RCA Victor dog returns to Studio A
The historic RCA Studio A, saved from redevelopment three years ago, on Saturday completed a restoration to its 1960s heyday with the installment of the building ’s iconic signs.
Crews on Saturday mounted replicas of the old RCA Victor Recording Studios signage — which is most distinguished by the image of Nipper, a terrier mix dog that was RCA’s old mascot, looking at a Victrola phonograph. It also includes the vintage RCA round lightning bolt logo.
The returned signs mark the most visible exterior step taken as part of a $500,000 preservation effort that is meant to replicate how Studio A looked from 1964 through the mid-1970s, when the likes of Dolly Parton, Willie Nelson and Charley Pride were recording hits there.
“It really feels of the era,” said Brenda Colladay, a music historian who has overseen the restoration project, pointing to the terrazzo, grass cloth and retro furniture now inside the three-story building. “A little bit of Music Row Mad Men.”
Studio A, at 30 Music Square West next to the old RCA Stu- dio B, was the brainchild of Music Row luminaries Chet Atkins and Owen Bradley.
Colladay said she relied on old photos of Studio A to recreate the signs and worked with Nashville-based Joslin and Sons Signs, which produced and installed the replicas.
To display the signs, Colladay had to get permission from Technicolor, which owns the trademarks of the old RCA logo.
The primary signs are displayed on the front side of the building. An additional RCA sign is on the back.
Each of the signs, including the letters that read “RCA Victor Recording Studios,” will il- luminate at night.
Nipper was a dog in Bristol, England, who lived from 1884 to 1895 and was the model for a famous Francis Barraud painting featuring a phonograph that was picked up by multiple companies, including RCA.
Spearheading Studio A’s preservation has been Aubrey Prestron, a music-loving philanthropist, businessman and developer. Preston, music executive Mike Curb and health care executive Chuck Elcan teamed to purchase the Studio A property for $5.6 million in late 2014.