Fort Benning, Main Post, Bachelor Officers Quarters, Building No. 38, Richardson Circle, Fort Benning Military Reservation

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS GA-2430-C. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Richardson Circle, Main Post, Fort Benning, Chattahoochee County, Georgia The building is located at latitude: longitude: The coordinate represents the center point of the roof and was obtained from Google Earth imagery. The USGS quadrangle map is Fort Benning, Georgia- Alabama, photo-revised

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS GA-2430-C. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Building No. 38 was completed in and is part of a complex of three identical bachelor officers quarters (BOQ). The BOQ was built at Fort Benning as part of the permanent building construction program completed between and The construction program was part of an Army-wide program initiated in and continued during the Building No. 38 was identified as a contributing resource to the National Register-eligible Fort Benning Main Post Historic District (Fort Benning Appendix B). Building No. 38 is located near the center of the academic area of the historic district and is one of a group of buildings that forms the eastern terminus of the formally landscaped open space north of the former Infantry School (Building No. The architecture of Building No.

38 contributes to the overall architectural cohesiveness of Fort Benning, an installation that is an outstanding example of military architecture, community planning, and landscape architecture for the period between and The Fort Benning Main Post Historic District is also significant for its association with the modernization and development of the nation s military from to (Perry Description: Building No. 38 is a multi-unit residential building designed in the French Provincial style. The building adopts a U-shaped footprint comprising a two- story main block with one-story wings projecting from the west fa ade. The overall building dimensions are 143 -8 x 71 10 with a height of 34 -8 .

The main block measures 143 -8 x 39 -6 and has nine bays along the west fa ade and twenty-one bays along the east rear wall. The sides are three bays wide. The front projecting wings measure 26 -5 x 32 -4 with two bays on the front and three bays on each side. The center bays of the front and the rear of the main block feature two-story, slightly projecting bays with stuccoed quoining. Each projecting bay is capped by a broken pediment with returns. The raised foundation is constructed of poured concrete with a concrete water table. The exterior walls are structural clay tile finished with stucco. The scored structural clay tiles measure 4 x 12 and 12 x 12 . All building corners are stuccoed and scored to resemble stone quoins.

FORT BENNING, MAIN POST, BACHELOR OFFICERS QUARTERS, BUILDING No. 38 HABS No. GA-2430-C (Page 2) The steeply-pitched hipped roof is clad with flat, scored, clay tiles that are colored in variegated shades of reddish clay, from pale to dark red. The eave is ornamented on all walls by a wood cornice. The roof of the main block features arched dormers with six on the west side, four on the east side, and one on the each end. Round dormers project from each roof plane over the wings. All dormers contain modern replacement windows. The front faces of the dormers are finished with copper cladding. A 10 -0 -wide, two-story arcade spans the front and provides access to each residential unit. The arcade openings are defined by two-story piers that are scored and stuccoed to resemble ashlar.

The first-floor openings along the arcade have slightly segmental arches ornamented with stone scrolls with the exception of the center bay, which has a rectangular opening. The second-story arcade openings are rectangular with the exception of the center bay, which has a segmental-arch opening. The arcade openings on the first and second stories are spanned by ornamental aluminum metal railings. The central entry on the front of the main block is sheltered under a one-story porch that projects beyond the arcade and the two-story projecting center bay. The flat porch roof is supported on paired wood pillars with simple Doric capitals set on simple bases. The flat porch roof is capped by a narrow balcony with an ornamental metal balustrade. All doors and windows throughout Building No.

38 were replaced with modern units between and (Fort Benning real property records). History: Building No. 38 is one of three identical bachelor officers quarters (BOQ) completed in The BOQ was constructed to house eighteen bachelor officers and was completed during a major building program at Fort Benning to provide barracks for enlisted personnel and family housing for commissioned and non-commissioned officers. The installation construction program was part of a larger, nationwide military construction program that the Army initiated during the mid-1920s and continued during the as part of the Federal government s efforts to put civilians to work during the Depression.

Bachelor officers quarters evolved as a distinct building type on Army posts during the and when the Army began to consolidate troops into larger, permanent posts. In the Quartermaster Department issued its first standardized plan for a BOQ. The typical BOQ contained individual sleeping rooms and sitting rooms, a shared dining room, a reading room, a kitchen, and rooms for recreation, including billiards and cards. Early Quartermaster plans had Victorian ornamentation. During the first decade of the twentieth century, the Quartermaster adapted the Colonial Revival style to BOQs (Goodwin & Associates, FORT BENNING, MAIN POST, BACHELOR OFFICERS QUARTERS, BUILDING No. 38 HABS No. GA-2430-C (Page 3) Inc. Vol. NARA Standard Plans).

BOQs typically were located near the parade ground or near the officer family housing area. The standardized design of the BOQ was revised during the and updated to provide each officer with an individual living room, a bedroom, and a private bath. Kitchen facilities typically were provided in the building (Chambers The BOQs constructed during the reflected the prevailing architectural styles used by the Quartermaster Corps: the Georgian Colonial Revival and the Spanish/Mission Colonial Revival styles. At a few installations, BOQs were designed in special regional architectural styles.

The BOQ at Fort Benning is an example of the style described in a contemporary article as French provincial characterized by high pitched roofs, French doors, and often casement windows ( Housing the Army This style also was used for the buildings constructed at Barksdale Army Airfield, now Barksdale Air Force Base (AFB), Louisiana. The standardized plan was used again for the BOQ constructed at Maxwell AFB, Alabama, and adapted for the construction of the three BOQs (Building Nos. 36, 37, and 38) at Fort Benning, Georgia (Fort Benning scanned drawing archive The contract in the amount of to construct the three BOQs was awarded in November The general contractor was Algernon Blair of Montgomery, Alabama. Carl H.

Jabelonsky, the constructing quartermaster at Fort Benning, accepted Building No. 38 as completed on September 7, (NARA RG 77 Completion Report, Book 5, When completed, Building No. 38 was named Collins Hall in honor of Edgar Thomas Collins (NARA RG 77 Completion Report, Book 5, Major General Edgar Thomas Collins was born in March in Williamsport, Pennsylvania (Arlington National Cemetery website). He graduated from the U.S. Military Academy at West Point in (Cullum He was commissioned a Second Lieutenant of Infantry and was stationed with the Eighth United States Infantry at Fort D.A. Russell in Wyoming. With the outbreak of the Spanish-American War in the Eighth Infantry was deployed to Cuba. Collins fought in the battles at El Caney, San Juan Hill, and the siege of Santiago.

He also served with the Eighth Infantry during the Philippines uprising in He graduated with honors from the Army School of the Line at Fort Leavenworth in and then graduated from Army Staff College in He served as the Inspector General for the Wisconsin National Guard following his completion of the Army Staff College program (Arlington National Cemetery website). After serving a tour with the Tenth Infantry in Panama, he became an instructor at the Business Men s Training Camps in Plattsburg prior to the U.S. entry into World War I. During this period, he also graduated from the Army War College in FORT BENNING, MAIN POST, BACHELOR OFFICERS QUARTERS, BUILDING No. 38 HABS No.

GA-2430-C (Page 4) Washington, With the outbreak of World War I, Collins was ordered to France to observe the French and British military fronts in Europe. He returned to France as the Chief of Staff with the Eighty-Fifth Division. In October he was transferred to the Chief of Staff of the Sixth Army Corps and played an important role in the St. Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne offensives. He was awarded the Distinguished Service Medal for his service with the Sixth Army Corps. Following World War I, he attended the General Staff College and then served in various positions, including instructor at the college, Chief of Staff of the First Division at Camp Dix, with the War Plans Division, and with the Operations and Training Division with the War Department (Arlington National Cemetery website).

He was promoted to Brigadier General in and continued his education at the Infantry School at Fort Benning, as well as at the Field Artillery School at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. He was appointed head of the Infantry School at Fort Benning in He served at Fort Benning until when he was transferred to the Sixteenth Infantry Brigade at Washington, where he was detailed as the Assistant Chief of Staff in the War Department. He passed away in February after a long illness and was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery (Arlington National Cemetery website).

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS GA-2430-C. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

Arlington National Cemetery Website Edgar Thomas Collins, Major General, United States Army. Posted: May 12, Updated: May 18, Nov. 13, and Dec. 25, Viewed online: Oct. 31, at Chambers, Lt. Col. John S. Quarters for Our Army. The Quartermaster Review (March-April Cullum, George W. Biographical Register of the Officers and Graduates of the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York since its Establishment in Seemann & Peters, Printers, Saginaw, MI. Fort Benning, Directorate of Public Works, Environmental Management Division Historic Properties Component of the Integrated Cultural Resource Management Plan for Certification under the Army Alternate Procedures for Historic Properties in lieu of 36 CFR Part 800 for Section 106 compliance of the National Historic Preservation Act.

On file at Environmental Management Division, Fort Benning. FORT BENNING, MAIN POST, BACHELOR OFFICERS QUARTERS, BUILDING No. 38 HABS No. GA-2430-C (Page 5) Project Files maintained by the Environmental Management Division, Directorate of Public Works, Fort Benning. Real Property Records. Directorate of Public Works, Fort Benning. Var. Scanned drawing archive. Provided by Environmental Management Division, Directorate of Public Works, Fort Benning. Goodwin, R. Christopher, & Associates, Inc. National Historic Context for Department of Defense Installations, Prepared for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District, Baltimore, Maryland. Four volumes.

Housing the Army The Quartermaster Review (March-April National Archives and Records Administration Record Group 77, Records of the Office of the Chief of Engineers, Entry Construction Completion Reports Fort Benning, Georgia. Completion Reports, Volume 5, Perry, Susanne Seale Fort Benning Main Post Historic District. Draft National Register nomination on file at Environmental Management Division, Directorate of Public Works, Fort Benning. Historians: Katherine Grandine, Senior Historian, and Benjamin Riggle, Historian R. Christopher Goodwin & Associates, Inc., December

Source document Quoted word for word from HABS GA-2430-C. Not written, edited or summarised by this site.

This documentation package was prepared to mitigate the effects of renovations undertaken to Building Nos. 36, 37, and 38, contributing resources to the National Register-eligible Fort Benning Main Post Historic District.

The renovation project was completed as part of the transformation of Fort Benning into a Maneuver Center of Excellence under the Base Realignment and Closure Act of The Fort Benning Historic Properties Component of the Integrated Cultural Resource Management Plan for Certification under the Army Alternate Procedures for Historic Properties in lieu of 36 CFR Part 800 for Section 106 compliance of the National Historic Preservation Act of as amended, in effect since February states that, when renovations occur that do not meet the Secretary of the Interior s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties, treatment will take the form of documentation in accordance with the standards of FORT BENNING, MAIN POST, BACHELOR OFFICERS QUARTERS, BUILDING No. 38 HABS No.

GA-2430-C (Page 6) the Historic American Buildings Survey and/or the Historic American Engineering Record (HABS/HAER) or similar equivalent documentation (Fort Benning The scope of the project called for intensive historic and photo-documentation of one representative example of the BOQs. Building No. 36 (HABS No. GA-2430-A) was selected for photo-documentation. Additional information and historic photographs are presented HABS No. GA-2430. FORT BENNING, MAIN POST, BACHELOR OFFICERS QUARTERS, BUILDING No. 38 HABS No. GA-2430-C (Page 7) Excerpt of Fort Benning Main Post Map Showing Building No. 38 Location