Elks Lodge #1102, Formerly Club Baron
2614 Jefferson Street
Bringing Music Back to Historic Jefferson Street
The property was included on Historic Nashville’s “Nashville Nine” in 2021, a list of history-filled properties that are at the highest risk to disappear from our community.
This is why your generosity is so appreciated. Donations will quickly be distributed to help rebuild and restore the Historic Club Baron as an asset to Jefferson Street and Music City. Thank you for your support.
To donate, text #clubbaron to 615-551-5055.
According to Historic Nashville Inc, the concrete block building at 2614 Jefferson Street has housed Elks Lodge #1102 since 1968. Before that, though, it was an integral part of Jefferson Street’s live-music scene as Club Baron. From the mid-1950s through the mid-1960s, Club Baron booked the likes of B.B. King, Muddy Waters, Ray Charles, Little Richard, Fats Domino, and Etta James. The mural on the side of the building commemorates a legendary 1963 guitar duel between one of Club Baron’s most notable artists, Jimi Hendrix, and local blues guitarist Johnny Jones. Jones is said to have won that showdown, partly because Hendrix was still developing his genre-shaking sound and partly because Jones had the more powerful amplifier.
The building is one of the few remaining properties from a time when Jefferson Street was the city’s premiere live music corridor for Black artists. While the property’s history is rich, the same can’t be said for the current state of the building itself. The Elks Lodge is in desperate need of major structural improvements, including plumbing and electrical needs, as well as repair of flooding damage. The building just got a new roof, and a new awning is in the works. Like many buildings in North Nashville, the structure suffered damage during Nashville’s March 2020 tornado.