Save Our Sewanee
Donation protected
Help save Fulford Hall. Last summer our oldest building, Rebels Rest, burned, and was demolished instead of being being rebuilt. There is concern that a near-term University campus plan involves tearing down historic Fulford Hall for a new construction project covering both sites. This would be tragic because Fulford is the last remaining historic building in an architecturally significant style, and one of the last of a dwindling diversity of styles on campus.
We are trying to raise awareness about Fulford Hall, its importance on our campus and its potential for preservation and continued service, by hosting a concert and distributing campaign material including bumperstickers and buttons.
In 1866, Charles Todd Quintard (1824-1898), the first VC of the University (served 1867-1872), built a home in Sewanee, Fulford Hall, named after Bishop Francis Fulford of Montreal, one of the bishop’s consecrators. The original Fulford Hall, a log cabin, burned in 1889, and the present Fulford Hall was completed in 1890.
Quintard is known as the “Second Founder” of the University. The construction of the original log cabin in 1866 reflected his commitment to the revival of University in the wake of the Civil War, demonstrated by moving himself and his family to Sewanee. The site is located next to the lease on which founder Leonidas Polk built his cabin, followed by George Rainsford Fairbanks, who took possession of the lease after Polk’s death for the construction of Rebel’s Rest, also in 1866. On the north side of Rebel’s Rest stood the home of founder Bishop Stephen Elliott, now the site of the ATO House.
Fulford Hall, both the original structure as well as the present building, was the symbolic heart of the University in its early years, by virtue of its location and occupants. As University historian Elizabeth Chitty has noted, “The tone, the temper, the social and religious atmosphere [of Sewanee] came from Bishop Quintard more than from anyone else. For the first twenty years of the University’s existence at least (1868-98 when the Bishop died), it could almost be said that Bishop Quintard was Sewanee and that Sewanee was Bishop Quintard.”
The building remained central to University and town life after Bishop Quintard. Vice-Chancellor Benjamin Lawton Wiggins (served 1893 to 1908), Quintard’s son-in-law, lived in Fulford Hall, and it served as the official residence of five vice-chancellors from 1938 until 1988.
Fulford Hall, now 125 years old, is an important reminder of the University and the town in the period of the founding and early years of the institution and reflects the southern graciousness and hospitality long associated with, and cultivated by, the University.
Since 1988, Fulford Hall has served as the Office of Admissions. In this important capacity, Fulford Hall is the first building that prospective students and their families enter when they arrive on campus. Its broad and deep front porch, spacious stair hall, and light-filled parlor offer warmth and welcome to these visitors as well as a taste of the University’s rich history.
Of course, Fulford Hall carries special meaning to University alumni as well. As one drives down University Avenue, its inviting residential character and distinct period features signal that one has arrived “home” to the heart of the campus.
Fulford Hall is a representative example of the Queen Anne style in America. It was remodeled in 1911, at which point the turrets and stonework on the exterior were removed, but the integrity of the building remains in its interesting exterior with tall chimneys, steep gables, and a wonderful, asymmetrically-placed porch and porte-cochère. The expansive lawn and the siting of the house deep within the lot punctuate the visual rhythm of architecture on University Avenue. Likewise, the interior, with the large, bayed space of the Director of Admissions office that bows out into the front porch, the stair hall, and the double parlor, is the most elegant on campus.
As an exception to the Collegiate Gothic, Fulford Hall offers architectural diversity, and aesthetic relief, from the heaviness of the concentration of stone buildings on central campus. Furthermore, Fulford Hall bestows authenticity upon the campus. Through its material and stylistic differences, it “speaks” of the University’s growth over its long history.
Fulford Hall is one of only a handful of nineteenth-century buildings on central campus. These include Convocation Hall, Breslin Tower, and Walsh-Ellett Hall, as well as the first floor of Thompson Union. Also early, but not located at campus center, is St. Luke’s Hall. Fulford Hall, however, with its residential intention and wood frame construction, is unique in style and material.
With the recent, tragic loss of Rebel’s Rest, Fulford Hall is the only residence of one of the University’s founders still owned by the University. Other historic homes owned by important figures in the early history of the University, such as the home of Bishop Alexander Gregg (Carlos home), and that of VC Telfair Hodgson (Parker home), still stand but are privately owned.
Like other historic wood frame structures elsewhere in the United States, Fulford can be added to and modernized to bring it to code and to conform to the needs of the University in the 21st century and beyond.
We believe the University should focus on the preservation and continued use of Fulford Hall, rather than its destruction. As we all should remember, reflecting upon monumental mistakes like the destruction of Pennsylvania Station in New York, once the decision is taken to tear down an historic building, it is irreversible.
We are trying to raise awareness about Fulford Hall, its importance on our campus and its potential for preservation and continued service, by hosting a concert and distributing campaign material including bumperstickers and buttons.
In 1866, Charles Todd Quintard (1824-1898), the first VC of the University (served 1867-1872), built a home in Sewanee, Fulford Hall, named after Bishop Francis Fulford of Montreal, one of the bishop’s consecrators. The original Fulford Hall, a log cabin, burned in 1889, and the present Fulford Hall was completed in 1890.
Quintard is known as the “Second Founder” of the University. The construction of the original log cabin in 1866 reflected his commitment to the revival of University in the wake of the Civil War, demonstrated by moving himself and his family to Sewanee. The site is located next to the lease on which founder Leonidas Polk built his cabin, followed by George Rainsford Fairbanks, who took possession of the lease after Polk’s death for the construction of Rebel’s Rest, also in 1866. On the north side of Rebel’s Rest stood the home of founder Bishop Stephen Elliott, now the site of the ATO House.
Fulford Hall, both the original structure as well as the present building, was the symbolic heart of the University in its early years, by virtue of its location and occupants. As University historian Elizabeth Chitty has noted, “The tone, the temper, the social and religious atmosphere [of Sewanee] came from Bishop Quintard more than from anyone else. For the first twenty years of the University’s existence at least (1868-98 when the Bishop died), it could almost be said that Bishop Quintard was Sewanee and that Sewanee was Bishop Quintard.”
The building remained central to University and town life after Bishop Quintard. Vice-Chancellor Benjamin Lawton Wiggins (served 1893 to 1908), Quintard’s son-in-law, lived in Fulford Hall, and it served as the official residence of five vice-chancellors from 1938 until 1988.
Fulford Hall, now 125 years old, is an important reminder of the University and the town in the period of the founding and early years of the institution and reflects the southern graciousness and hospitality long associated with, and cultivated by, the University.
Since 1988, Fulford Hall has served as the Office of Admissions. In this important capacity, Fulford Hall is the first building that prospective students and their families enter when they arrive on campus. Its broad and deep front porch, spacious stair hall, and light-filled parlor offer warmth and welcome to these visitors as well as a taste of the University’s rich history.
Of course, Fulford Hall carries special meaning to University alumni as well. As one drives down University Avenue, its inviting residential character and distinct period features signal that one has arrived “home” to the heart of the campus.
Fulford Hall is a representative example of the Queen Anne style in America. It was remodeled in 1911, at which point the turrets and stonework on the exterior were removed, but the integrity of the building remains in its interesting exterior with tall chimneys, steep gables, and a wonderful, asymmetrically-placed porch and porte-cochère. The expansive lawn and the siting of the house deep within the lot punctuate the visual rhythm of architecture on University Avenue. Likewise, the interior, with the large, bayed space of the Director of Admissions office that bows out into the front porch, the stair hall, and the double parlor, is the most elegant on campus.
As an exception to the Collegiate Gothic, Fulford Hall offers architectural diversity, and aesthetic relief, from the heaviness of the concentration of stone buildings on central campus. Furthermore, Fulford Hall bestows authenticity upon the campus. Through its material and stylistic differences, it “speaks” of the University’s growth over its long history.
Fulford Hall is one of only a handful of nineteenth-century buildings on central campus. These include Convocation Hall, Breslin Tower, and Walsh-Ellett Hall, as well as the first floor of Thompson Union. Also early, but not located at campus center, is St. Luke’s Hall. Fulford Hall, however, with its residential intention and wood frame construction, is unique in style and material.
With the recent, tragic loss of Rebel’s Rest, Fulford Hall is the only residence of one of the University’s founders still owned by the University. Other historic homes owned by important figures in the early history of the University, such as the home of Bishop Alexander Gregg (Carlos home), and that of VC Telfair Hodgson (Parker home), still stand but are privately owned.
Like other historic wood frame structures elsewhere in the United States, Fulford can be added to and modernized to bring it to code and to conform to the needs of the University in the 21st century and beyond.
We believe the University should focus on the preservation and continued use of Fulford Hall, rather than its destruction. As we all should remember, reflecting upon monumental mistakes like the destruction of Pennsylvania Station in New York, once the decision is taken to tear down an historic building, it is irreversible.
Organizer
Lisa Rung
Organizer
Sewanee, TN