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Main Building

Main Building

Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, MICA’s Main Building houses the Office of Admission, the Office of the President, the Office of the Provost/Academic Affairs, the First Year Experience and Photography departments, as well as studio space for painting and drawing classes.

Monday - Friday: 8:00 a.m. - 12:00 a.m. (midnight)
Saturday - Sunday: 8:30 a.m. - 10:00 p.m.

The Main Building includes expansive studio classrooms, a student-run gallery, and darkrooms for photography processing.

As a hub for student activity throughout the year, it is the site for MICA’s notoriously-creative student Halloween Party. And in May, the buildings, classrooms, galleries, and open spaces serve as exhibition halls for the senior thesis show, ArtWalk.

Throughout the Main Building, plaster replicas of Greek and Roman statues offer students study targets for their first year.

The Main Building's marble staircase is one of campus's most distinctive architectural features.

Main O Gallery exhibits work by the students of photography and sculpture. It is one of a number of campus-wide sites for the Commencement Exhibition.

“I had actually seen the stairs of the Main Building online before, without any context. And I thought they were one of the most beautiful staircases I had ever seen.” - Faith Couch ’19, Photography

History of the Main Building

Construction was completed in 1908 and was funded by The State of Maryland, the Carnegie Foundation, and local benefactors. Michael Jenkins donated the land, stipulating that the new building not clash with the nearby Gothic Revival Corpus Christi Church. The Main Building was the first to be designed by New York-based architects Pell & Corbett, who were awarded the contract when they won a $500 design contest sponsored by the New York Association of Independent Architects. Otto Fuchs designed the interior studio plans. The architecture was intended to evoke a feeling of the Grand Canal of Venice, c. 1400. The exterior marble was excavated from the Baltimore County quarry near Cockeysville, Maryland. It is the same marble used to build the Washington Monument in Baltimore, designed by Robert Mills, and part of the Washington Monument in Washington, D.C.

Architectural features include the main entrance, a large marble staircase, stained-glass skylight and the names of Renaissance masters surrounding the entrance to the second floor. The exterior of the northeast façade features four stone memorial medallions: one for the city, one for the state and two others honoring College benefactors Andrew Carnegie and Michael Jenkins. Throughout the Main Building, plaster replicas of Greek and Roman statues offer students study targets for their Foundation year. In 1908, the New York Association of Independent Architects awarded the building a gold key, the highest award in architecture at the time.

From 1990-1992, the building underwent a $5.1 million renovation under the direction of the Grieves, Worrell, Wright & O’Hatnick, Inc. architectural firm. The renovation upgraded the building's facilities and created additional academic and office space while retaining much of the original design and décor. A scene featuring actress Julia Louis-Dreyfus in the pilot episode of HBO’s Veep was filmed in Main Building.