Rhodes College, Memphis, Tennessee
Rhodes
College Preservation Plan 1 of 2 (PDF) 26.6 MB
Rhodes
College Preservation Plan 2 of 2 (PDF) 13.3 MB
Designed by Charles Klauder in the 1920s, the Collegiate Gothic
architecture at Rhodes College was meant to convey the ennobling
and uplifting spirit of a liberal arts education. Eight of the
original campus buildings, made from Arkansas sandstone with
limestone trim, are now listed on the National Register of Historic
Places. Planning funds will support Rhodes in its efforts to expand
the number of buildings on the National Register to include the
historic district planned by Klauder, and to study the adaptive
reuse of several key campus buildings.
Rhodes College received a Getty grant in 2004 for $150,000 to
support campus heritage planning.
Report Summary
Purpose: The school will study adaptive reuse
of campus buildings and continue work toward listing campus
buildings and a historic district on the National Register.
Historic Designation: Charles Z. Klauder
designed the Rhodes College buildings in a Collegiate Gothic style,
using Arkansas sandstone with limestone trim to convey moral
advancement--the ennobling and uplifting spirit of a liberal arts
education. Klauder proposed an historic district in his original
campus design. Eight of the 1920’s buildings were listed on the
National Register of Historic Places in 1978, comprising the
Southwestern at Memphis Historic District.
The school was established as Southwestern in Clarksville,
Tennessee, operating for a time as The Masonic University of
Tennessee (1846-54) and later the Presbyterian Stewart School. In
1925, Rhodes moved to its wooded, 100-acre site in Memphis,
Tennessee.
Site Chronology:
- Ashner Gateway (1925)
- Hugh M. Neely Hall and Kitchen (1925)
- Robb Hall (1925)
- Gordon White Hall aka Calvin Hall (1925)
- Palmer Hall (1925)
- Berthold S. Kennedy Hall (1925)
- Frank M. Harris Memorial Lodge (1925)
- Elliott Hall (1925-46)
- Hunt Memorial Gateway (1948)
- Burrow Library (1953, renovated 1988)
- Catherine Burrow Refectory (adjacent to Hugh M. Neely Hall and
Kitchen) (1957)
- Bellingrath Hall (1961)
- Richard Halliburton Memorial Tower (1962)
- Gooch Hall (1962)
- Moore Infirmary (1962, designed by C. Henry Hibbs)
Planning Process:
- The team drew on four previous Strategic Plans:
- The Clinton Parrent Plan, 1944;
- Harland-Bartholomew Plan, 1964;
- Architects’ Collaborative Plan, 1986;
- Hanbury Evans Wright Vlattas + Company Plan, 2000
- Team identified National Park Service heritage criteria and
preservation briefs
- Team surveyed campus buildings, applying Secretary of the
Interior’s standards for significance to the architectural
elements
- Team created prototypical reports from the building survey,
looking at moisture, hazardous materials, and a variety of
maintenance problems
Outcomes: Products
- Maintenance chronology for each building (exterior,
landscaping, asbestos abatement, interior, ADA compliance, computer
technology)
- Articulation of de facto campus zones
- Causes and recommended treatments for various maintenance
problems, with illustrations (regarding ornamental metals, roofs,
doors and windows, interiors, masonry)
- Report of data and analysis regarding moisture readings
- List of Prototypical Building Components--illustrated sampler
of significant architectural elements significant to the campus and
the Collegiate Gothic style
- Limited hazardous materials report
- Sample building survey form
- Curriculum outline for Campus as Mechanism for Teaching
Preservation
- Case Study: Renovation plan for Burrow Library
Outcomes: Policies and Plans
Proposed inclusions for the historic district:
- Voorhies Hall (dorm) (1946, Collegiate Gothic – Arkansas
sandstone/limestone, by Hibbs-Klauder-Diehl)
- East Wing contains chapel with distinguished glass: Williams
Prayer Room, windows by Charles Connick
- Townsend Hall (dorm) (1955, Collegiate Gothic – Arkansas
sandstone/limestone, by Henry Clinton Parrent, Jr.)
- Trezevant (dorm) (1960, Collegiate Gothic – Arkansas
sandstone/limestone, by Henry Clinton Parrent, Jr.)
- Conservatory added ca. 2001
- Alfred C. Glassell Hall (dorm) (1964-65, Collegiate Gothic –
Arkansas sandstone/limestone, by Henry Clinton Parrent, Jr.)
- Williford Hall (dorm) (1969, Collegiate Gothic – Arkansas
sandstone/limestone, by McGehee-Nicholson Associates)
- Dewitt Clough Hall (academic) (1970, “Gothic with modern
touches,” by alumnus Wells Awsumb)
- Hubert F. Fisher Memorial Garden (1941) (permanent stone stage
used for commencement)
- Rollow Memorial Avenue of Oaks (1925) (seedlings were
transferred from the original campus)
Unique Features
- Approach to campus as a “vast outdoor museum of nature, history
and architecture.”
- List of contract resources
- Discussion of vernacular landscape features
- Minimal text explaining maps, photographs, elevations, save in
thumbnail illustrations
- Sample building survey form
- Historical evolution of higher education campuses (in general,
rather than specific to the characteristics of this college)
Advisors
Contractor / Author: Hanbury Evans Wright Vlattas + Company
- Jane Cady Wright AIA
- Gregory L Rutledge AIA
- Doug Campbell
- Deborah Marquardt
- Cathy Mesler
School Planning Counsel: Dr. William E. Troutt, Pres., J. Allen
Boone, V.P. Finance and Business Affairs, Mel Richey, Exec. Asst.
to the Pres., Beverly K. Bond, V.P. External Programs, Charles
Landreth, Assoc. V.P. External Programs, Daney D. Kepple, Dir.
Communications, Brian E. Fosher, Dir. Physical Plant, Robert L.
Llewellyn, Dean of the College
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