Visiting the Hammonds House Museum in Atlanta
Mr. Robert Thompson, Insight Cultural Tourism and Museum Curator.
Lydia Kimbrough and Jackie Robinson
The Hammonds House Museum is a museum for African American fine art, located at 503 Peeples Street SW in the West End neighborhood of Atlanta, Georgia. It is located in the 1857 Victorian house, former residence of Dr. Otis Thrash Hammonds, a prominent Atlanta physician and patron of the arts. The Victorian house is believed to have been built in 1857, and to be one of the three oldest houses in the Westend neighborhood of Atlanta.
Special thank you to Ms. Lydia Kimbrough, the young lady who warmly greeted me as I entered the museum. Thank you for your smiles. Also, Mr. Robert Thompson deserves a special thanks for spending time with me to curate the museum.
Nestled on a quiet residential street in Atlanta’s historic West End, Hammonds House Museum is a unique setting to explore the cultural diversity and legacy of artists of African descent. The Museum is the former residence of the late Dr. Otis Thrash Hammonds, a prominent Atlanta physician and a passionate arts patron. Shortly after his death in June 1985, the Fulton County Board of Commissioners under the leadership of Chairman Michael Lomax purchased the house and the collection of 250 artworks which Dr. Hammonds had amassed over the years. The Hammonds House Galleries, a 501(c)3 organization, opened in 1988. The name was later changed to Hammonds House Museum.
O.T. HAMMONDS
Hammonds House is the former residence of the late Dr. Otis Thrash Hammonds, an Atlanta physician and art patron. Shortly after his death in June 1985, the Fulton County Board of Commissioners purchased the house and a collection of over 250 artworks which he had amassed over the years. Dr. Hammonds took an interest in emerging artists and arts groups and supported a number of them over the years. He was a major supporter of Black artists in Atlanta, serving as Chairman of the Board of the Neighborhood Arts Center, a community arts center in the 1970s, that nurtured many Black artists and arts groups, including the African Dance Ensemble and the Southern Collective of African Writers. Dr. Hammonds was also a member of the Board of Trustees of the High Museum of Art and several committees of the museum, including the Young Collectors of the High Museum of Art.
In addition to his distinguished career as a patron of the Arts, Dr. Hammonds also had a distinguished medical career, serving as Chief of Staff, and Chief of Anesthesiology of the Southwest Community Hospital, Chairman of the Board of the West End Medical Association, founder of the Westside Anesthesia Association, a member of the Board of the Metropolitan Atlanta Health Plan, a member of the American Society of Anesthesiologists, and the National, Georgia, and Atlanta Medical Association’s “Man of the Year”.
