Location:
T171 .G42 G49x GTVA-OVZ-700-C

Title:
Machine and Wood Shops.

Date:
Unknown

Content:
Adhesive on reverse side of print with paper fibers where print removed from paper backing.

History:
The Shop Building contained a foundry, forge, boiler room and engine room to support the learning of wood work and metal work, with a view to designing and building working engines. The Shop Building also served as the school's physical plant. In the early hours of April 21, 1892, the Shop Building was destroyed by fire. In the interests of economy, it was decided that the new Shop Building would be built according to the original design. The Georgia School of Technology Announcements of that time note: "The workshop is also of brick, two hundred and fifty feet long by eighty wide and two stories high. It is beautifully designed with reference to its use, and affords ample space for the various departments of instruction pursued in it. It contains boiler and engine rooms, wood shop, machine shop, forge room, and foundry. It has been equipped with a full assortment of tools, both hand and machine, by the best manufacturers. The shops are organized and managed as a manufacturing establishment, and the facilities are necessarily such as will give the best possible results. The shops are organized and managed as a manufacturing establishment, taking contracts for a great variety of work, both in wood and iron, and from this variety of work, always in process of construction, such parts are given the student to make as will afford him the best instruction at that particular stage of his course." Foundry: After the date of the fire the smith shop, boilers and cupolas for the foundry are located outside the main shop building, thus reducing to a minimum all chance of another disaster by fire using the same brick. From Warren Drury's thesis: "The new building, completed in May 1893, reflected a shift in architectural values. The new building shed its Victorian ornament and tower and in its place a more harmonious, balanced and reposed classical spirit emanated. The building was reduced from three stories to two. " Although many design considerations were dictated by cost, the new building also reflected the growing dominance of research and study over practical apprenticeship. The school came under increasing pressure to cease bidding on manufacturing projects, since the free labor provided by students gave the school a strong competitive edge. Enrollment dropped to an all time low after the fire.