 4th, 2022. https://wpln.org/post/deadline-looms-to-save-historic-nashville-home-of-prominent-Black-family/.

Harvey, Paul. Henry Alan Boyd, Tennessee Encyclopedia. March 1st, 2018. Accessed November 4th, 2022. https://tennesseeencyclopedia.net/entries/henry-allen-boyd/.

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Mazel, Lena. Preservationists See the Boyd House as an Example of How to Protect Nashville's History, Nashville Scene. January 6th, 2021. Accessed November 4th, 2022. https://www.nashvillescene.com/news/citylimits/preservationists-see-the-boyd-house-as-an-example-of-how-to-protect-nashville-s-history/article_c6c3cc8a-2605-11ec-90ec-bbd5b2394ea1.html.

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R.H. Boyd Publishing Corporation. A Timeline of Our History, R.H. Boyd. January 1st, 2021. Accessed November 4th, 2022. https://rhboyd.com/pages/about.