 |
Foundation Re-founding Post-War 1970 to Present Commentary |
Observations | Concept | Precincts | Guidelines | Implementation |
Plan
| Following Hornbostel | Though the Hornbostel plan was not to be built exactly according to the
depictions illustrated in the "Birds Eye View," the plan was none the less
responsible for setting the orientation of many campus buildings. The siting of Dobbs Hall
was based upon the configuration of a court-yard building depicted in the aerial
perspective, and orientation of both the Physiology and Anatomy Buildings can be seen
depicted at the top and the center of the drawing. Thus, though subsequent buildings were
to depart in scale and style from the original campus buildings, the geometry set-up by
the Hornbostel had an impact upon the siting of subsequent building campaigns. For
example, the Wesley Memorial Hospital (later Emory Hospital) of 1922, which is not
anticipated in the Hornbostel designs was oriented by architects Hentz, Reid and Adler to
respond to the pre-existing geometry of the quadrangle and natural lay of the land.
Additionally, in 1924 when the Asa Griggs Library commission was given to architect Edward
Lippincot Tilton (1861-1933), the building was sited at the north-eastern edge of the
quadrangle in a manner similar to the building depicted in the Hornbostel rendering.
Tilton, was also the architect of numerous important library buildings including the, Pack
Memorial Library, at Asheville, North Carolina, the Knight Memorial Library, at
Providence, Rhode Island, Springfield Public Library, at Springfield, Massachusetts, the
Mount Pleasant Library, Washington, D.C., and the Lemonnier Memorial Library, at the
University of Notre Dame. In addition to reinforcing the general intentions of the
Hornbostel plan, Tilton's library introduced a more canonical classical architectural
style to the campus while responding well to the palate and abstraction of Hornbostel's
original buildings. In the report of the Building and Grounds Committee, dated June 3,
1927 the worth of the campus plan is probably best summarized:
Asa Candler Library |
| Glenn Memorial and the Little Chapel |
By 1931 significant development had begun to occur outside the original
"core" of the campus depicted in Hornbostel's drawings. Philip Trammell Shutze
(1890-1982), who was perhaps one of the most talented architects to have practiced
classical architecture in this century, was commissioned to design the Glenn Memorial
located at the southern most boundary of the campus and commanding a vista down North
Decatur Road. Shutze's firm, Hentz, Adler and Shutze, included Hal F. Hentz, a 1904
graduate of Emory College. Shutze's design which was based upon James Gibbs, Saint
Martin-in-Fields (1722-1726), in London, featured a classical portico out of which rose a
beautifully proportioned bell-tower. Shutze faced the church/auditorium building, not in
the direction of the campus, but rather in the direction of the surrounding community --
he aligned the building to act as a terminus of North Decatur Road. By doing so, Shutze
provided a literal connection between the ivory tower world of the university and the
community in which it was situated.
Little Chapel Two other significant buildings by Shutze compliment the Emory campus. In 1940, Shutze designed the Education Building and the Little Chapel located directly behind the Glenn Memorial. The exterior of the building is of an understated Neo-Georgian design with perhaps its only remarkable feature an exterior amphitheater built into the slope directly behind the Glenn Memorial. On the interior, however, is located one of the most remarkable and unexpected religious spaces to be found in North America. The Little Chapel, based upon the designs of Sir Christopher Wren for St. Stephen Wallbrook, (1678) in London, provides an intimate space for worship. The design evokes the qualities of a small private chapel that one would expect to find imbedded in the home of a wealthy and pious person. Shutze's other remarkable interior is located in a wing of Emory Hospital, for which he designed an addition and a new façade in 1945. The Whitehead Memorial Room serves as a boardroom for the hospital, however one has the impression of a grand domestic salon. The deep plaster relief and the finely carved wooden panels that enclose the room are an example of the superior design abilities of this under appreciated 20th century architect.
1949 aerial Between 1930 and 1940 Emory's campus was to evolve in much the same manner predicted by the Hornbostel plan. On the advent of the second World War, however, it became clear that "life as usual" at the university would undergo a significant change. Within days of the bombing of Pearl Harbor, Emory was to adapt its business to support the wartime effort. Even before the official entry of the United States into the war, the Emory Unit, which had served so well in World War I was reactivated by the surgeon general. By 1942, the United States Navy had located a V-12 training program at the university. Officer candidates were given intensive courses in engineering, English, foreign languages, and history. Like many college campuses around the country, World War II marked the end of an epoch and the beginning of a new one. |
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