{"nrhp_refnum":"73000639","name":"Academy of Richmond County","other_names":["Augusta-Richmond County Museum"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"540 Telfair St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Augusta","county":"Richmond County","state":"GA","lat":33.47000449800004,"lon":-81.96226458299998,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1973-04-11","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Education","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story stuccoed brick building at 540 Telfair Street in Augusta, Richmond County, Georgia, built in 1802 for the Academy of Richmond County and remodeled in Tudor-Gothic Revival style in 1856-7 under William Henry Goodrich. It now houses the Augusta-Richmond County Museum.","why_significant":"The nomination cites its fine Tudor-Gothic design, one of few major Gothic Revival landmarks in Georgia, and its link to the state's earliest public education legislation. It also served as a Confederate hospital administrative building, a library and a museum, and forms part of a historic block of Telfair and Walker Streets.","narrative":"Built in 1802 on Telfair Street in Augusta, this brick building housed the Academy of Richmond County, a school opened in 1785 and described in the nomination as the oldest seat of learning in the United States except for Yale, Harvard and Princeton. George Washington visited the first Academy building in 1790. The present structure took its Tudor-Gothic Revival appearance in 1856-7, when William Henry Goodrich oversaw a remodeling that added two wings, molded brick dripstones above the windows and cast iron clustered columns on the front portico. The stuccoed brick is scored to resemble stone blocks, and crenellated parapets line the roof and portico. During the Civil War Confederate authorities used it as a hospital administrative building. The school reopened in 1868 and occupied it until 1926. A library association used the ground floors from 1929 to 1960, and the whole building now holds the Augusta Museum collection. It is one of few major Gothic Revival landmarks in Georgia.","period_of_significance":"19th century; specific dates 1802, 1856-7","architect_builder":"William Henry Goodrich (remodeling, 1856-7)","architectural_style":"Tudor-Gothic Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Described as in good condition and in use as a museum; stucco flaking in places. Trustees of the Academy still oversee its use.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:40.677154-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/73000639.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73000639/2236dc3759-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/73000639/2236dc3759-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Jud McCranie","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Academy_of_Richmond_County,_Augusta,_GA,_US.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Jud McCranie</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Old_Academy_of_Richmond_County,_Augusta,_GA,_US.jpg"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"04000515","name":"Augusta Downtown Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/georgia/augusta-downtown-historic-district-04000515/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93209335","wikipedia":null,"wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q116840335"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/richmond-county/academy-of-richmond-county-73000639/"}