College of William & Mary

The Brafferton, built in 1723 and among the oldest buildings in Virginia, is a former school for Virginian Indians located southeast of the Sir Christopher Wren Building, facing the President's House on the campus of the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.

The President's House is the residence of the President of the College of William and Mary in Virginia in Williamsburg, Virginia. Constructed in 1732, the building still serves its original purpose and is among the oldest buildings in Virginia. Since its construction only one of the college's presidents, Robert Saunders Jr., has not moved into the building, which is let for free to the president. The President's House is the College's third-oldest building and the oldest official college presidential residence in the United States.

The College of William & Mary has possessed a campus in modern-day Williamsburg, Virginia, since 1693. The cornerstone of the College Building, now known as the Wren Building and the oldest surviving academic building in the United States, was laid in 1695. The college's 18th-century campus includes the College Building, the President's House, and Brafferton–all of which were constructed using slave labor. These buildings were altered and damaged during the succeeding centuries before receiving significant restorations by the Colonial Williamsburg program during the 1920s and 1930s. Additional construction and acquisitions developed and expanded the college's Williamsburg campus through the 19th, 20th, and 21st centuries. Through the 1920s and 1930s, Charles M. Robinson and his associates designed a number of Colonial Revival buildings on what is now the college's Old Campus. Additional construction later in the century created New Campus. Recent additions to the Williamsburg campus include buildings for the college's Law School, School of Education, and Mason School of Business. William & Mary has maintained campuses outside of Williamsburg since 1925. The Colleges of William & Mary integrated William & Mary and four other campuses into a university system in the early 1960s; only Richard Bland College remains affiliated. A campus for the college's Virginia Institute of Marine Science (VIMS) graduate school is located in Gloucester Point site. VIMS also maintains a laboratory in Wachapreague and a research facility along the Rappahannock River.

The Wren Building is the oldest building on the campus of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. Along with the Brafferton and President's House, these buildings form the College's "Ancient Campus." With a construction history dating to 1695, it is the oldest academic building still standing in the United States and among the oldest buildings in Virginia. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960.Construction of the first building on this site began August 8, 1695 and was completed by 1700. The building, along with the rest of the historic courtyard, was built using enslaved labor. 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 was restored in the 20th century 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". However, it is unknown how Jones came to this conclusion, since there are no actual documents tying Wren to the building's design, and he never even visited North America. 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 and English 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, which was added as a south wing in 1732. The crypt beneath the chapel is the resting place of several notable Virginians, including royal governor Norborne Berkeley, 4th Baron Botetourt, Speaker of the House of Burgesses Sir John Randolph, and his son Peyton Randolph, the first President of the Continental Congress.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 American Revolutionary War halted further construction, however, and the fourth wing was never completed. The foundations, however, still exist and were uncovered during excavations in 2014.The first and second floors of the building are still open for public viewing. Guided tours of the Wren Building are offered whenever classes are in-session by the Spotswood Society, named after Alexander Spotswood, an influential Virginia governor. The Spotswood Society also maintains a virtual tour.

Middle Plantation in the Virginia Colony was the unincorporated town established in 1632 that became Williamsburg in 1699. It was located on high ground about halfway across the Virginia Peninsula between the James River and York River. Middle Plantation represented the first major inland settlement for the colony. It was established by an Act of Assembly to provide a link between Jamestown and Chiskiack, a settlement located across the Peninsula on the York River.

Williamsburg is an independent city in Virginia, United States. As of the 2020 census, it had a population of 15,425. Located on the Virginia Peninsula, Williamsburg is in the northern part of the Hampton Roads metropolitan area. It is bordered by James City County on the west and south and York County on the east. English settlers founded Williamsburg in 1632 as Middle Plantation, a fortified settlement on high ground between the James and York rivers. The city functioned as the capital of the Colony and Commonwealth of Virginia from 1699 to 1780 and became the center of political events in Virginia leading to the American Revolution. The College of William & Mary, established in 1693, is the second-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and the only one of the nine colonial colleges in the South. Its alumni include three U.S. presidents as well as many other important figures in the nation's early history. The city's tourism-based economy is driven by Colonial Williamsburg, the city's restored Historic Area. Along with nearby Jamestown and Yorktown, Williamsburg forms part of the Historic Triangle, which annually attracts more than four million tourists. Modern Williamsburg is also a college town, inhabited in large part by William & Mary students, faculty and staff.

Ewell Hall is an academic building on the campus of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. The building was constructed in 1925–1926 on what is now Old Campus, across from Tucker Hall on the Sunken Garden. It was originally named Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall for Phi Beta Kappa, an honor society founded at the College of William & Mary and the oldest such society in the United States. John D. Rockefeller Jr. attended the hall's 1926 dedication; during this visit, W. A. R. Goodwin convinced Rockefeller to participate in a restoration program that became Colonial Williamsburg. After a severe fire destroyed the auditorium portion of the building in 1953, a new Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall was opened in 1956. The building was renamed Ewell Hall for Benjamin Stoddert Ewell, a 19th-century president of the college, in 1957 and now hosts both the college's Music Department and Arts & Sciences administrative offices.

St. George Tucker Hall is an academic building on the campus of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. Built in 1908–1909 from a design by Cady & See, it was William & Mary's first freestanding library and sits on what is now known as Old Campus. It is an early example of Colonial Revival architecture in Williamsburg that predated the Colonial Williamsburg restoration and reconstruction efforts. A 1928 expansion of Tucker Hall was designed by Charles M. Robinson, with a further renovation performed in 2009. The building is now named for St. George Tucker, who taught at the college. A statue of James Monroe, a U.S. president and alumnus of the college, was installed in front the hall in 2015.

The Sunken Garden (often erroneously referred to as the Sunken Gardens) is the central element of the Old Campus at the College of William & Mary. The garden consists of a long stretch of grass, lower than the surrounding area, that runs west from the rear of the Wren Building to Crim Dell pond. The area is very popular for students wanting to study outside or play games like Ultimate. Functionally, it is similar to a university quadrangle. The Sunken Garden was first designed by College Architect Charles M. Robinson, who was working closely with J.A.C. Chandler on the project from 1919 to 1923. The design was reportedly based on the works of Christopher Wren seen in England, especially his work at Chelsea Hospital. The plan for a sunken garden on the campus was first mentioned in correspondence between J.A.C. Chandler and Charles F. Gillette in October 1923. The plan to omit the construction of the Sunken Garden as included in building plans drawn by landscape artist Charles F. Gillette was first mentioned in the Board of Visitors minutes on February 12, 1924. The Board of Visitors was concerned that Gillette's landscape plan would call for an expenditure of $25,000 to $30,000. In 1933, Dr. J.A.C Chandler reported that a Civilian Conservation Corps camp had been assigned to the college for the purpose of beautifying and improving the grounds. He recommended that the board again consider the idea of the Sunken Garden. This recommendation was adopted and the president was authorized to employ Gillette to supervise the landscape work. Upon motion duly made and seconded, Gillette's bill for $1,400 for services rendered as architect for the Sunken Garden was approved and ordered to be paid. It was constructed by A.L Phillips Sons between 1935 and 1936.

The Chandler Court and Pollard Park Historic District is a national historic district located at Williamsburg, Virginia. In 1996, it included 25 contributing buildings, 2 contributing sites, and 1 contributing structure deemed to contribute to the historic character of the area. It was developed between 1922 and 1940, and represents the changing appearance of middle-class suburban housing. The houses represent a variety of popular architectural styles including Colonial Revival, Tudor Revival, and Bungalow.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1996.

H. K. Young House (built 1920) is a historic building in Williamsburg, Virginia, United States. Located at 205 Griffin Avenue, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), and currently serves as the headquarters for the National Institute of American History and Democracy (NIAHD). Constructed in the Dutch Colonial Revival style, the Young House is one of the oldest buildings in Williamsburg, predating the restoration of the Wren Building.

The DeWitt Wallace Decorative Arts Museum (DWDAM), is a museum dedicated to British and American fine and decorative arts from 1670-1840, located in Williamsburg, Virginia. Situated just outside the historic boundary of Colonial Williamsburg, DWDAM was founded with an initial 1982 donation by DeWitt Wallace (1889–1981) and his wife Lila Bell Acheson Wallace (1889–1984) — co-founders of Reader's Digest. The Wallaces donated $12 million to finance reconstruction of the nation's first public mental hospital, the Public Hospital of 1773 and construction of the decorative arts museum — to be connected to the hospital by an underground concourse. Having initially opened in 1985, the museum has since expanded to include the Abby Aldrich Rockefeller Folk Art Museum and will undergo another expansion to open in 2019 with a new, street-level entrance. The museum features diverse collections related to the founding of the United States — including furniture, paintings, silver, numismatics, ceramics, tools, textiles, glass, maps, weapons, media and other objects from the permanent Colonial Williamsburg collection.