Wren Building - Williamsburg, VA
Posted by: 
bluesnote
N 37° 16.247 W 076° 42.529
18S E 348491 N 4126280
The oldest college building still in use in the United States is located in Williamsburg, VA.
Waymark Code: WMQR02
Location: Virginia, United States
Date Posted: 03/21/2016
Views: 9
About the Building:
~ The Wren Building is the signature building of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia, USA. Along with the Brafferton and President's House, these buildings form the College's Ancient Campus.
Construction of the first building on this site began August 8, 1695 and was completed by 1700. After several fires and rebuildings, the Wren Building was the first major building restored or reconstructed by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., after he and the Reverend Dr. W.A.R. Goodwin began Colonial Williamsburg's restoration in the late 1920s. The building's current state dates to the 20th-century restoration by Boston architects Perry Shaw & Hepburn. The College named the building in honor of the English architect Sir Christopher Wren, after the Reverend Hugh Jones, a William and Mary mathematics professor, wrote in 1724 that the College Building was "modeled by Sir Christopher Wren". Perry Shaw and Hepburn's restoration reflects the building's historic appearance from its reconstruction in 1716 after a 1705 fire to 1859, when it burned again.
~ The building is constructed out of red brick in the style of Flemish Bond, as was typical for official buildings in 17th- and 18th-century Williamsburg, including several walls remaining from previous structures, and it contains classrooms, offices, a refectory (known as the Great Hall), kitchen, and a chapel (added as a south wing in 1732). On the top of the building is a weather vane with the number 1693, the year the College was founded. In the early 1770s, plans were drawn up to complete the building as a quadrangle. Alumnus Thomas Jefferson (class of 1762) drew up a floorplan submitted to Governor Dunmore and foundations were laid in 1774. The looming War of Independence halted further construction, however, and the fourth wing was never completed. The foundations, however, still exist.
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The plaque states: "The first building at the College of William and Mary is the oldest college building in the United States. According to an 18th-century author, it was "first modeled by Sir Christopher Wren, adapted to the Nature of the Country by Gentlemen there." Having survived two wars and three fires, the Wren Building continues to be used by the faculty and students of the College."
Ref:
Wikipedia
bbc.co.uk/history/historic figures
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About the Person:
'Sir Christopher Wren' was born on October 20, 1632 in East Knoyle, Wiltshire England, where his father was rector, and died on February 25, 1723 in London. He is credited with being one of the best architects of his time. He has built numerous buildings in England including St. Paul's Cathedral.
Christopher Wren was educated at Westminster School and then Oxford University. He showed an early talent for mathematics and enjoyed inventing things, including an instrument for writing in the dark and a pneumatic machine. In 1657, Wren was appointed professor of astronomy at Gresham College in London and four years later, professor of astronomy at Oxford. In 1662, he was one of the founding members of the Royal Society, along with other mathematicians, scientists and scholars, many of whom were his friends.
~ The Wren Building at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia was modeled after Sir Christopher Wren, but not built by him. The building was named after him, shortly after his death in 1724.
Photo: Wikipedia