Hoke Smith Building – UGA 1043 (1937, Category 2). The Hoke Smith Building is located at the corner of South Lumpkin and Carlton Streets. This building was originally known as the Agricultural Extension Building and was renamed Hoke Smith, who was governor of Georgia from 1907 to 1909 and later a U.S. Senator. Smith was a cosponsor of the Smith-Lever Act of 1914, which provided federal funds for agricultural extension work.
The Hoke Smith Building was planned and designed by Rudolph Driftmier and Roy Hitchcock as part of the New Deal expansion of the campus with federal funding. Like other New Deal academic buildings on South Campus, the three- story brick building has a simple Beaux-Arts form with an elevated first floor level over a raised basement, central portico and entrance, and gable end pavilions expressed in the facade.
The entrance portico has limestone detailing, with a limestone wall plane and four columns with Egyptian-inspired capitals. The wings to both sides have limestone bands, sills, lintels, and cornice. The building’s original windows have been replaced with new paired metal double-hung windows with applied muntins. Screens are mounted on the exteriors. The building has a hipped roof with asphalt shingles.
The interior of Hoke Smith retains much of its historic detailing, such as door frames, transoms, wainscot, trim, and stairways. New doors, dropped ceiling, resilient flooring, and other features have been added. The Hoke Smith Building retains integrity, is significant to the New Deal period of the University’s development, and appears to contribute to a National Register-eligible historic district. It is assessed as a Category 2 resource.
Landscape Resources
Landscape resources, which include access roads, parking areas, paved walks, signage, plantings, and site furnishings, are generally contemporary. Several
older trees help to convey a more historic character within parts of the character area.
