Haunted hotel guide · Nashville, Tennessee
Dream Nashville and the Haunted Utopia Hotel: Printers Alley Ghosts
A sleek modern hotel wrapped around an 1891 hotel and a Gilded Age bordello in Printers Alley, with a gunfight legend on the second floor.
Printers Alley was Nashville’s after-dark district long before Lower Broadway. At its north end, Dream Nashville stitches a new tower onto two of the area’s oldest buildings: the Utopia Hotel, a six-story Romanesque hotel from 1891, and the saved front wall of the Climax Saloon, which opened in 1887 and was the most notorious address in the old Men’s Quarter.
The ghost stories belong to the Utopia. Nashville ghost tours tell of a man shot dead on its second floor in 1897 and a weeping woman in Victorian dress, and guests report footsteps in empty halls. These are tour stories rather than documented history, and we say so below, but the buildings themselves are real survivors, and staying here puts you in the middle of Nashville’s oldest nightlife.
Dream Nashville at a glance
Haunted Rooms Score
- Address 210 4th Avenue North, Nashville, TN 37219 (backs onto Printers Alley)
- Opened Utopia Hotel 1891; Climax Saloon 1887; Dream Nashville opened at the turn of 2019
- Most haunted spots The second floor of the old Utopia building and its historic corridors
- Best-known ghosts Tim Hanifin, and a weeping woman in Victorian dress
- Booking the haunted room No named room; ask for a room in the historic Utopia building
- Good to know 168 rooms and 21 suites, several bars including the Parlour Bar; pets welcome (fee, up to two)
The ghosts of the Utopia Hotel
Tim Hanifin
The best-known story is about a man named Tim Hanifin. According to the version told on Nashville ghost tours, he was shot and killed by a sheriff on the second floor of the Utopia Hotel in 1897. His figure is said to appear as a mist or a partial shape in the second-floor halls, close to where he fell.
We have not been able to find a contemporary newspaper report of the shooting, and the building’s National Register history does not mention it. That does not mean it did not happen, since violent deaths in the Men’s Quarter were common and not always reported, but for now Tim Hanifin belongs to local legend.
The weeping woman
Guests and staff have described a woman in Victorian dress who is seen crying, then is suddenly gone. Nobody has given her a name. Given the street’s history as Nashville’s red-light district, with the Climax Saloon’s rooms rented by the hour next door, tour guides often link her to the women who worked there. That link is speculation.
Footsteps and more than one spirit
The other reports are the familiar ones: footsteps in empty corridors and a feeling of being watched in the older part of the building. Ghost tours say guests and staff have described several different presences rather than one.
Printers Alley after dark
Some of the pull of the place is the neighborhood. Printers Alley moved from printing and gambling in the 1890s to Prohibition speakeasies and then nightclubs, and nearby bars such as Skull’s Rainbow Room have ghost stories of their own. A night here is as much about the alley as the room.
The most haunted rooms and places to look
- Rooms in the Utopia building: The historic six-story 1891 hotel, where the ghost stories are set. Ask for it when you book; most rooms are in the new tower.
- The second floor: Where Tim Hanifin is said to have died. If the hotel can place you on a low floor of the historic building, ask.
- The Climax Saloon facade: The restored front of the 1887 saloon on 4th Avenue North, the last trace of the Men’s Quarter’s most notorious address.
- Printers Alley: Step out the back for neon signs, live music and the alley’s own ghost stories.
History of Dream Nashville (Utopia Hotel)
In the late 1800s the blocks around 4th Avenue North were known as the Men’s Quarter, a district of saloons, gambling rooms and bordellos a short walk from the Capitol. The Climax Saloon opened at 210 Fourth Avenue North in 1887, in an Italianate building designed by V. E. Schwab. It served whiskey and moonshine, ran poker and billiard tables and dancing downstairs, and rented small rooms upstairs by the hour. False walls and hiding places were built in case of police raids. It was the most infamous address in the quarter and ran until 1918.
Next door, the six-story Utopia Hotel went up in 1891, a Romanesque design by architect Hugh Cathcart Thompson. It was a hotel for travelers and merchants, held a popular lunch restaurant by 1904, and was dedicated with a dinner for the Nashville Press Club. Through the 20th century the buildings went downhill: the Utopia held a laundromat, a dry cleaner and a strip club called the Brass Stables, and the Climax building sat neglected for decades. The Utopia was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on March 26, 1979, and both buildings stand in the Printers Alley Historic District.
Printers Alley itself took its name from the printing and publishing businesses that filled it from the late 19th century. During Prohibition its saloons became speakeasies, and after repeal they turned into the nightclubs and music bars that still line it.
In 2016 Dream Hotel Group and the Nashville developer 4PANT bought four buildings including the Climax and the Utopia. Everything but the Climax facade was taken down and rebuilt, and the Utopia was restored and joined to a new tower. Dream Nashville soft-opened in December 2018 and fully opened the following spring, with 168 rooms, 21 suites and several bars and restaurants inside. The hotel is now part of Hyatt’s family of brands.
Tips for a haunted stay
- Ask for a room in the historic Utopia building when you book; the new tower has most of the rooms.
- Walk out the back into Printers Alley after dark, when the neon signs are on and the bars are busy.
- Look up at the Climax Saloon facade on 4th Avenue North, all that remains of the 1887 building.
- Combine your stay with the Hermitage Hotel and Union Station, both a short walk away, for a three-hotel haunted weekend.
- Pets are welcome, with a fee and a limit of two, so the dog can come too.
- Downtown Nashville is loud on weekends. If you want to sleep, ask for a room away from the alley side.
Want to investigate, not just sleep?
Sleeping in a haunted hotel is one thing. Investigating one after dark is another. On a Haunted Rooms ghost hunt our team takes you through the building with professional ghost hunting equipment, runs EVP sessions and lets you explore on your own during free roam.
- Haunted Thomas House Hotel Ghost Hunt and Sleepover: Our overnight event at the Thomas House, about 90 minutes northeast of Nashville.
- Old Moore County Jail and Funeral Home Ghost Hunt, Lynchburg: Investigate an old jail and a former funeral home in Lynchburg, south of Nashville.
- Hotel Metropolitan Ghost Hunt and Sleepover, Kentucky: A guided investigation and sleepover at the Hotel Metropolitan in Paducah.
More haunted hotels nearby
- The Hermitage Hotel: the crying baby of Room 912, two blocks away
- Union Station Nashville Yards: Abigail and Room 711
- Haunted hotels in Nashville: every haunted hotel in and around the city
- Haunted places in Nashville: more of the city’s ghost stories
- Haunted hotels in Tennessee
- Haunted hotels in Nashville
Stayed in one of these hotels? Tell us what happened
We collect first-hand accounts from guests and add the best ones to our guides, with your first name and the date of your stay. We read every story before it’s published.
Frequently asked questions
Is Dream Nashville haunted?
Ghost tours say so. The hotel incorporates the 1891 Utopia Hotel, where a man named Tim Hanifin is said to have been shot in 1897, and guests and staff report a weeping woman in Victorian dress and footsteps in empty halls. The hotel does not promote these stories.
What was the Utopia Hotel in Nashville?
A six-story Romanesque hotel built in 1891 on 4th Avenue North, designed by Hugh Cathcart Thompson. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979 and is now part of Dream Nashville.
What was the Climax Saloon?
A saloon and bordello that opened in 1887 at 210 Fourth Avenue North, the most notorious address in Nashville’s old Men’s Quarter. It closed in 1918, and only its facade survives as part of Dream Nashville.
Is the Tim Hanifin story true?
It is told on Nashville ghost tours, but we have not found a contemporary newspaper report of the shooting. Treat it as local legend.
Is Dream Nashville pet friendly?
Yes. Pets are welcome for a fee per stay, with a maximum of two. Check the current fee when you book.
Where is Dream Nashville?
At 210 4th Avenue North in downtown Nashville, backing onto Printers Alley and two blocks north of Lower Broadway.
Sources
Facts on this page are checked against the hotel’s own website, historic records and news coverage. Ghost stories are reported as guests, staff and local historians tell them. Read how we rate haunted hotels.
- Dream Nashville (Hyatt): official page
- Utopia Hotel (Wikipedia)
- Nashville Sites: Climax Saloon and Dream Nashville Hotel
- Ghost City Tours: The Haunted Dream Hotel
- Hotel Management: Dream Nashville officially opens
- Star Tribune: A hotel in the heart of Nashville's nightlife
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About the authors
The Haunted Rooms Team runs public ghost hunts and overnight investigations at historic venues across the United States. We research every hotel in our guides using hotel histories, local archives, news coverage and the accounts of guests and staff, and we review each guide regularly so you are not booking a hotel that has closed or changed its name. Spotted something out of date? Let us know.
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