From CREATING INTELLECTUAL COMMUNITIES, Volume 1, Number 1, 2003
In 1915, American architect Henry Hornbostel was selected to design an Atlanta campus for the University, which had been established by the Methodist Church in 1836 in nearby Oxford. The verdant landscape and clear streams reminded Hornbostel of the hillsides around Rome, so he chose the Italian Renaissance villa as his model. In 1920, the red tile roofs and marble facades were described by The American Architect as “a remarkable group of buildings which are the commencement of a great university.”
Over six decades, Emory attained a secure place among preeminent southern schools. In 1979, brothers Robert and George Woodruff established a $105 million endowment in memory of their father. As the largest single grant in the University’s history, the gift was also the beginning of Emory’s emergence into the larger academic arena.
Dr. William M. Chace became Emory’s 18th president in 1994. As he approaches retirement this year, Dr. Chace discusses the impact of the extensive planning process that transformed Emory’s campus.
