Wren Building, College of William and Mary
- Title:
- Wren Building, College of William and Mary
- Collection:
- Andrew Dickson White Architectural Photographs Collection
- Creator:
- Hadley, Thomas, Architect
Cary, Henry (American architect-builder, active in Williamsburg, Va, ca.1680-1749)
- Creation Date:
- ca. 1934-ca. 1950 (photograph)
1695-1732 (building)
- Location:
- Williamsburg, Williamsburg, Virginia, United States
- Country:
- United States
- ID Number:
- 566
- Accession Number:
- 15/5/3090.00566
- Collection Number:
- 15-5-3090
- File Name:
- 00566.jpg
- Style/Period:
- American Colonial
- Materials/Techniques:
- gelatin silver prints
- Subject:
- universities (buildings)
historic sites
University campuses
balconies
oculi (openings)
street lighting units
lighting devices
entrances
Benches
dormers
clock towers (towers)
cupolas
Wren Building, College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, Virginia
photographs - Measurement:
- 24.13 x 19.05 (centimeters)
- Description:
- "The College of William and Mary's Wren Building is the oldest academic structure still in use in America. Begun August 8, 1695, two years after the school was chartered, it is the signature building of the second oldest college in the nation (next to Harvard). . . Three times destro yed by fire, the appearance of the brick-walled Wren Building has often changed, but it stands today much as it appeared by 1732. It was the first major building restored by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., after he began Williamsburg's restoration in the late 1920s. Properly called the College Building, the first version of the Wren Building was built by English "undertaker" (contractor) Thomas Hadley. . . The plan had been to erect a quadrangle with a central piazza, but funds ran short by 1697, and the Wren Building was left in an L-shape. The longer, eas t-facing length rose three and one-half stories (46 feet from ground to cornice) from a basement. It was topped by a dormer-windowed roof crowned by a tall cupola. Some 46 feet wide and 138 feet long, it matched the measurements of three 46-foot cubes. Most floors probably had 12 east-front sash win dows (the final configuration of the central pavillion is unknown)
two small galleries (balconies) hung from the second floor above the main door. Five or six steps approached the entrance." Source: Colonial Williamsburg Web site: - Source:
- Data from: A.D. White Architectural Photographs, Cornell University Library
http://cidc.library.cornell.edu/adw/albumen.htm - Cite As:
- Andrew Dickson White Architectural Photograph Collection, #15-5-3090. Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library.
- Repository:
- Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library
- Archival Collection:
- Andrew Dickson White architectural photograph collection
- Format:
- Image
- Rights:
- The images in this collection are in the public domain and are believed to have no known U.S. copyright or other restrictions. The Library does not charge for permission to use these materials and does not grant or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute them. However, as a good scholarly practice we recommend that all patrons cite the Library as the source of the reproduction. For a more detailed explanation please read the Library Guidelines for Using Public Domain Text, Images, Audio, and Video Reproduced from Cornell University Library Collections at http://hdl.handle.net/1813.001/CULCopyright.