Wren Building, Exterior Entrance to Great Hall

Wren Building, Exterior Entrance to Great Hall

Wren Building (Williamsburg, Va.)

Block 16. Building 3.

Historic buildings - Virginia - Williamsburg

Public buildings - Virginia - Williamsburg

Architecture, Colonial - Virginia - Williamsburg

Exterior view of the entrance to the Great Hall of the Wren Building at the College of William and Mary, 1933. Professors and students gathered in the Great Hall at long tables and benches to dine and converse during the colonial era. The room also served as a place to hold meetings, and members of the colonial House of Burgesses also occasionally met in this room when the Capitol building underwent renovations.

Begun in 1695, the construction of the Wren Building marked the birth of an academic center in colonial Virginia. One of the oldest academic structures in the United States, the Wren Building was damaged by several fires in 1705, 1859, and 1862, but still retains a large portion of its original outside walls. The building's features are thought to be based upon an adaptation of a Sir Christopher Wren design.

Shaw, Thomas Mott

1933

1933

This material is protected by copyright law (Title 17, U.S. Code). For reproduction queries: Rights and reproductions

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Image

D2008-COPY-1014-1067

Special Collections, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. Library, The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation

Graphite on paper

31 x 45.5 cm