Old Medical College

The Old Medical College Building is a historic academic building at 598 Telfair Street in Augusta, Georgia. It was built in 1835 for the Medical College of Georgia, then and now one of the leading medical schools of the American South. It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1996 for its sophisticated Greek Revival architecture, and for the role the school played in the establishment of the American Medical Association and the standardization of medical practices.Description and historyThe Old Medical College Building is located in central Augusta, behind Augusta City Hall at the corner of Telfair and 6th Streets. It is a two story Greek Revival structure, built out of brick covered with stucco scored to resemble stone. Its front facade, facing Telfair Street, has a projecting Greek temple portico, with six massive fluted Doric columns supporting an entablature and gabled pediment. The main entry is at the center, and there are seven small square windows evenly spaced on the second level. The side walls are five bays wide. A parapet surrounds a shallow-pitch hip roof, which rises to a central dome. The interior housed what were, for the 1830s, generous quarters for a medical school, including several laboratory spaces, lecture halls, and a library.The Medical College of Georgia was chartered in 1829 as a state-chartered private institution. This building was built as its main facility in 1835 to a design by Charles Blaney Cluskey, one of America's early trained architects and a proponent of the "new" Greek Revival style. The building was lauded at its completion for its Classical proportions. It served the medical school until 1913, when it moved to new quarters. The school is now part of Augusta University.