Paine College Historic District

Paine College Historic District is the central core of a historically African-American college in Augusta, Georgia, southwest of the downtown business district. The 37-acre district holds 14 contributing buildings built between 1925 and 1971, plus Lion Field, an athletic field dating to 1919. Most buildings are brick and designed in the Colonial Revival style, giving the campus a uniform look, while the Carter Gymnasium, Graham Hall and the Peters Campus Center are International Style. Epworth Hall (1925) is the oldest surviving building. The Candler Library (1947) is Classical Revival, and the Gilbert-Lambuth Memorial Chapel (1968) is the campus centerpiece. The college grew from Paine Institute, established after the Methodist Episcopal Church, South and the Colored Methodist Episcopal Church agreed in the early 1880s to create a school for African Americans. Classes began in 1884, and the campus moved to its present site in 1886. The district is recognized for this educational history and its architecture.