The Council of Independent Colleges: Historic Campus Architecture Project

Hope Hall

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Institution Name: Morehouse College
Original/Historic Place Name: Science Building; John C. Hope Hall
Location on Campus: campus quad
Date(s) of Construction:

1921	original construction
1994	demolition; rebuilt

Designer: unknown
Type of Place: Individual building
Style: Beaux-Arts classicism, Colonial revival (Glossary)
Significance: architecture, culture, education, history, religion
Narrative: see below
References: see below

Materials:

Foundation: concrete

Walls: brick, uniformly spaced windows accented by stone

Roof: hipped shingle

Function:

1921-present (2006)

academic department building (originally science; now biology laboratories and Public Health Sciences Institute)

Narrative:
Originally built in 1921 with funds donated by the Rockefeller Foundation and referred to merely as the "Science Building," Hope Hall is the oldest classroom building on campus. Named for John C. Hope, the first African-American president of the College, it was demolished and rebuilt in 1994. Georgian half columns and an iron balcony salvaged from the original structure have been incorporated into the façade of the existing building.

References:

Bacote, Clarence A. The Story of Atlanta University, A Century of Service, 1865-1965. Atlanta, GA: Atlanta University, 1969.

Campus Master Plan, Morehouse College, Atlanta, GA, 2002.

Carter, Edward R. The Black Side; A Partial History of the Business, Religious, and Educational Side of the Negro in Atlanta, Ga. Atlanta, GA, 1894.

Cohen, Rodney T. The Black Colleges of Atlanta. Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing, 2000.

Jones, Edward A. A Candle in the Dark, A History of Morehouse College. Valley Forge, PA: Judson Press, 1967.