THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, August 31, 1996 TAG: 9608310359
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: STAFF REPORT
DATELINE: WILLIAMSBURG LENGTH: 27 lines
An anonymous donor has given The College of William and Mary a $1 million challenge grant to renew and preserve the country's oldest classroom building in continuous use, the Sir Christopher Wren Building.
The college will receive the money when $1 million in matching contributions for the project are made, William and Mary officials announced Friday.
The overall renewal, expected to force the closing of the building for about eight months when undertaken in a few years, will cost about $4million.
``This project is not a facelift,'' college President Timothy J. Sullivan said in released remarks. ``It is major surgery, which is critically needed to extend the life of this historic structure.''
The three-story Wren Building, the centerpiece of the United States' second-oldest college, was the first historic Williamsburg building restored by John D. Rockefeller Jr. in the late 1920s, and is designated a National Historic Landmark.
The first of its famous red bricks was laid in August 1695. Thomas Jefferson and James Monroe attended classes under its roof, and Benjamin Franklin visited it to receive an honorary degree. by CNB