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{{Short description|Historic building of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia}}
{{use mdy dates|date=October 2012}}
{{refimprove| date = December 2024}}
{{Infobox NRHP
 | name = Wren Building, College of William and Mary
 | nrhp_type = nhl
 | designated_other1 = Virginia Landmarks Register
 | designated_other1_date = September 9, 1969<ref name=DHR202410/>
 | designated_other1_number = 137-0013
 | designated_other1_num_position = bottom
 | image = ChristopherWrenBuilding.jpg
 | caption = The east front of the Wren Building
 | location = [[Williamsburg, Virginia]]
 | coordinates = {{coord|37|16|15|N|76|42|33|W|display=inline,title}}
 | locmapin = Virginia#USA
 | area =
 | built = 1695-1699<ref name = GuyBldgsofVa/><ref name = SeurattenWMedu2016>{{cite web | author = Seurattan, Suzanne | date = January 6, 2016 | title = The Wren: You Know the Building; What About Its History? | work = Libraries.WM.edu | url = https://libraries.wm.edu/about/news/2016/01/wren-you-know-building-what-about-its-history | access-date = 12 December 2024 | location = Williamsburg, VA | publisher = [[College of William & Mary|William & Mary]] Libraries | quote = The cornerstone of the College was laid on Aug. 8, 1695. No images of the cornerstone are known to exist.}}{{better source|date = December 2024}}</ref><ref name=DHR202410/>
 | architect =
 | architecture = <!--[[Georgian architecture|Georgian]] NOT IN DHRvirginia or GUY citations, see text note following.-->
 | designated_nrhp_type = October 9, 1960<ref name="nhlsum"/>
 | added = October 15, 1966
 | refnum = 66000929<ref name=DHR202410/><ref>For original submission documents, see the following search portal, and enter the 66000929 reference number: {{cite web | author = NPS Staff | date = 2024-12-14 | title = Wren Building, College of William and Mary | format = NHRP entry | work = NPS.gov/NRHP | url=https://npgallery.nps.gov/NRHP/ | url-status=| archive-url= | archive-date= |location = Washington, DC | publisher=[[National Park Service]] (NPS), National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) | quote = }}</ref>
}}
{{Campus of William & Mary}}
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Note, per WP:VERIFY, wikilinks do NOT constitute a replacement for citations in support of stated, non-sky-is-blue factual content.
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The '''Wren Building''' is a building on the [[Campus of the College of William & Mary|campus]] of the [[College of William & Mary]] in [[Williamsburg, Virginia]], considered the oldest academic building still standing and in use in the United States,<ref name = CrimsonStaffMassHallWrenBldg>{{cite web | author = The Crimson Staff | date = April 5, 2007 | title =  The Critical Mass. (Hall) | work = [[The Harvard Crimson]] (TheCrimson.com) | format = opinion piece | url = http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2007/4/5/the-critical-mass-hall-eavesdrop-on/ | access-date = December 12, 2024 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100407100854/http://www.thecrimson.com/article/2007/4/5/the-critical-mass-hall-eavesdrop-on/ | archive-date = 2010-04-07 | location = Cambridge, MA | publisher = The Harvard Crimson, Inc. | quote = <small>Massachusetts Hall... will join University Hall and Harvard Hall and, unfortunately, may cease to house first-year Harvard students... Mass. Hall—built in 1720—is the oldest standing building at Harvard and the second-oldest standing academic building in the United States (behind the Wren Building at The College of William and Mary).</small>}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=The Wren Building |url=https://www.wm.edu/about/history/historiccampus/wrenbuilding/ |website=William & Mary |publisher=The College of William & Mary |access-date=18 June 2025}}</ref>

Situated in Old College Yard<ref name = GuyBldgsofVa/>{{rp|p.375}}<ref name=DHR202410/> of William & Mary's "Ancient Campus", the Wren Building is centrally located with its forecourt defined by two further historic structures, [[Brafferton (building)|Brafferton]] (built in 1723 as an Indian school) and the [[President's House (College of William & Mary)|President's House]] (completed in 1733).<ref name=DHR202410/> 

The Wren Building was designated a [[National Historic Landmark]] on October 9, 1960,<ref name="nhlsum">{{cite web | author = NPS-NHL Program Staff | date = 2008-06-27 | title = Wren Building, College of William and Mary | format = NHL Program listing | work = TPS.CR.NPS.gov/NHL | url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=707&ResourceType=Building | access-date=2008-06-27 | url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090213002246/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=707&ResourceType=Building | archive-date=February 13, 2009 |df=mdy-all | location = Washington, DC | publisher=[[National Park Service]] (NPS), National Historic Landmarks (NHL) Program | quote = }}</ref> and has appeared in the Virginia Landmarks Register since September 9, 1969.<ref name=DHR202410>{{cite web | author = DHR Staff | date = January 10, 2024 | title = 137-0013: Wren Building (Old College Yard, College of William and Mary) | work = DHR.Virginia.gov | url = https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/historic-registers/137-0013/ | access-date = 12 December 2024 | location = Richmond, VA | publisher = [[Virginia Department of Historic Resources]] (DHR) | quote = VLR Listing Date 09/09/1969 / NRHP Listing Date 10/15/1966 / NHL Listing Date 10/09/1960 / NRHP Reference Number 66000929.}}</ref> 
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Wren is main building of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg,<ref name=DHR202410/> 
It was gutted by fire in 1705<ref name=DHR202410/>
Again burned in 1859 and 1862,<ref name=DHR202410/> 
Building’s 1705 exterior appearance is well-documented,<ref name=DHR202410/> 
to that form that it was returned during the restoration of 1928-31 directed by Colonial Williamsburg architects.<ref name=DHR202410/> 
William and Mary was chartered in 1693<ref name=DHR202410/>
Now a state-owned university;<ref name=DHR202410/>
the Old College Yard is located to the west of the Williamsburg Historic District.<ref name=DHR202410/>
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==Building history==
===Initial construction===
The cornerstone of the first building on this site was laid on August 8, 1695,<ref name = SeurattenWMedu2016/><ref name=DHR202410/><ref name = GuyBldgsofVa/> and construction was completed four years later.<ref name=DHR202410/><ref name = GuyBldgsofVa>{{cite book| editor = Wilson, Richard Guy; Butler, Sara A.; Chappell, Edward; Driggs, Sarah Shields; Larsen, Hal; McClane, Debra A.; Potterfield, Jr., Thomas Tyler; Rasmussen, William M. S.; Richardson, Selden; Slipek, Jr., Edwin; Wagner, Marc C.; Wojtowicz, Robert | date=2002| edition = 1st | title=Buildings of Virginia: Tidewater and Piedmont | chapter = Hampton Roads (HR) [HR31—College of William and Mary, Old College Yard; HR31.1 Wren Building] | series= [[Buildings of the United States]] | location = Oxford, England | publisher= [[Society of Architectural Historians]]–[[Oxford University Press]] | isbn=0195152069 | page=v., 374-377, esp. 375f | url = https://archive.org/details/buildingsofvirgi0000unse/page/375 | access-date = 14 December 2024 | url-access = registration}} Note, from Butler forward, the names appearing are contributors (frontmatter. v.), a list which ends "and Others".</ref> While many details regarding the matter are unknown, an undated modern Wren House informational placard states that the "building was made by the labor of enslaved individuals... possibl[y] including... enslaved children..." and that the same labor was used "to run the College, most likely assisting with cleaning, cooking, gardening, tending livestock, etc."<ref name=WrenPlacard01>{{cite web | author = William and Mary Staff [presumed] | date = | title = [1] Black History | work = spotswoodsociety.wixsite.com | format = transcript of a Wren House display placard, author and date unknown, presenting unsourced introductory content regarding the use of slaves in the early period of the Wren and William and Mary operations  | url = https://spotswoodsociety.wixsite.com/tour/black-history?pgid=kawoo6gf-8f0d7975-a421-11ea-8c85-12879e2400f0 | access-date = 14 December 2024 | quote = <small>It is important to note that this building was made by the labor of enslaved individuals. There was no ‘trained’ brick layer. And looking at the size of the tools used, it’s possible that these were enslaved children. The history of this college is inextricably linked with the subject of slavery. Enslaved labor was used to construct the buildings of the college and then they worked to run the College, most likely assisting with cleaning, cooking, gardening, tending livestock, etc. Most likely, they slept where they worked, which meant the cellar of the Wren Building or the kitchen. There were possibly even enslaved quarters somewhere outside the building – we know that this was an idea that was brought up but we don’t know if it was ever implemented.</small>}} Note, this placard, while containing valuable information, appears without formal bibliographic connection to either William and Mary, or another authoritative source; hence, it is presented in the interim without author or date, or full confidence in provenance.</ref>{{better source|date = December 2024}}

The college named the building in honor of the English architect [[Christopher Wren|Sir Christopher Wren]],{{fact|date = December 2024}} after [[Hugh Jones (professor)|Hugh Jones]]—a Reverend and William and Mary mathematics professor{{fact|date = December 2024}}—wrote in his ''Present State of Virginia'' (1724) that it was “first modelled by Sir Christopher Wren, adapted to the nature of the country by the gentlemen there”;<ref name=DHR202410/> 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.<ref>{{Cite book | author = Kornwolf, James D. | year = 1989 | title = "So Good a Design": The Colonial Campus of the College of William and Mary, Its History, Background, and Legacy | location = Williamsburg, VA | publisher = College of William and Mary, Joseph and Margaret Muscarelle Museum of Art | url = <!--https://www.amazon.com/So-good-design-colonial-background/dp/B00B0K3GPK COMMERCIAL SALES SITES ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE WEB CITATIONS AT WP.--> | access-date =  | isbn =  | page =  | quote =  }}{{full|date = December 2024}} Note, for a review substantiating the existence of this book volume (which appears without ISBN, and without entry at Google Books), see {{cite journal | author = Davis, Howard | date = 1990 | title = Review: [Untitled] | format = Reviewed Works: "So Good a Design": The Colonial Campus of the College of William and Mary, Its History, Background, and Legacy [by] James D. Kornwolf [and] Collegiate Gothic: The Architecture of Rhodes College [by] William Morgan | journal = Winterthur Portfolio | volume = 25 | number = 4, Winter | pages = 289–292 | location = Chicago, IL | publisher = The University of Chicago Press | doi = 10.1086/496503 | jstor = 1181287 | url = https://www.jstor.org/stable/1181287 | url-access = registration | access-date = 12 December 2024}}</ref>{{page needed|date = December 2024}}

The College (with its sole Wren Building structure) was critical to Williamsburg becoming the new capital of Virginia,{{when|date = December 2024}}{{fact|date = December 2024}} after William and Mary students made speeches on May 1, 1699 from The College (Wren Building), stating that they would help build the town to its full potential.{{Dubious|reason=there is no such decipherable statement in the source appended|date = December 2024}}<!--Need a secondary historical source stating this. Relying on our interpretation of primary sources is WP:OR.--><ref>{{cite web | author = "Student"; Nicholson, Francis & Staff of W&M | date = 2021 | orig-date = 1 May 1699 | title = MS43.04 Francis Nicholson Papers / First of Five Student Speeches | format = university archive transcript, primary 17th century manuscript | work = ColonialWilliamsburg.org | url = https://research.colonialwilliamsburg.org/DigitalLibrary/view/index.cfm?doc=Manuscripts\M4304027.xml&highlight=student_speeches | access-date=23 February 2021 | location = Williamsburg, VA | publisher=[[Colonial Williamsburg]] Digital Library | quote = <small>Oration I. Vernacular / IF Some of y<sup>e</sup>. greatest Orato<sup>rs</sup>. in time past, have become Speechless, at y<sup>e</sup>. Appearance of Some one Eminent person what Confusion must I needs be in, who am neither to be Compared with y<sup>e</sup>. Least of Orators & am to Speak before an Assembly on w<sup>ch</sup>. when I cast my eyes, I see not only One but a greate many eminent men. / As God help me tis noe small matter, for a Stripling to Appear in a throng of Soe many Learned & Judicious Senio<sup>rs</sup> but that Singular Attention & Cheerefulness Ye have Shewed in hearing the former Speaker Emboldens mee & gives me noe Small Assurance. / ... </small>}}</ref>{{primary source inline|date = December 2024}} After the destruction of Virginia's former capital of [[Jamestown, Virginia|Jamestown]], [[House of Burgesses|Virginia's legislature]] met in the building's Great Hall as a temporary meeting place (1700-1704), while the [[Capitol (Williamsburg, Virginia)|Capitol]] was under construction.{{fact|date = December 2024}} As early as Christmas 1702, students—termed "Scholars"—are noted, in affidavit, as occupying the building (a fact known from an episode in which they had barricaded the Grammar School doors, followed by an attempt by others to break in, with the firing of shots by the Scholars).<ref name=WrenPlacard11/>{{better source|date = December 2024}} 

===Fires and reconstructions===
[[File:Wren 1859 william and mary.jpg|thumb|300px|The building in 1859 with Italianate towers]]

The building was gutted by a fire in 1705, started by accident in a basement in the North Wing of the building.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dailypress.com/virginiagazette/va-vg-wm-swem-fire-1028-20201029-lhcwmr5xv5drzmun6mpehfxg3e-story.html|title=1705 fire nearly destroyed original Wren Building on William & Mary campus|last=Kale|first=Wilford|work=Virginia Gazette|via=Daily Press|date=29 October 2020|access-date=6 May 2021}}</ref> Reconstruction after this fire, commanded by Governor Alexander Spotswood, was completed by 1716 with partial funds from [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Queen Anne]]. 

A second fire ravaged the building in 1859, and when it was rebuilt, the Wren Building was rebuilt in the [[Italianate architecture|Italianate]] style. In this fire, a man at the school accused the enslaved people of starting the fire, due to their use of candlelight. However, another man defended the enslaved individuals, stating that he had seen their candle go out prior to the fire.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://spotswoodsociety.wixsite.com/tour/black-history?pgid=kawpk5tk-088a48c6-a425-11ea-8c85-12879e2400f0| title=1 &#124; Black History }}</ref> 

A third fire was set intentionally by [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] troops during the Civil War in 1862. Each reconstruction incorporated the surviving exterior walls, but the overall look of the building has varied considerably over time.{{fact|date = December 2024}}

===Colonial Williamsburg restoration===
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.<ref name=DHR202410/> The building's was restored in the 20th century by [[Boston]] architects Perry Shaw & Hepburn.{{citation needed lead | date = December 2024}}  Perry Shaw & Hepburn's restoration reflects the building's historic appearance from its reconstruction in 1716 after a 1705 fire to 1859, when it burned again.{{citation needed lead | date = December 2024}}

==Architecture==
The building is constructed as it currently stands out of red brick, in the style of Flemish and English Bond {{what|date = December 2024}} (as was typical for official buildings in 17th- and 18th-century Williamsburg).{{cn|date=July 2020}} Its rebuilding, despite modifications, generally were "within the original walls", as "walls surviv[ing]... were incorporated in the rebuildings".<ref name=DHR202410/> It has contained classrooms, offices, a refectory known as the Great Hall, and a kitchen,{{when|date=December 2024}}{{cn|date=July 2020}} and a chapel, which was added as a south wing in 1732.{{cn|date=July 2020}} The crypt beneath the chapel is the resting place of several notable Virginians, including [[List of colonial governors of Virginia|royal governor]] [[Norborne Berkeley, 4th Baron Botetourt|the 4th Baron Botetourt]], [[List of Speakers of the Virginia House of Burgesses|Speaker of the House of Burgesses]] [[Sir John Randolph]], and his son [[Peyton Randolph]], [[Founding Fathers of the United States|Founding Father]] and first [[President of the Continental Congress]].{{cn|date=July 2020}}

On the top of the building is a [[weather vane]] with the number 1693, the year the College was founded.{{citation needed lead|date=December 2024}} 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 which was submitted to Governor Dunmore, and foundations were laid in 1774.{{citation needed lead|date=December 2024}} The looming [[American Revolutionary War]] halted further construction, and the fourth wing was never completed.{{citation needed lead|date=December 2024}} The foundations, however, still exist and were uncovered during excavations in 2014.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dailypress.com/history/dp-wren-building-dig-reveals-foundation-of-longlost-college-of-william-and-mary-structure-20140724-post.html|title=Wren Building dig reveals foundation of long-lost college structure|last=Erickson|first=Mark St. John|date=24 July 2014|work=[[Daily Press (Virginia)|Daily Press]]|access-date=15 June 2021}} Note, this source makes no mention of the foundations corresponding to a "fourth wing" of the Wren Building.</ref>{{better source|date = December 2024}}

The first and second floors of the building are still open for public viewing; the [[Spotswood Society]]—named after Virginia governor [[Alexander Spotswood]]—offers guided tours of the building when [[College of William & Mary|William and Mary]] classes are in-session.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.wm.edu/about/history/historiccampus/visiting/index.php|title=Historic Campus|publisher=College of William and Mary}}</ref> The Spotswood Society also offers a virtual tour.<ref>[https://spotswoodsociety.wixsite.com/tour virtual tour]{{full|date = December 2024}}</ref>{{full|date = December 2024}}

===Historic setting===
{{refimprove section|date = December 2024}}
[[File:Wren Building, College of William and Mary (drawing by Franz Ludwig Michel, 1702).jpg|thumb|Earliest known drawing of the building by Swiss traveler François-Louis Michel, 1702]]

After the completion of the President's House and the added chapel wing in 1732, the College's layout and overall architectural organization changed little until the construction of additional academic buildings in the early-twentieth century. For nearly one hundred and fifty years, the campus consisted of the three buildings—the Wren Building, the Brafferton, and the President's House—proportionally arranged in the College yard. With the Wren Building (or "College" as it was called) placed in the middle and bounded by the Brafferton to the south and the President's House to the north, the view gave visitors a sense of balance and proportion, important tenets of the Enlightenment and visible in Jacobean, Anglo-Dutch, and Georgian architecture of the period. To complete the view, a formal geometric garden of hedge rows, topiaries, planting beds, and marl paths was laid out in the College yard facing Duke of Gloucester Street, and a botanical and scientific garden was laid in the back, which led to acres of woodlands and streams. Archaeological and historical evidence points to the formal garden in the front having been destroyed by the late-eighteenth century. Plans drawn up by French engineers of Williamsburg in 1782 show plain rectangular beds ornamenting the front, and later nineteenth-century engravings and photographs show rows of trees and even cows lounging in the College yard. Any remaining physical trace of the gardens were finally obliterated in 1862, when massive earthworks were built during the Siege of Williamsburg. However, the Brafferton Building was most likely facing the opposite way and was therefore excluded from this garden area.

[[File:Bodleian Plate.jpg|thumb|The "[[Bodleian Plate]]", ca. 1747, was used during the restoration of the Wren Building (top row and middle of center row) in the early 20th century.]]
Recorded descriptions of the grounds appearance are few. One possible view was discovered in the late-1920s when researchers discovered a ca. 1747 printing plate in England's [[Bodleian Library]] depicting Williamsburg landmarks, including the College. Although this "[[Bodleian Plate]]" served as the blueprint for the Wren Building's restoration in the 1920s and 1930s, little was known about the plate's authenticity with regard to the gardens until College archaeologists and students began digging for evidence in 2005. Since these initial archaeological discoveries, the Bodleian Plate has proved remarkably faithful in its depiction of the College yard's early garden layout.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.dailypress.com/history/dp-nws-bodleian-plate-20180920-story.html|title=Bodleian Plate opened window on lost Williamsburg|work=Daily Press|author=Mark St. John Erickson|date=30 September 2018|access-date=6 May 2021}}</ref>

Although the two side structures are not entirely balanced (there is a slight size discrepancy between the Brafferton and President's House), the sight of the College would have been impressive for an 18th-century Virginian. Native- and foreign-born visitors alike marveled at the College's design.

==Uses of the building==
According to an undated modern Wren House informational placard, "[u]ntil at least 1724, students, administrators, faculty, and staff, including slaves and their families, lived in th[e] building [now called Wren]";<ref name=WrenPlacard11>{{cite web | author = William and Mary Staff [presumed] | date = | title = [11] Built on Slave Labor [Colonial Period / 1693-1776] | work = spotswoodsociety.wixsite.com | format = transcript of a Wren House display placard, author and date unknown, presenting content from the historical ''Bursar’s Book, 1745-1770'' | url = https://spotswoodsociety.wixsite.com/tour/black-history?pgid=kawx5obn-be9b85b5-a442-11ea-8c85-12879e2400f0 | access-date = 14 December 2024 | quote = <small>'I went with Mr. Blair and a Negro man, to break open the School Doors… at which time several Pistols were fired by the Scholars… a Negro Girl ran and told Mrs. Blair.' Affidavit of Thomas Johnson on students barricading the Grammar School doors before Christmas 1702 ... Until at least 1724, students, administrators, faculty, and staff, including slaves and their families, lived in this building. ... In addition, 8 body servants – enslaved African Americans about the same age as the students – were here to attend their young owners. The bursar charges show minimal room and board costs.</small>}} Note, this placard, while containing valuable information (referencing a primary source), appears without formal bibliographic connection to either William and Mary, or another authoritative source; hence, it is presented in the interim without author or date, or full confidence in provenance.</ref>{{better source | date = December 2024}} in addition, they studied and attended religious services in the building.{{when|date = December 2024}}{{fact|date = December 2024}}

When the Capitol burned in 1747, the legislature moved back into the building until the Capitol was reconstructed in 1754.  The building also housed a grammar school and an [[American Indian boarding schools|Indian school]], which was moved to the [[Brafferton (building)|Brafferton building]], in 1723.  The building was used as a military hospital by the French during the [[American Revolutionary War]] and by the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]] during the [[American Civil War]].

The Wren Building today has historical and ceremonial importance in addition to its academic use. Each year during the opening convocation [[ceremony]], incoming William and Mary freshmen enter the building from the courtyard, pass through the central hall, and exit on the opposite side.  As seniors, students pass through the building in the opposite direction on their way to the graduation ceremony. The Yule Log Ceremony, the College's holiday celebration, is held every year at the Wren Building, typically during the second weekend in December. Each fall incoming freshmen take the school's Honor Code Pledge in the building's Great Hall.<ref>Cameron, Gabi. "Class of 2009 Arrives for Orientation." ''Dog Street Journal''. [http://www.dogstreetjournal.com/story/2639 article The DoG Street Journal], printed August 23, 2005. Retrieved April 23, 2008.</ref> The [[Bishop James Madison Society]], the College's second-oldest [[secret societies|secret society]], is rumored to meet in the Wren Building.<ref>{{cite web|title=Shhhhh . . . It's a Secret|url=http://www.wm.edu/style/secret.php|publisher=[[College of William and Mary]]|access-date=May 21, 2011}}</ref>

===Slavery===
[[File:Heart Memorial to the Enslaved in daylight, 2022.jpg|thumb|''[[Hearth: Memorial to the Enslaved]]'' viewed facing the Wren Building, 2022]]
Following the usage of enslaved labor in the construction of the Wren Building, enslaved persons were utilized in a variety of roles by the college, including as chefs, gardeners, and laborers.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.wm.edu/sites/lemonproject/_documents/the-lemon-project-report.pdf |title=The Lemon Project: A Journey of Reconciliation: Report of the First Eight Years|author=The Lemon Project Steering Committee|date=February 2019|location=[[Williamsburg, Virginia|Williamsburg]], [[Virginia|VA]]|access-date=1 October 2021|publisher=[[The College of William and Mary in Virginia]]}}</ref> These enslaved men and women were most likely overseen by one specific man, or perhaps the housekeeper.<ref>{{cite web |title=Spotswood Society |url=https://spotswoodsociety.wixsite.com/tour/black-history?pgid=kawpk5tk-088a48c6-a425-11ea-8c85-12879e2400f0}}</ref> The building of the Wren Building was also funded by enslaved labor, since the funds for William and Mary that were provided in the 1693 royal charter were funds from a tobacco plantation.

Enslaved individuals were also a means of revenue. When William & Mary lost its funding from the monarchy because of the American Revolution, the Virginia Gazette published a statute passed at a meeting of the Board of Visitors which emphasized how the Visitors intended to use the sale of slaves to compensate for this loss of funding: "A sufficient number of slaves shall be reserved for cleaning the College; and if any remain after such reservation, and hiring of the slaves belonging to the garden and kitchen, as aforesaid, they shall be hired out at publick auction." In the early part of the nineteenth century, the College gave its few slaves a dollar each for Christmas, and it is known from the record that the dollars were mailed to each slave as the College also paid postage. William & Mary itself owned a plantation, the Nottoway Quarter, which ran on enslaved labor, starting in 1718 with seventeen enslaved people. The proceeds from the sale of tobacco helped to fund the College and scholarships. It was sold in 1802.<ref>{{cite web |title=Spotswood Society |url=https://spotswoodsociety.wixsite.com/tour/black-history?pgid=kawpk5tk-088aefe3-a425-11ea-8c85-12879e2400f0}}</ref>

The Spotswood Society works with the Lemon Project: A Journey of Reconciliation, which is a project created in 2009 in an attempt to "rectify wrongs perpetrated against African Americans by the College through action or inaction."<ref>{{cite web |title=The Lemon Project Report |url=https://www.wm.edu/sites/lemonproject/the-report/index.php}}</ref> A display discussing the college's ties with slavery was erected in the building's information center in 2019. A bronze tablet also was erected to honor those who fought in the Civil War, replacing the 1914 marble plaque that listed the names of only the students and faculty who fought in the Confederacy. The new marble plaque contains all the names of the Union and Confederate soldiers.<ref>{{cite web |title=Spotswood Society |url=https://spotswoodsociety.wixsite.com/tour/black-history?pgid=kawx5obn-be9ed501-a442-11ea-8c85-12879e2400f0}}</ref>

===Burials===
[[Sir John Randolph]], a [[List of Speakers of the Virginia House of Burgesses|Speaker of the House of Burgesses]], an [[Attorney General]] for the [[Colony of Virginia]], and the youngest son of [[William Randolph]] and Mary Isham, was interred at the chapel of the Wren Building after his death in 1737.<ref name="Colonial Williamsburg">{{cite web |url=http://www.history.org/almanack/people/bios/biorasjr.cfm |title=Sir John Randolph |publisher=The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation |location=Williamsburg, Virginia |access-date=November 13, 2010 }}</ref> After the burial vaults were disturbed in the 1859 fire, a physician who examined the contents of Randolph's tomb discovered the bones of Randolph and an unknown second person.<ref name="Colonial Williamsburg"/>

==Botetourt statue==
{{main|Lord Botetourt (statue)}}
Popular Virginia Governor [[Norborne Berkeley, 4th Baron Botetourt]], better known as Lord Botetourt, who died in office in 1770 and had been a member of the College's Board of Visitors, was buried in the crypt under the building's chapel. A [[Lord Botetourt (statue)|statue of Lord Botetourt]] was acquired by William and Mary in 1797 and moved to the campus from the former Capitol building in 1801. Previously displayed in the piazza of the Capitol Building at the opposite end of Duke of Gloucester Street, the statue was a landmark in front of the building for several centuries. After years of weathering, it was removed in 1958 and in 1966 was placed in its new location inside the College's [[Swem Library]]. In 1993, as the College celebrated its Tercentenary (300th anniversary), a new statue of Lord Botetourt, created in bronze by William and Mary alumnus [[Gordon Kray]], was installed in the College Yard, in the place occupied for so many years by the original.<ref>[http://www.wm.edu/about/wren/wrenchapel/htmls/botetourthistory.html The College of William & Mary]</ref>

==Priorities of the College==<!-- This section is linked from [[The College of William & Mary]] -->
[[File:Priorities of the College (W&M).jpg|thumb|The plaque]]

A large plaque was presented by the [[Association for the Preservation of Virginia Antiquities]] in 1914 which lists some of the notable firsts for William and Mary:{{fact|date = December 2024}}<!--Since the placque is not attributed to a source, its textual content cannot simply be quoted. The connections that need to be made to sources include the existence of this plaque on the building, the historical facts stated, and then any content that follows that is not clearly taken from the image. Best would be a source that actually quotes the plaque in its entirety, that then can be cited here.-->
*First college in the United States, the claim being that its antecedents go back to the college proposed at [[Henricus|Henrico]] (1619).
*First American college to receive its charter from the Crown under the Seal of the Privy Council, in 1693. Hence it was known as "their Majesties' Royal College of William and Mary."
*First and only American college to receive a colonial [[coat of arms|Coat-of-Arms]] from the [[College of Arms]] in London, 1694.
*First college in the United States to have a full Faculty, consisting of a President, six Professors, usher; and writing master, 1729.
*First college to confer medallic prizes; the gold medals donated by Lord Botetourt in 1771.
*First college to establish an inter-collegiate fraternity, the [[Phi Beta Kappa]], December 5, 1776.
*First college to have the Elective system of study, 1779.
*First college to have the [[Honor System]] (inked by Thomas Jefferson), 1779.
*First college to become a University, 1779.
*First college to have a school of Modern Languages, 1779.
*First college to include Fine Arts in a professorship, 1779.
*First college to have a school of Municipal and Constitutional Law, 1779.
*First college to teach Political Economy, 1784.
*First college to have a school of Modern History, 1803.

==See also==
*[[List of the oldest buildings in the United States]]
*[[Gene Nichol#Wren Cross controversy|Wren Cross controversy]]
*[[List of National Historic Landmarks in Virginia]]
*[[National Register of Historic Places listings in Williamsburg, Virginia]]

==Further reading==
{{expand section | with = articles not yet appearing, or appearing in the citations but not fully utilised, that might be of interest to readers, or of use to editors improving the article | small = no | date = December 2024}}
<!--In chronological order.-->
* {{Cite book | author = Kornwolf, James D. | year = 1989 | title = "So Good a Design": The Colonial Campus of the College of William and Mary, Its History, Background, and Legacy | location = Williamsburg, VA | publisher = College of William and Mary, Joseph and Margaret Muscarelle Museum of Art | url = <!--https://www.amazon.com/So-good-design-colonial-background/dp/B00B0K3GPK COMMERCIAL SALES SITES ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE WEB CITATIONS AT WP.--> | access-date =  | isbn =  | page =  | quote =  }}{{full|date = December 2024}}
* {{cite journal | author = Davis, Howard | date = 1990 | title = Review: [Untitled] | format = Reviewed Works: "So Good a Design": The Colonial Campus of the College of William and Mary, Its History, Background, and Legacy [by] James D. Kornwolf [and] Collegiate Gothic: The Architecture of Rhodes College [by] William Morgan | journal = Winterthur Portfolio | volume = 25 | number = 4, Winter | pages = 289–292 | location = Chicagp, IL | publisher = The University of Chicago Press | doi = 10.1086/496503 | jstor = 1181287 | url = https://www.jstor.org/stable/1181287 | url-access = registration | access-date = 12 December 2024}}
* {{cite book| editor = Wilson, Richard Guy; Butler, Sara A.; Chappell, Edward; Driggs, Sarah Shields; Larsen, Hal; McClane, Debra A.; Potterfield, Jr., Thomas Tyler; Rasmussen, William M. S.; Richardson, Selden; Slipek, Jr., Edwin; Wagner, Marc C.; Wojtowicz, Robert | date=2002| edition = 1st | title=Buildings of Virginia: Tidewater and Piedmont | chapter = Hampton Roads (HR) [HR31—College of William and Mary, Old College Yard; HR31.1 Wren Building] | series= [[Buildings of the United States]] | location = Oxford, England | publisher= [[Society of Architectural Historians]]–[[Oxford University Press]] | isbn=0195152069 | page=v., 374-377, esp. 375f | url = https://archive.org/details/buildingsofvirgi0000unse/page/375 | access-date = 14 December 2024 | url-access = registration}} Note, from Butler forward, the names appearing are contributors (frontmatter. v.), a list which ends "and Others".
* {{cite book|author=Novelli, Chris; Bezirdjian, Melina; Loth, Calder & McDonald, Lena Sweeten | date=2015| title = Classic Commonwealth: Virginia Architecture from the Colonial Era to 1940 | location = [[Richmond, Virginia| Richmond, VA]] | publisher=[[Virginia Department of Historic Resources]] | pages = 35–38 | url=https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/pdf_files/Classic_Commonwealth_Style_Guide.pdf |access-date=January 8, 2024}} 
* {{cite web | author = Seurattan, Suzanne | date = January 6, 2016 | title = The Wren: You Know the Building; What About Its History? | work = Libraries.WM.edu | url = https://libraries.wm.edu/about/news/2016/01/wren-you-know-building-what-about-its-history | access-date = 12 December 2024 | location = Williamsburg, VA | publisher = [[College of William & Mary|William & Mary]] Libraries | quote = }}
* {{cite web | author = DHR Staff | date = January 10, 2024 | title = 137-0013: Wren Building (Old College Yard, College of William and Mary) | work = DHR.Virginia.gov | url = https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/historic-registers/137-0013/ | access-date = 12 December 2024 | location = Richmond, VA | publisher = [[Virginia Department of Historic Resources]] (DHR) | quote = <!--<small>The main building of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, the nation’s second oldest seat of higher learning, the Wren Building was begun in 1695 and completed four years later. Hugh Jones in his Present State of Virginia (1724) stated that the building was “first modelled by Sir Christopher Wren, adapted to the nature of the country by the gentlemen there.” It was gutted by fire in 1705 and rebuilt in modified form within the original walls. It again burned in 1859 and 1862, but in each case the walls survived and were incorporated in the rebuildings. The Wren Building’s 1705 exterior appearance is well-documented, and it was to that form that it was returned during the restoration of 1928-31 directed by Colonial Williamsburg architects. Defining a forecourt are the President’s House (1732-33) and the Brafferton, built in 1723 as an Indian school. William and Mary was chartered in 1693 and is now a state-owned university; the Old College Yard is located to the west of the Williamsburg Historic District.</small>--> }}

==References==
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{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category}}
*[https://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/va0630/ William & Mary College, Main Building, College Yard, Williamsburg, Williamsburg, VA]: 4 photos, 14 measured drawings, and 5 data pages at [[Historic American Buildings Survey]]
*[http://www.wm.edu/about/history/historiccampus/wrenbuilding/ William and Mary — History of the Wren Building]
*[http://www.history.org/Almanack/places/hb/hbwren.cfm Colonial Williamsburg — Wren Building]

{{The College of William & Mary}}
{{Colonial Williamsburg}}
{{National Register of Historic Places in Virginia}}
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[[Category:1695 establishments in the Colony of Virginia]]
[[Category:18th-century Church of England church buildings]]
[[Category:Brick buildings and structures in Williamsburg, Virginia]]
[[Category:College of William & Mary buildings]]
[[Category:Colonial architecture in Virginia]]
[[Category:Colonial Williamsburg]]
[[Category:Christopher Wren buildings]]
[[Category:Georgian architecture in Virginia]]
[[Category:Historic American Buildings Survey in Virginia]]
[[Category:Italianate architecture in Virginia]]
[[Category:National Historic Landmarks in Virginia]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Williamsburg, Virginia]]
[[Category:University and college buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Virginia]]
[[Category:University and college academic buildings in the United States]]