Sometimes, Curious Nashville questions arrive and WPLN already has an answer in hand. So while there’s less of a journey this time, the inquiry itself was written in a lively way:
In the Charlotte neighborhood there is a tall building with a man painted on the side. You can see it quite plainly when you are on the on ramp from I-40 to Briley Parkway. What’s the story behind the Biggest Man in Nashville?
“The biggest man in Nashville” — certainly an accurate way of describing the 15-story mural on the side of an abandoned silo in The Nations neighborhood.
WPLN Contributor Amy Eskind detailed the painting of the mural, and its subject,
in May 2017.
So the story is that the big man is Lee Estes, a resident of the area since the 1920s. He’s been there through its industrial days and witnessed a dramatic overhaul, including a wave of home teardowns.
And he can see the mural from his driveway.
Learn more about Estes and muralist Guido Van Helten here:
This Stunning Silo Mural Makes a West Nashville Old-Timer An Icon Of The Nations Redevelopment.
And scroll down to view a recent drone video of the “Silo Bend”area by local artist Brian Siskind, who
also documented Van Helten’s mural process.
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