{"nrhp_refnum":"78000960","name":"Central Building, State Lunatic Asylum","other_names":["Powell Building","Central Building,Central State Hospital"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Broad St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Milledgeville","county":"Baldwin County","state":"GA","lat":33.05056336800004,"lon":-83.22190173599995,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1978-07-20","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Health/Medicine","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["state"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A brick central building with flanking wings at the Central State Hospital grounds on Broad Street in Milledgeville, Baldwin County, Georgia, begun in 1855 and completed in 1858 as part of the State Lunatic Asylum. It was designed by Savannah architects Charles Sholl and Calvin Fay and is also known as the Powell Building.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is significant as part of the first institution in the world to serve lunatics, idiots and epileptics together. It also continues as the central focal point of Georgia's state mental hospital. Its antebellum facade is relatively intact, and its design is linked to an earlier asylum in Columbia, South Carolina.","narrative":"Begun in 1855 and occupied in the summer of 1858, the Central Building, also called the Powell Building, forms the front of the state hospital grounds in Milledgeville. Savannah architects Charles Sholl and Calvin Fay designed it with advice from the asylum superintendent, Dr. Thomas F. Green. A commission had found room was needed for 150 more patients, including some able to pay. The brick building has a domed central block with a tetrastyle Ionic portico, flanked by three-story wings once divided into male and female wards. The nomination links its pilasters, arched windows and projecting central pavilion to an earlier asylum in Columbia, South Carolina. It is significant because the Georgia asylum was described as the first institution to serve lunatics, idiots and epileptics together, and the building still anchors the state's mental hospital. The exterior remains close to its original look, though interiors were altered, notably in 1956.","period_of_significance":"1855-1858","architect_builder":"Charles Sholl and Calvin Fay","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Exterior appears largely unaltered apart from color; interior altered several times, most recently in 1956. The wings still house patients and the central building holds administrative offices and storage.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:55:40.412175-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_GA/78000960.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78000960/75a85895d0-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/78000960/75a85895d0-1600.webp","licence":"Public domain","author":null,"credit_html":"Unknown author, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Historic_American_Buildings_Survey_L._D._Andrew,_Photograph_Jan._3,_1937_VIEW_OF_FRONT_-_Milledgeville_State_Hospital,_Central_Building,_Milledgeville,_Baldwin_County,_GA_HABS_GA,5-MILG,9-1.tif"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/93206849","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_State_Hospital_(Milledgeville,_Georgia)","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5061848"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/georgia/baldwin-county/central-building-state-lunatic-asylum-78000960/"}