"Senatus Academicus"
UGA Arch Print by Brian Ussery
University of Georgia, Official Licensed Collegiate Artist
Building UGA
The first building at UGA was a simple one and a half story log cabin covering twenty square feet of ground. This primitive structure was constructed by Yale graduate Josiah Meigs in 1785. In 1800 Meigs became the second President of UGA and quickly began to clear land. At this same time Meigs set out to plan not only the University, but the City of Athens as well. Meigs's plan for the University of Georgia and Athens incorporated design elements from two other institutions, Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey and UNC Chapel Hill located in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.
"In 1801, President Meigs commissioned the construction of a three story brick building (known first as Franklin College and today as Old College) patterned after Connecticut Hall at his alma mater. It is likely that President Meigs brought back the plans for the new building after a trip to New England. Though the pattern of this first permanent building is clearly reminiscent of the Connecticut Hall, its disposition on the campus followed a pattern more akin to the location of
Nassau Hall, at Princeton, or
Old East, at the University of North Carolina."
"At Athens, as at Princeton and Chapel Hill, the university’s first building was not located on the edge of a town-square, rather it was situated directly within an open green space at considerable distance from a public thoroughfare."
"At Princeton, Nassau Street serves to divide the borough into two districts one containing the town and the other a large tract belonging to the university, while at Chapel Hill, Franklin Street performs much the same duty. In Athens, Front Street (later Broad Street) performed the task of separating “town and gown”. One side of the main thoroughfare in each of these towns would eventually be divided into individual parcels to serve as sites for homes, businesses, and other activities of the
town, while the opposite side of the street would remain ostensibly one large parcel that would be conceived of in terms of an open park, field, or campus."
- UGA Master Plan March 11,1998
Meigs's plan though not completely original is similar to what we see today. At the time a boundary between Athens and the University of Georgia was;
"drawn by placing a compass on the Chapel of the University, located on North Campus, and drawing a radius around it."
- UGA Master Plan March 11,1998
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For more information and the history of the Senatus Academicus UGA Founders UGA Athens, GA see Building UGA, Georgia Garden, UGA Arch and UGA: "The Arch" in Society, Architecture and Print as well as donation information for: Georgia Bulldog Club / UGA Student Organizations.
Commissioned by the University of Georgia in May 2003, the architectural rendering in pen & ink "Senatus Academicus" design by Brian E. Ussery is the Official Licensed Indicia of the University of Georgia® Athens, GA U.S.A. and may not be downloaded, modified, or otherwise used without the express written permission of beussery™ and the University of Georgia®. Printed in the USA, marketed world-wide and produced exclusively by beussery™ imagery co., a CLC Authorized OLCP Manufacturer in full compliance member FLA, ILO.
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