From the historic marker:
This building, completed in 1889, was the first gymnasium at any predominantly black college in the United States. In 1949, it was rededicated as an art gallery and named in honor of Carl Van Vetchen, a New York Music Critic, author, photographer, and art collector who encouraged Georgia O'Keefe to donate to Fisk University part of the art collection of her late husband, Alfred Stieglitz.
The building is undergoing renovations when I visited here in the Spring of 2015 and will reopen in 2016. The Gymnasium / Gallery is on the National Register of Historic Places as a contributing property to the Fisk University Historic District.
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