Picture the oldest college building in the United States rising in the College Yard, first raised between 1695 and 1700. First constructed between 1695 and 1700 to host students and courses for William & Mary, this is the oldest college building in the United States. Its original design, often attributed to Sir Christopher Wren, was the largest yet constructed in the Chesapeake Colonies and marked a clear departure from the medieval forms previously found in Colonial Virginia.
Picture the initial plans that conceived the completed form as a quadrangle; the eastern and northern wings were finished in 1699. Then called the College Building, it was raised by workers who included indentured servants and enslaved persons. Over time the structure has been partially rebuilt multiple times after damage by fires, a tornado, and battles, so what you see today is a careful restoration of its early 18th-century form, completed as part of the Colonial Williamsburg projects.
Imagine the orations delivered here in 1699 that helped convince the colony’s government to move from Jamestown to Middle Plantation. Notice the restored facades that mark this careful 18th-century reconstruction across the College Yard.