The original portions of the Academy building are now the east and west wings. A later connection created the present facade. First to be built was the western building (1841), which served.as the classrooms and offices. The 1842 eastern section was a dormitory. In 1872, the middle section was built.
All three portions are of brick. The principal structure, on the west, is three stories high over an English basement. It is four bays wide, with four interior end chimneys. The low-pitched roof supports a square two-level enclosed cupola. Windows have six-over-six lights, but the upstairs openings are smaller than the main floor windows. A portico in the western portion is two bays wide, supported by fluted columns.
The older two portions contain corbelled cornices, but no lintels or jack arches over the windows. The central three-bay, three-story section features segmental-arched windows and inset panels with houndstooth brick dentils above.
The Academy of Newark is Delaware's oldest educational institution. It was founded at New London, Pennsylvania by Dr. Francis Alison, a Presbyterian minister of the oldlight persuasion. On May 25, 1744, the Synod of Philadelphia accepted financial responsibility for its operation.
Alison moved to Philadelphia in 1752, leaving the school in the care of Rev. Alexander McDowell, who transferred it to Cecil County, Maryland. About ten years later, McDowell and his students moved to the crossroads village of Newark, in northern New Castle county. Alison and his successors tried unsuccessfully for many years to obtain a charter authorizing the Academy to grant degrees. Finally in 1769, John Penn issued a charter to the Academy of Newark, creating the self-perpetuating board that still exists. Dr. Alison served as president of the board from 1769 to 1779.
Pre-Revolutionary alumni of the Academy included signers Thomas McKean and George Read, Secretary of Congress Charles Thomson, and Captain Robert Kirkwood. Financial support in England came from King George III, Samuel Johnson, and other notables; these funds were lost in 1777 when the invading British army carried off the Academy's treasury. After the war, the trustees applied to the State of Delaware for a charter as a degree-granting college, which finally was granted in 1833, under the name of Newark College. Beginning in 1834, the Academy and the college operated as separate branches of the same institution. In 1843, the name of the institution was changed to Delaware College.Separate buildings for the Academy, now the east and west wings of the Academy building, were erected in 1841 and 1842. The College continued to use the building now known as Old College Hall of the University of Delaware. Edgar Allan Poe lectured at the new Academy in 1844.
In 1859, when Delaware College was closed by financial problems, the Academy became a separate institution once more. Until 1898, the school continued to function as a private secondary institution. In that year, Newark's first public high school opened in the Academy building. After a separate high school was built, the trustees rented the building to various tenants, including the public library and the city.
After being used as a public library and then as Newark City Hall the building was transferred to the University of Delaware in 1976. It is currently used by the Office of Communications and Marketing.