The Council of Independent Colleges: Historic Campus Architecture Project

Cushing Hall

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Cushing Hall (woodcut), Hampden-Sydney College

Cushing Hall (original front facade, from the north), Hampden-Sydney College

Cushing Hall (current front facade, from the south), Hampden-Sydney College

Institution Name: Hampden-Sydney College
Original/Historic Place Name: New College, The College
Location on Campus: North End
Date(s) of Construction:

1822-1833	original construction Phaup, William Perry, Reuben
1910	interior modernization; addition of porches and slate roof
1998	interior modernization

Designer: William Phaup; Reuben Perry
Type of Place: Individual building
Style: Federal (Glossary)
Significance: architecture, history, landscape
Narrative: see below
References: see below

Materials:

Foundation: brick

Walls: brick

Roof: slate (originally cedar shakes)

Function:

ca. 1822	auditorium
ca. 1822	chapel
ca. 1822	residence hall (including teachers' apartments)
ca. 1822	library
ca. 1822	classrooms (including laboratories and literary society meeting rooms)
ca. 1822	old main
ca. 2004-present (2006)	residence hall

Narrative:
This building is plain and functional, as befits a country Presbyterian college (and as directed by the Board); yet it also sports a highly academic cornice modeled on fashionable pattern books. The exterior has been restored and the interior modernized (first in 1910, more recently in 1998). Porches were added in 1910, along with a slate roof. The front of the building was originally the back, which faced the eighteenth century campus (which it also replaced).

Cushing Hall is the model for Venable Hall (seminary) and the Randolph-Macon Building in Boydton, VA.

References:

Brinkley, John L. On This Hill: A Narrative History of Hampden-Sydney College. Hampden-Sydney, VA: Hampden-Sydney College, 1994.

Virginia Historic Landmarks Commission. Hampden-Sydney College Historic District. National Register of Historic Places designation report. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of the Interior/National Park Service, 1970.