The Council of Independent Colleges: Historic Campus Architecture Project

Clingenpeel Physical Education Building

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Clingenpeel Physical Education Building (three-quarter view), Central Methodist University

Clingenpeel Physical Education Building (detail, 1857 cartouche), Central Methodist University

Clingenpeel Physical Education Building (detail, 1906 cartouche), Central Methodist University

Institution Name: Central Methodist University
Original/Historic Place Name: Little Gym, Old Gymnasium
Location on Campus: North end of campus
Date(s) of Construction:

1906	original construction

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

Materials:

Foundation: stone

Walls: brick

Roof: aspalt shingles

Function:

ca. 1906	gymnasium
ca. 2004-present (2006)	classrooms (including athletic training rooms)
ca. 2004-present (2006)	administration (athletic offices)

Narrative:
This modified Renaissance Revival building features a medium hip, shingled roof and buttresses on each side. The red brick building has stone lintels over each window and at the top of each buttress. Elaborate stone carvings in Baroque patterns are placed at each end of the front façade. Two plaques with garland and geometric patterns bear the dates 1857 and 1906. The gymnasium cost $10,000 to construct and was damaged in a fire in 1961and then re-modeled.

References:

Central Methodist College Campus Master Plan. Central Methodist University, Fayette, MO.

McVicker, Maryellen H., Larry Dimond, June Thade, Bartlett Jones, and Sue Koch. Central Methodist College Campus Historic District. National Register of Historic Places designation report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior/National Park Service, 1980.