Timeline of UVA Art and Art History Department
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McIntire School of Fine Arts was established in 1918 by UVA President Edwin Alderman, and offered courses in art, architecture and music that led to the degree of BS in Architecture. (1)
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The original endowment of $150,000 was bestowed by Paul Goodloe McIntire. (2)
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Sidney Fiske Kimball was UVA’s first professor of art and architecture and head of the department. (3)
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In its early days, the art program was hosted by and associated with the engineering department, both housed in Cocke Hall. They shared a well lit gallery and drafting room. (4)
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In 1924, the art program moved into the newly renovated Fayerweather Hall, previously the university’s main gymnasium.
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The program was renamed “McIntire School of Art and Architecture” in 1938. (5)
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Fayerweather Hall was renovated again in 1938, this time to break up the main floor into drafting rooms, faulty offices and a jury room. There was also a designated slide room. The bottom floor contained a small fine arts library, two studios, a lecture room and an administrative office. During these renovations the drawing studio was temporarily moved to the northwest wing of the Rotunda.
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In 1954, the Board of Visitors voted to establish separate McIntire Departments of Architecture and Art.
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By 1963, it became clear that the departments of Architecture and Art were outgrowing Fayerweather Hall. A temporary one-story metal wing called “The Annex” was added on the west side of Fayerweather to accommodate additional classrooms and faculty offices.
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Campbell Hall was completed to house the Architecture program in 1970.
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Fiske Kimball Fine Arts Library was opened in February 1970, and originally held 15,000 volumes. Its first head librarian was Mary Dunnigan. It boasted a set of iron railings originally installed in the Rotunda by Stanford White, and several watercolors by former Architecture professor Edmund Campbell.
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The Drama Education school was erected in the Carr’s Hill complex in 1974.
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In 2004, Fayerweather hall was restored and remodeled to serve as the dedicated Art History building.
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Two years later, work began on Ruffin Hall, during which time the Studio Art program moved to temporary buildings called The Dells.
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Ruffin hall, completed in 2008, was constructed as a “village of the arts.” It was the first new Arts Ground building constructed since 1974. (6)
1 Alofsin, Anthony. The Struggle for Modernism: Architecture, Landscape Architecture, and City Planning at Harvard. New York: W.W. Norton and Co., 2002, 278.
2 Colby, Frank, ed. The New International Year Book for the Year 1919. New York: Dodd, Mead and Co., 1920, 725.
3 Alofsin 278
4 Virginia Record
5 Lay, K. Edward. A School Built upon the Foundation of Mr. Jefferson’s Principles of Architecture. Charlottesville: University of Virginia School of Architecture, 2013, 42.
6 https://news.virginia.edu/content/dedication-ruffin-hall-marks-expansion-carrs-hill-arts-grounds