Academy of Medicine
Atlanta, Fulton County, Georgia
Marker Inscription
Academy of Medicine. Thirteen Atlanta physicians organized the Brotherhood of Physicians in 1854. After many location and name changes, the Brotherhood evolved into the Fulton County Medical Society, which dedicated the Academy of Medicine as its headquarters here on December 15, 1941. Medical Society members played a major role in health care for all Georgians, including advances in the treatment of pellagra, hookworm, tuberculosis, and venereal disease. Designed by Philip T. Shutze and R. Kennon Perry, the Academy of Medicine is an outstanding example of Neoclassical architecture. The Medical Association of Atlanta directed restoration in 1983 and deeded the Academy to the Atlanta Medical Heritage to preserve it as a historic building. 2002.11 Erected by The Georgia Historical Society, The Medical Association of Atlanta, and Atlanta Medical Heritage, Inc. 60-3
Erected by Georgia Historical Society
The Story
Thirteen Atlanta physicians founded the Brotherhood of Physicians in 1854, an organization that grew through decades of name and location changes into the Fulton County Medical Society. In 1941 the society dedicated this elegant Neoclassical building, designed by Philip T. Shutze and R. Kennon Perry, as its Academy of Medicine. Its members drove advances in treating pellagra, hookworm, tuberculosis, and other diseases that plagued the South.
Why it matters
The Academy embodies the professionalization of Southern medicine and the public-health campaigns that transformed the region's fight against endemic disease.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
When thirteen Atlanta physicians came together in 1854, medicine in America was on the cusp of enormous change but still, by later standards, in its infancy. Antiseptic practice, germ theory, and the professional standards we now take for granted lay in the future. In the South especially, doctors faced a punishing landscape of endemic disease with limited tools.
Atlanta itself was then a young, fast-growing railroad town. Over the following decades it would burn in war, rebuild, and reinvent itself as the commercial capital of a 'New South.' The organization these physicians founded grew right alongside the city — through 'many location and name changes,' as the marker notes — evolving as Atlanta evolved.
By the time the society dedicated a permanent home in 1941, the world had turned again. Modern medicine had arrived, public health had become a science and a civic mission, and a profession that began with thirteen men now merited a landmark building of its own.
People & events
The story begins with the Brotherhood of Physicians in 1854 and runs, through decades of reinvention, to the Fulton County Medical Society. On December 15, 1941, that society dedicated the Academy of Medicine as its headquarters — a milestone that gave Atlanta's medical community a permanent institutional home.
The building was the work of architects Philip T. Shutze and R. Kennon Perry, and it stands as an outstanding example of Neoclassical design — an architectural statement that medicine had arrived as a dignified, established profession. Its columns and proportions were meant to convey permanence and public trust.
The society's members left their mark far beyond the building's walls. They played a major role in health care for Georgians and drove advances against the diseases that plagued the region — pellagra, hookworm, tuberculosis, and venereal disease. Decades later, in 1983, the Medical Association of Atlanta directed a restoration and deeded the Academy to Atlanta Medical Heritage, ensuring the landmark would be preserved.
Its place in the American story
The diseases this society fought were not merely medical problems; they were defining features of Southern poverty. Pellagra and hookworm in particular sapped the health and productivity of entire communities, and the campaigns against them were among the great public-health achievements of the early twentieth century. Understanding that pellagra was a nutritional deficiency, and that hookworm could be treated and prevented, transformed millions of lives across the South.
The Academy of Medicine embodies the professionalization of American medicine — the long journey from loosely organized practitioners to a disciplined, self-governing profession with standards, institutions, and a civic role. That arc, visible here in a single organization's history, played out nationwide.
That the building was later rescued and preserved rather than lost speaks to another American impulse: the recognition that the story of how we conquered disease is itself worth saving. The Academy stands as a monument not to one breakthrough but to the steady, cumulative work of public health.
If you visit
The Academy of Medicine rewards a close look at its architecture. Take in the Neoclassical lines Shutze and Perry gave it — the symmetry and columns designed to project stability and trust. This is a building meant to make you feel that what happens inside is serious and enduring.
As you stand before it, hold two dates in mind: 1854, when thirteen physicians first organized, and 1941, when their successors dedicated this landmark. The distance between them is the story of a profession — and a city — growing up together.
Set in Atlanta, the Academy fits naturally into a day exploring the city's rich layers of history. Let it prompt a thought that rarely makes the tourist itinerary: the quiet, decisive campaigns against pellagra, hookworm, and tuberculosis that reshaped Southern life. This is a place to appreciate the unglamorous heroism of public health.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
Plan your visit
NearbyMake a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.
Museums & culture
- Margaret Mitchell House0.3 mi away · 979 Peachtree Street Northeast, Atlanta, GA
- Atlanta Monetary Museum0.3 mi away · 1000 Peachtree Street Northeast, Atlanta, GA
- Woodruff Arts Center0.8 mi away · 1280 Peachtree Street Northeast, Atlanta, GA
- High Museum of Art0.8 mi away · 1280 Peachtree Street Northeast, Atlanta, GA
- Museum of Design Atlanta (MODA)0.9 mi away · 1315 Peachtree Street Northeast
- Science and Technology Museum of Atlanta0.9 mi away · GA
Attractions
- Georgia Aquarium1.1 mi away · 225 Baker Street Northwest, Atlanta, GA
- Atlanta Botanical Garden1.1 mi away · 1345 Piedmont Avenue Northeast
- Olympic Rings1.3 mi away
- Fountain of Rings1.3 mi away
- The Walking Dead - Terminus filming location3.3 mi away
- Zoo Atlanta3.3 mi away
Food & drink
- Condesa Coffee1.6 mi away · 480 John Wesley Dobbs Avenue Northeast
- Bird & Batter1.6 mi away
- Pal's Lounge1.6 mi away · 254 Auburn Avenue Northeast, Atlanta, GA
- Wok and Roll1.6 mi away
- Tap Out Billiards1.6 mi away
- Thelma's Kitchen1.7 mi away
Places to stay
- Staybridge Suites Atlanta - Midtown0.6 mi away · 23 Linden Avenue Northwest, Atlanta, GA
- Sonder Midtown South0.7 mi away · 126 Renaissance Parkway Northeast, Atlanta
- Twelve Downtown, Autograph Collection0.9 mi away · 400 West Peachtree Street Northwest, Atlanta, GA
- JW Marriott0.9 mi away · 45 Ivan Allen Junior Boulevard, Atlanta, GA
- Hyatt Place Atlanta/Downtown1.0 mi away · 330 Peachtree Street Northeast, Atlanta, GA
- The Darwin Hotel1.0 mi away
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Related people
- · Philip T. Shutze
- · R. Kennon Perry
Related events
- · Founding of the Brotherhood of Physicians, 1854
- · Dedication of the Academy of Medicine, 1941
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