Glynn Academy

On Mansfield Street, between Egmont and Albany Streets, lie the several buildings which comprise the Glynn Academy High School campus. While these streets are closed to vehicular traffic during the school year, the buildings are of sufficient interest to warrant parking nearby and taking a closer look. In 1777 the first State of Georgia Constitution specified that each county would establish an academy offering free college preparatory education. Although founded in 1788, the location of the first Glynn Academy building is unknown. In 1820 the second building was constructed at Reynolds and L Streets at a cost of $10,000, and was used for over twenty years. In 1840 yet another Glynn Academy was begun on the northern half of Hillsborough Square, with a wooden structure erected in the 1890s, and used until 1915, at which time itwas moved up the road to Sterling, Ga. In 1909 Glynn Academy moved into its new quarters on the south side of Hillsborough Square, which is still in use today. In 1923 construction was completed on the "new" Glynn Academy complex, including the Memorial Auditorium, designed by architect Hendrik Wallen and patterned after the Louvain Library in Belgium. This auditorium has superb acoustical qualities and is the site of many community musical and theatrical presentations. The different building on campus represent a history of architechural design, from the Georgian style (Sidney Lanier) to the Classical Revival (Prep School) to the Richardsonian Romanesque (Annex Building) designed by Alfred Eighberg, also designer of Old City Hall.