Old Medical College

Old Medical College
National Register of Historic Places
National Historic Landmark
Old Medical College (Photo 2012)
location	Augusta , Richmond County , Georgia
Coordinates	33 ° 28 '13 "  N , 81 ° 57' 47"  W Coordinates: 33 ° 28 '13 "  N , 81 ° 57' 47"  W.
Built	1835
architect	Charles B. Cluskey
Architectural style	Greek Revival
NRHP number	72000398
Data
The NRHP added	March 16, 1972
Declared as an  NHL	June 19, 1996

The Old Medical College is a historic seminary building in the Telfair Street 598 in Augusta in the American state of Georgia . The structure was built in 1835 for the Medical College of Georgia (MCG) and was used as its main building until 1913.

In 1996 the old seminary building was declared a National Historic Landmark of the United States, as an impressive example of Greek Revival architecture and because of the historical importance of the MCG in connection with the establishment of the American Medical Association for the development of modern standards in medical practice.

Description of the building

The Old Medical College is located in downtown Augusta near City Hall, on the corner between Telfair Street and 6th Street.

The building was designed in 1835 by Charles Blaney Cluskey and built under his direction. Cluskey was one of the first ever trained architects in the United States and a representative of the then new Greek Revival style, the American variant of classicism , which he was able to exemplify in this college building. It is a two-story brick building , covered with stucco to imitate stone construction. Each floor is about four meters high; the building is almost square with a length of about 21.5 meters and a width of about 23.5 meters.

At the eye-catching, northern front facade to Telfair Street on a mezzanine floor -Plateau a large projecting portico , the temple architecture of ancient Greece modeled, with six massive, longitudinally fluted Doric the one at the top of the second floor columns, beams support with gable cornice . At the height of the gable, the roof of the building behind it is supported all around by another cornice, and above it rises a roof that rises flat on all four sides with a dome that stands over a rotunda in the middle of the building. The main entrance of the building is centrally located under the portico porch; There are no front windows on the ground floor; seven smaller, square windows are symmetrically distributed on the second floor. On the east and west sides of the building there are 10 high windows, five on each floor, in a similar symmetrical distribution. The southern rear also shows the five-part division of the wall surface with a different arrangement of the windows compared to the sides and with a central door that originally led to the city hospital to the south, built in 1837, which was demolished in 1933.

Inside there were several large lecture halls, laboratories, a museum and a library; Overall, the Old Medical College was very generously equipped for American medical teaching institutions in the early 19th century.

Two extensions complete the ensemble: on the south side, originally located between the Medical College and the city hospital, a building that was built in 1897 as a large assembly room for anatomical demonstrations, as was common around the turn of the 20th century. A rectangular wing was built on the west side in 1869, originally conceived as a municipal medicine dispenser, later a kitchen wing.

Elevations and floor plans of the structure

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  Front elevation.

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  Left, eastern side elevation.

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  Elevation and details, rotunda and dome.

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  Ground floor plan.

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  Ground floor plan (mezzanine floor).

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  Floor plan 1st floor.

history

In the 19th and 20th centuries, the Medical College of Georgia (MCG) was Georgia's premier medical research and study facility. In 2011 the MCG achieved university status and was renamed Georgia Health Sciences University , but only two years later it was merged with what was then Augusta State University , since 2015 under the name Augusta University .

The college was federally approved in 1828 and opened in Augusta in 1829. In 1835 what is now called the Old Medical College was completed as the main building of the school. It served the medical training facility until 1913 when they moved to new quarters.

During this period, the MCG was one of the driving forces behind the establishment of the American Medical Association in 1847, with the aim of developing, for the first time in the United States, guidelines for norms and standards in medical practices, training standards for the medical profession and guidelines for the accreditation of medical training institutions .

The old school building was taken over in 1913 by the adjacent Richmond Academy , one of the oldest high schools in the United States, which used it as a vocational training center until 1926. During the further course of the 20th century, the structure was used by various other institutions until it was acquired in 1987 by the Medical College of Georgia Foundation , which, after careful analysis, completely renovated the building in 1989 and restored it to its original appearance. Since then it has been available as a conference and event room.

The Old Medical College was listed on March 16, 1972 in the United States . On June 19, 1996, the building was designated a National Historic Landmark .

See also

• List of National Historic Landmarks in Georgia

literature

• Todd Savitt, Anne Floyd: Old Medical College , National Historic Landmark Nomination. National Historic Landmarks Survey, National Park Service , Washington, DC 1996 ( Online (PDF) ; accessed December 13, 2017).

Web links

Commons : Old Medical College  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

• Old Medical College, 598 Telfair Street, Augusta, Richmond County, GA . Documentation of the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division Washington, DC
• Augusta University's Greenblatt Library: History of the Medical College of Georgia: 175 Years of Teaching, Discovering, and Caring . Online exhibition.
• Augusta University: MCG Historical Highlights .

Remarks

1. ↑ Savitt, Floyd, 1996, p. 4f (see below, section literature ).
2. ↑ cf. Elevation (detail) of the Old Medical College , HABS GA, 123-AUG, 11- (sheet 13 of 14) - Old Medical College ( Wikimedia Commons file with further references and links to the origin).
3. ↑ cf. Floor plan of the Old Medical College , HABS GA, 123-AUG, 11- (sheet 13 of 14) - Old Medical College ( Wikimedia Commons file with further references and links to the origin).
4. ↑ Savitt, Floyd, 1996, pp. 6f.
5. ↑ Savitt, Floyd, 1996, p. 12.
6. ↑ Corresponding contemporary reactions reproduced in excerpts in: Savitt, Floyd, 1996, p. 4f.
7. ^ Savitt, Floyd, 1996, p. 9.
8. ↑ Savitt, Floyd, 1996, pp. 9f.
9. ^ Augusta University: History of Augusta University ; accessed December 26, 2018.
10. ↑ Savitt, Floyd, 1996, p. 15. See also the representation in the timeline History of the Medical College of Georgia: 175 Years of Teaching, Discovering, and Caring , online exhibition of the Greenblatt Library of Augusta University; accessed December 30, 2018.
11. ↑ Savitt, Floyd, 1996, p. 4.
12. ↑ Savitt, Floyd, 1996, pp. 14ff.
13. ↑ Savitt, Floyd, 1996, pp. 6f.
14. ^ National Park Service: Old Medical College of Georgia , Discover Our Shared Heritage Travel Itinerary. See also Augusta Convention & Visitors Bureau: Old Medical College ; both accessed December 26, 2018.
15. ^ National Park Service: Digital Asset 72000398 , Metadata; accessed December 30, 2018.
16. ^ National Park Service: List of NHLs by State (Georgia) ; accessed December 30, 2018.