Old Medical College of Georgia

Old Medical College of Georgia Historic Augusta, Inc.

Old Medical College, a National Historic Landmark, was built in 1835 to serve as home to the Medical College of Georgia (MCG), the third-oldest medical college in the Southeast. Old Medical College is of national significance because of its impact on the medical instruction of physicians nationwide in the antebellum period and because its distinguished and well-trained faculty helped found the American Medical Association to regulate medical education standards.

Constructed on land leased from the Trustees of the Academy of Richmond County, the Old Medical College was designed by Irish born architect Charles Blaney Cluskey, one of the nation’s earliest trained architects.  It has a Greek Revival exterior with the exception of a central dome that was innovative for its day.  The building stands two-stories tall with a raised and fully excavated basement and has a massed square floor plan. The front façade has a full-height portico with six fluted Doric columns that support a massive pediment.  Built of brick, the building is clad in stucco scored to resemble stone.  It contained ample lecture rooms, a museum, a library, and dissecting rooms. Two historic additions include a large solarium built in 1897 at the rear and on the west, the City of Augusta’s medicine dispensary constructed in 1869.

Old Medical College of Georgia Historic Augusta, Inc.

Old Medical College served the school well into the Civil War period and beyond.  It reverted to Richmond Academy in 1913 when the medical school moved its base to the Augusta Orphan Asylum building.  Richmond Academy held classes in the Old Medical College from 1914 to 1926, after which the building stood vacant for five years.  During the 1930s, it was used by civic and social organizations and housed a USO canteen during World War II.  From 1948 until the late 1980s, the Sand Hills Garden Club preserved Old Medical College, and the Augusta Council of Garden Clubs later took it over.  The space was used as an activity center for receptions, meetings, and banquets.

The Medical College of Georgia Foundation began renovations to the building in 1988 as a conference and events center.  The restored Old Medical College is referred to as the finest expression of the Greek Revival in Georgia.