The Daniel School

Daniel School, circa 1961.
Courtesy of the CNU Archives

After The Architectural Ages of CNU, I felt remiss not covering the only building during the college’s first three years: the John W. Daniel School building. So here we are, coincidentally 50 years since its demolition, to share its tale.

Our story starts in 1899, when Central School opened on Thirty-Second Street in Newport News. It served as Newport News’ first permanent white high school, but held every other grade level as well.
Over the summer of 1910, with the deteriorating health of U.S. Senator and former Confederate Major John W. Daniel, the local John W. Daniel chapter of the Daughters of the Confederacy was able to rename Central School in his honor. Daniel then passed away less than two weeks later.[1]

On the evening of June 4, 1913, the school burned down in what was called the “biggest and most spectacular blaze this city has known since two of the Chesapeake and Ohio docks were destroyed seventeen years ago.” Young boys had broken into the basement and were playing with a stove burner when they accidentally pulled a rubber hose off of the gas main. The gas lit up instantly from the stove’s fire, frightening the boys safely away from the building. It spread to the rest of building before help could arrive. Low water pressure, oil varnish-soaked wooden floors, and a light breeze kept firefighters and Good-Samaritan navy sailors fighting the blaze for hours.[2]

Once the fire was put out, what remained was only the exterior brick shell of the school. It was determined it was too damaged to be reused. The school would be rebuilt, but it would take a year to replace it. With no other white high school in the city, high school-level students would share George Washington and Thomas Jefferson Schools with the elementary grades in a split-shift style: elementary school would take place in the mornings starting at 8am, then after a reset high school would start at 1pm. It was not an ideal situation for anyone involved, but being one key school building short, everyone made do.[3]

The new school building was designed by Charles M. Robinson (1867-1932), a prolific Virginian architect. He was responsible for many Virginian colleges’ buildings and master plans in the early 20th century, including those at James Madison University, Mary Washington University, the University of Richmond, and Radford University. Most notably, Robinson designed much of the Old Campus section of the College of William & Mary, future parent school to Christopher Newport College. Other buildings he designed included Thomas Jefferson High School and the Mosque (now Altria Theater) in Richmond; Masonic Lodge #6 in Williamsburg; and Newport News High School, the West Avenue Library, and Huntington High School in Newport News.[4]

The new $60,000 Daniel School opened in 1914. “In appearance, it resembles an almost perfect cube of dull red brick,” glowingly reported the Daily Press, “and were it not for the ornaments of the Thirty-first and Thirty-Second street entrances the building would be without any exterior decoration.” Regardless of a simple façade, they also said it was “a structure of which the city may justly feel proud.” The three-story building had 20 classrooms (6 more than the previous building), 6 basement classrooms, 2 recitation rooms, and an auditorium located on the top floor.[5]

The building was as fireproof as they could make at the time. Anything that required combustion was located in the basement, where the walls and ceiling were made with reinforced concrete. While the majority of the upper floors were still made of wood, the stairs were made of slate and steel in an effort to protect egress from the upper levels. One side of the building also featured a fire escape.[6]

During its first few years of operation, the new Daniel School taught all grades and contained the school system’s administrative offices. In 1918, the high school classes were moved to the new Walter Reed School, leaving the Daniel School with the elementary grades and administration. The building stayed in this capacity for the next four decades. [7]

In that time, Newport News grew and thrived, even consolidating with the City of Warwick. When a federal study recommended a junior college in the area, the City of Newport News offered up the Daniel School as a temporary home & $125,000 to renovate it if the college came to be. The Virginia General Assembly took them up on their offer, establishing Christopher Newport College in 1960 as a division of the Colleges of William and Mary. The Daniel School was loaned out for five years while a permanent site nearby was acquired.[8]

The Daniel School’s last day as a grade school was Monday, October 31, 1960. Much of the staff and faculty moved to the soon-to-open Reservoir Elementary School, while students were divvied between Magruder, Wilson, Jackson, and Reed schools. The school administration moved into a building on 22nd street.[9]

Christopher Newport College found the building in rough condition. College Director (later first president) H. Westcott “Scotty” Cunningham recalled,

“It was a typical old, old school, with ceilings that looked to me to be forty feet high, and I suspect they were at least thirty feet high, huge central corridor, rooms with wooden floors, great state of disrepair, plaster hanging from the walls, lighting fixtures askew. I walked into a classroom right across the hall, and it had an old, pockmarked green blackboard in it. Scribbled across the board were in yellow chalk was, THEY OUGHT TO BURN THIS PLACE.”[10]

A less-descriptive perspective during that same period described the building as “a simple, good, and basically sound one showing signs of age, hard wear, and minimal maintenance.”[11]

When construction bids came in for the building’s proposed renovation plan, they were all way over the $125,000 budget. So Cunningham himself worked over a weekend and drew new plans for the renovation. “They were very amateurish, but they got all the things accomplished,” he admitted. Local construction company W.M. Jordan won the bid with Cunningham’s plans for around $80,000. Renovation work started in April 1961, and the building was ready for staff and faculty occupation in July.[12]

On September 18, 1961, the Daniel School's bell rang once again, this time calling for college-age students. There were 155 students enrolled and 8 full-time instructors hired for that first day of Christopher Newport College. The playground outside had been paved over for parking. Inside between the plethora of classrooms were all the other needs of a college institution. The basement came with a fully-stocked fallout shelter, a starter library, and eventually a student lounge space. The library held a meager 97 books on the first day of classes, mostly donated from William & Mary. By the end of the college’s second year, it had amassed a collection of over 4,000. On the first floor were the college’s administrative offices. In 1962, the first floor also made space for the headquarters and galleries for the newly-founded Peninsula Arts Association (later known as the Peninsula Fine Arts Center, now replaced by the Mary M. Torggler Fine Arts Center). It most likely found space in the building due to Cunningham being on the association’s executive board. The second floor contained the schools two science labs and faculty offices. The third floor still held the ever-useful auditorium and lecture halls.[13]

Christopher Newport operated solely out of the Daniel School for 3 years. During that time, its enrollment grew, traditions began, and academic rigor was established. Also during that time, the City of Newport News was acquiring land along Shoe Lane for the permanent campus site. The first building, Christopher Newport Hall, opened in the fall of 1964. While most classes and offices moved into the new building, it had no specialized science lab space, so the Daniel school was still utilized for labs. Class scheduling that year had to take into account the travel time between the two buildings, over 7 miles apart from each other.[14]

Once the college’s science building Gosnold Hall opened in the fall of 1965, CNC returned the Daniel School to Newport News Public Schools. School administrative offices moved back into the space, giving it a minor renovation to include a telephone communication system involving switchboards. The building was described at the time as “very solid and well worth renovating.”[15]

After the current midtown administration offices opened in 1967, the school system mostly moved out of the Daniel building. They let other city departments and organizations use the building, including the Newport News Home Ownership Association and the Recreation and Parks department. Nearby Newport News High School used the building’s parking lot for faculty/staff parking.[16]

In 1969, the city offered the site as a new home to businesses that had been displaced from the city's downtown renewal project. Only one business showed any interest, which ultimately didn’t go anywhere. The Daniel School was now described as “difficult to maintain.” It was too underutilized to justify its running costs, including $5,000 a month to heat. In the end, the city decided to demolish it for off-street parking. And thus marked the end of the Daniel School. After an almost 60 year career, it was demolished in February 1973. The lot served as off-street parking until 2008, when it was redeveloped into part of a gated housing development.[17]

And that is the tale of the 1914 John W. Daniel School in Newport News, Virginia. A fireproof school that never burned, except to ignite both the birth of a college and the learning in generations of students.

Related CNC/CNU Articles

The Architectural Ages of CNU

What Remains of Christopher Newport College?

The History of the Ferguson

A Farewell to Admin [from 2013]

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[1] N.a. “FEW CHILDREN HERE NOT IN THE SCHOOLS,” Daily Press, 15 June 1910; “John W. Daniel,” Wikipedia, Retrieved April 24, 2023 from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_W._Daniel; “John W. Daniel School,” NNHS Class of 1965, Retrieved April 24, 2023, from http://www.nnhs65.com/daniel-school.html.
[2] N.a. “High School Building Prey To The Most Spectacular Fire City Has Known Since Chesapeake & Ohio Docks Burned,” Daily Press, 4 June 1913; N.a. “GAS IGNITED BY BOY CAUSED FIRE AT HIGH SCHOOL,” Daily Press, 5 June 1913.
[3] N.a “PLANS FOR NEW JOHN W. DANIEL SCHOOL APPROVED,” Daily Press, 17 September 1913; N.a. “SCHOOLS WILL OPEN AGAIN ON SEPTEMBER 8,” Daily Press, 31 August 1913; N.a. “Schools Open Sept. 8.,” Daily Press, 6 September 1913.
[4] Robinson, David B, “The Charles M. Robinson Story,” Charles M. Robinson, A Virginia Architectural History, Retrieved April 2023, from http://www.charlesmrobinson.com/history.html.
[5] N.a. “New School Building Places Newport News On The Educational Map,” Daily Press, 18 October 1914; N.a. “Detailed Cost of School,” Daily Press, 11 December 1914.
[6] N.a. “SCHOOL BUILDERS GIVEN TRUST PAYMENT,” Daily Press, 15 January 1914; N.a. “New School Building Places Newport News On The Educational Map,” Daily Press, 18 October 1914.
[7] N.a. “SCHOOLS TO OPEN MONDAY A WEEK,” Daily Press, 1 September 1918.
[8] Hamilton, Phillip, Serving the Old Dominion: A History of Christopher Newport University 1958-2011, First ed., University Press, 2011.
[9] N.a. “Doors of John W. Daniel Close After 61-Year Use,” Daily Press, 1 November 1960; N.a. “Daniel School Staff Offices A Busy Place,” Daily Press, 17 November 1965.
[10] Webb, Jane Carter, “1.8 D Interview Transcript: H. Wescott (Scotty) Cunningham,” SAIL - Smart Archiving for Institutional Learning, accessed April 8, 2023, https://sail.cnu.edu/omeka/items/show/5560.
[11] Chambers, Hubbard, Wood, Memories of Christopher Newport College the First Decade 1961 – 1971 in Words and Pictures, Hallmark Publishing Company, 2008.
[12] Webb, Jane Carter, “1.8 D Interview Transcript: H. Wescott (Scotty) Cunningham,” SAIL - Smart Archiving for Institutional Learning, accessed April 8, 2023, https://sail.cnu.edu/omeka/items/show/5560; N.a. “Christopher Newport Staff Will Move Here Next Week,” Daily Press, 19 July 1961; Greiff, John B. “Business News: Car Sales Roar To 18-Month High, First Quarter Up Also,” Daily Press, 17 April 1961.
[13] N.a. “World Of Local Artists Set For College Showing,” Daily Press, 25 October 1962; N.a. “Devotees Of Art Organize Group,” Daily Press, 29 May 1962; Hamilton, Phillip, Serving the Old Dominion: A History of Christopher Newport University 1958-2011, First ed., University Press, 2011.; Chambers, Hubbard, Wood, Memories of Christopher Newport College the First Decade 1961 – 1971 in Words and Pictures, Hallmark Publishing Company, 2008.
[14] N.a. “Date Tentatively Set To Dedicate Newport College,” Daily Press, 9 May 1965; Hamilton, Phillip, Serving the Old Dominion: A History of Christopher Newport University 1958-2011, First ed., University Press, 2011.
[15] N.a. “Daniel School Staff Offices A Busy Place,” Daily Press, 17 November 1965.
[16] Greiff, John “City Studies Site For OEO,” Daily Press, 8 June 1968; Getchell, Halver “Daniel School Razing Starts,” Daily Press, 16 February 1973.
[17] Wilson, Madge “City To Seek Proposals On School Tract,” The Times-Herald, 27 May 1969; N.a. “Only One Letter Received On Daniel School Property,” Daily Press, 15 July 1969; Greiff, John “City Studies Site For OEO,” Daily Press, 8 June 1968; Copeland, Scott “Tax Relief Bill To Be Redrawn,” Daily Press, 28 September 1971; N.a. “Schools Head Newport News Agenda,” Daily Press, 26 October 1971; N.a. “$209,760 Bid Received On Parking Lot,” Daily Press, 13 July 1972; Getchell, Halver “Daniel School Razing Starts,” Daily Press, 16 February 1973; Satellite imagery of Downtown Newport News from various periods, Google Earth, retrieved April 2023.

The Architectural Ages of Christopher Newport University: Conclusion

(Left two images courtesy of the CNU Archives)

So, this conclusion has gone through some iterations. The main paper was trying to recognize and explain all the architectural eras Christopher Newport has gone through, so there’s parts of me that felt it didn’t need a conclusion post, that I could add a little tag at the end of Age Five and be done with it. So sometimes this didn’t exist, sometimes there was only the idea of a conclusion. What I have landed on are some thoughts on the first iteration of campus, a full review of the current campus, and then some other disparate thoughts sprinkled in.

I’m going to try to avoid the “is-it-pretty-or-not” dialogue because I feel like CNU’s architectural discussion so far has focused on only this, and all the architecture deserves more thought than that. “What’s prettier” is a simple-minded approach. It is an opinion, a perspective, a trend, and all of those things can shift. What is all the rage one day can be deemed a faux-pas the next, and vice versa. People thought the Eiffel Tower in Paris was an eyesore when it first opened. Today, you can’t imagine the city without it. So, sorry if you’re hoping I will be like “Age Seven buildings are the BEST, all the others suck!” I won’t be. I’m sure my biases will come across anyway, I can’t help that. What I hope this ultimately creates is more architectural literacy and deeper discussions on the built environment, not just at CNU, but in the world at large.



CONTEMPORARY ORIENTAL

The founders of Christopher Newport College explicitly said they wanted a unique look for the school. Forrest Coile & Associates fulfilled that assignment. CNC came from William and Mary, a very traditional-looking school. Virginia was/is full of traditional-looking schools. The major architectural style at the time of CNC’s creation was Modernism. Heck, even W&M was building their New Campus section of modernist buildings at the time. Modernism was economical, it was the look of the time, and it prioritized functional layouts.

I still haven’t found a source that explains why Forrest Colie Jr. chose to go with an Asian inspired 1960’s modern building style for a Virginian school named after a seventeenth century English captain. I can’t fathom it would connect everything together, but it would at least given me a better idea.

I find the style charming in a simple yet funky way. It’s not as exciting as, say, Googie architecture, but it indeed stands out from other designs from its era. As it names alludes to, it was a product of its day and age.

Christopher Newport Hall
Courtesy of the CNU Archives

CAMPUS TODAY

Every movement is a response or rebuttal to what came before. The Modernism architectural style and its variants ruled most of the 20th century. Towards the end of that century and into this new one, there has been a movement to return to traditional architectural forms. CNU definitely follows that movement.

CNU’s architectural transformation took many different already-proven-successful movements/ideas and combined them together into a still-winning formula. It didn’t reinvent any wheels, except for the physical makeup of the campus itself. It’s a mix between the City Beautiful movement, Jeffersonian ideals for a college, modern-day technology, and Collegiate Gothic with a Neo-Georgian twist (which I’m calling Collegiate Georgian).

That the redevelopment of campus was able to be implemented at this scale is quite a feat in this day and age. There are many examples of large collegiate architectural visions being developed in the past with consistency of look and texture – UVA’s Academical Village and W&M’s Old Campus Section come to mind – but it’s so unheard of nowadays. Many colleges have masterplans and cohesive concepts, but those can fall apart through leadership changes and/or funding fluctuations. CNU found that lightning-in-the-bottle period where it had the funding, it had the time, it had consistent leadership, and (once they started working with Glavé & Holmes) a consistent architectural partner. It is such a rarity. It’s an achievement that should be celebrated. CNU really lucked out.

I find Glavé & Holmes’ campus buildings very appealing. Functionally, they are very versatile, being able to be used for multiple purposes. Aesthetically, I’m an ornamentation guy, so I love all the details and flourishes represented. Many buildings today can be plain, flat, or glass-covered. Which is fine, but there’s an overabundance of these plain, flat, or glass-covered buildings built. I wish there was more of a balance of projects that weren’t.

Not many architectural schools today teach traditional architecture and its principles, so when modern architects are assigned specialized projects, it sort of looks like their buildings are wearing the architecture, rather than the traditional principles being imbued into the buildings. Glavé & Holmes has really invested in learning classical architecture, even hosting their own Summer Classical Academy. You can tell they took the time to make CNU’s buildings work. It’s not just throwing things together. There are so many McMansions and developer-made buildings out there, so it’s refreshing to have newer classical architecture employed at a professional caliber.

Forbes Hall entrance

THEME-PARKING

There is this strange thought that comes to mind when walking around today’s campus: Is this a real place? Campus has this quality that makes it feel like it’s a university version of a theme park. I don’t mean that as an insult by any means, I have mad respect for the work, thought, and effort that goes into creating theme parks. It’s just strange to get that at a university. But many of the techniques used in the architecture here are also used by theme parks. Theme parks and CNU are highly-stylized areas with great architectural cohesion. There are sparkles (magic!), they’re both very clean, they make architectural allusions, they romanticize the past. Utilities/pipes/etc are hidden from view, be it with hedges or fully-themed outbuildings. The scale of buildings is played with, compared to regular normal-day buildings. There are architectural transitions between lands. The buildings are very well-made, and there is thought behind them. There’s also a feeling of separation between where you are and its surrounding area, like you are in a bubble, a separate world. These are all qualities of well-themed environments, so the connection between theme parks and CNU is valid.

In some ways, CNU has really embraced this “theme-parking” aesthetic. CNU will go over-the-top with fireworks, flying hot air balloons, parachute landings during events, even famously projection-mapping onto CNH for the end of the Defining Significance Campaign. It’s definitely a unique feel that I don’t see other colleges going for.

Fireworks at the grand opening of the 2018 Trible Library Addition

CNU has become a celebration of Virginia’s greatest college hits. A timeless, lovely college campus. It’s ready to be the film location for the next great college movie. It’s funny, CNC’s first bookstore used to sell novelty items, one of the most popular being shirts saying “Harvard on the James.” In 1999, Trible remarked to The Captain’s Log that “I don’t want CNU to become ‘Harvard on the James.” I know that was taken out of context, he was commenting on his desire for CNU not to raise their SAT admission averages, but on a visual level, that’s exactly what CNU has become since then. (I hope that shirt comes back)

CNU Skyline from the Ferguson Parking Deck, 2015

LANDSCAPE

Landscaping is often an overlooked aspect of architecture. It’s easier to change, to move, to remove, etc. than to do so with a building. Yet it still is very integral to the overall experience. A building may be the main focus, but the landscaping finishes out the composition.

In Ages One and Two, buildings worked with the natural/existing plants, mainly because there wasn’t much of an option. With constrained budgets, the school was more focused on investing in good education than the landscaping, and I don’t blame them for that. If you work with what landscaping is already there, you sort of don’t have to worry about creating one from scratch. This did lead to a rugged, natural look to campus. Projects were smaller scale and/or community-driven.

Two people walking along a path at CNC.
Ratcliffe Gym is in the background.
Courtesy of the CNU Archives

Age Five is the opposite. Instead of making campus buildings fit around the landscape, the landscape was made to fit with the buildings. Nature is seen as a force that can be tamed. Trees are cut down to make way for construction, new trees are planted in new courtyards or lawns. Paths are orderly in a grid, directing people where to walk. Landscaping mainly comes from the grounds department, the main exception being the Ferguson’s Hillow Arts Garden, which was created and is maintained by volunteers.

Campus is always maintained well and looks put-together. There are always fresh plantings. Being a 2010-2015 student, a lot of the trees and shrubs were new during my time. Now that almost a decade has passed since then, much of those plants have grown in and started to fill out the area more. It’s exciting to see! 

It’s a beautiful campus.

…

… It could be more though.

CNU hasn’t had a landscaping master plan in a long while. This is kind of strange, because part of CNU’s whole transformation story is that landscaping became such an important asset to cultivate. And it did, but only to a level.

What we have now feels very piecemeal at times. There are some lovely vistas heavily landscaped with shrubs and hedges. This is mostly in areas that are bordered on all sides by buildings. But walk two minutes away, and the level of detail changes. One of the most apparent examples of the piecemeal nature can be found right on the Great Lawn. Most buildings are fronted by older-growth trees here and there, some with a few trees, others with slightly more. And then you get to Forbes, which is surrounded by all these newer crepe myrtles, uniformly surrounding the building’s perimeter.

Elsewhere on campus, there are areas that have nothing but grass. Most of Warwick River Hall is surrounded by grass. So is its next-door neighbor, the Greek Village. Along Warwick Boulevard, besides its perimeter of trees, most of it is greeted by a long strip of lawn, not used for anything. Now a quintessential American college has its lawns, but this feels like an overabundance and a lack of biodiversity.

Grass Lawn around Warwick River Hall

Grass Lawn around Warwick River Hall

A courtyard full of grass at Warwick River Hall

Grass Lawn between Warwick Boulevard and the Freeman Center

I think the first step for upgrading the landscaping is to create a campus landscaping master plan. There are many avenues to go from there:

• Could we increase the biodiversity, make campus into a lower level arboretum?
• Like celebrating the history and traditions of Virginia, could we make the landscaping a love letter to Virginia? Divide campus into five sections, representing the five distinct regions of Virginia: Tidewater, Piedmont, the Blue Ridge, Valley & Ridge, and Appalachian Plateau. And then we plant native vegetation from each of those regions?
• Focus on native Tidewater-area plants only, connect campus more with the surrounding area.
• Theme park out the Georgian style into the landscaping, adding ornamental gardens and follies. I’ve always thought a wishing well for Fear2Freedom (founded by Rosemary Trible) or another local nonprofit would be a nice touch.

CNU’s landscaping has been coasting for over a decade, yet it works. However, there is a real opportunity to take CNU to the next level of beautiful if we invest further in it.

I'd like to end this section by sending a shout-out to the CNU Grounds Department for all of their hard work in making campus the lovely place it is!

Elements surrounded by flowers in spring,
featuring a working groundskeeper

HISTORY AND ITS TREATMENT

I came to CNU in the midst of its largest change. The new McMurran Hall had opened the prior semester, while the old Newport/McMurran was already gone. My first classes were in Gosnold Hall and Anderson Auditorium in the Administration Building, while my commencement was the first to take place on the steps of the new Christopher Newport Hall. Large swathes of the old campus still remained at first, and then I watched as it was erased and remade as the semesters passed by. It was chaotic, the clash of past and present, the ever-moving construction fences. Piece by piece, the new campus formed right in front of my eyes. In the midst of all of the newness, there was also this loss of what campus had been for decades. I definitely know this has given me a unique perspective on Christopher Newport University. I glimpsed both of the end of its past and the beginning of its present.

Gosnold Hall demolition at twilight, 2019

There is much to be said about the treatment of the older buildings and features of campus in recent times.

It could have been so, so, so easy for CNU to say, you know, we have outgrown these buildings, through growth in our student population, through technology, through transitioning from a commuter-to-residential campus. We have become a different college with different needs now. We thank these buildings for their decades of service, thank them for the foundation of excellence they helped create, which we now use to build CNU onwards and upwards towards further success. Cue fireworks, an old building goes out in a Las Vegas casino-style demo, Go Captains!

Instead, almost everything created prior to 1996 was looked down upon. Older buildings were hidden from view by overgrown plantings. The Ships (the three abstract memorial sculptures to original campus architect Forrest Colie Jr.) were left discarded next to the dumpster until its pieces mysteriously disappeared. Trible would call older buildings ugly in off-the-cuff remarks at events and parties, and would frequently lead his audiences to applaud the news of the demolition of another building. Paired with almost no landmarks of campus’ former buildings and layout, this has created a feeling of alienation from some older alumni, that CNU is not their school anymore, nor does CNU want them.

The Ships by the dumpsters, 2011

One piece of The Ships by the dumpsters, 2013.
The other two pieces had disappeared.
In the late 2010's, this dumpster yard was converted into parking,
and this piece of the sculpture went away with it.

I see this whole situation as incredibly shortsighted. It’s so interesting that while imbibing campus with the history and traditions of Virginia, the institution’s own history and traditions (all located and created in Virginia) were thrown out. I look at William & Mary with their Wren Building, the first building of the school, and how proud they are of its storied past, that all of these W&M generations have involved that building in some way. We sort of have that with Ratcliffe, but its covered by two wildly different additions. It looks messy, not something Captains would want to put their school pride behind.

However, this is all a moot point. What’s done has been done. The CNU of today made a climb/transformation towards being a powerhouse success, and every climb involves sacrifices. Here, the sacrifice involved the institutional history. But it could have been handled much better.

CNU has taken some steps recently to better honor the past. Dr. Sean Heuvel became the school’s first Director of Institutional History in 2021. With it, he has unearthed many important school artifacts and made sure they are preserved and honorably displayed. The Gregory P. Klich Alumni House opened in 2017, welcoming all Captains and showcasing stories from every decade of the college. Under the leadership of Senior Director M. Baxter Vendrick Jr., Alumni Relations has better interacted with older alumni, most notably collaborating with the First Decaders of CNC, led by the tireless Dr. A. Jane Chambers. There are also more signs and engravings denoting historical importance of places, including Walker’s Green. Many other individuals have also contributed to celebrating/better accessing CNU’s past: Dr. Rita Hubbard, Lawrence Barron Wood Jr., Ron Lowder Sr., Amy Boykin, Dr. Phillip Hamilton, Matthew Shelley, and Dr. Brian Puaca, to name the few I know of.

Walker's Green sign by the Alumni House

Going forward, CNU needs to continue to embrace its older history, and that needs to happen on every level of leadership. There needs to be a balance between what came before, what is here now, and what does tomorrow bring. CNU has been really great on the latter two. Now it needs to additionally respect, honor, and preserve its past.

Mr. Newport, tear down this tower.

UNSOLICITED THOUGHTS AND MISCELLANEOUS SUGGESTIONS

Architecture-wise, it’s in CNU’s best interest to continue building in the Collegiate Georgian style. It is incredibly popular, and the campus cohesion is something to be really proud of. Contemporary Oriental is not going to come back on another new building, which is why it is important to preserve what we have left of it.

I think it’s a happy accident that Age Five’s precast columns and entablatures are tan/limestone colored. The colors complement each other better in my opinion. The buildings look much warmer than if we had red next to the stark white. Red brick and white columns, everyone does it. But tan makes us just a little more unique.

Greek Village

I think there needs to be more nautical decor. We’re named after a famous sea privateer, situated right next to the Mariners’ Museum, located in a major shipbuilding city, and along one of the most important watersheds in America. We have so many connections to the water, yet campus has so few indications of it. I think that that should be played up more. Granted, there is a fine line between embracing a nautical connection and going overboard to the point of kitsch. It’s very easy to do, so I think that may be why CNU has been very subdued with this connection so far. I do think it would be okay if one location could embrace full-on nautical kitsch, while the rest can have a much calmer presentation. The Commons would be my recommendation for that job.

There should be more permanent sculptures on the grounds. More art! When are we getting a sculpture garden between the Ferguson and Torggler Centers??  


CNU has been really good at its architectural cohesion, except when it comes to renovations/additions on older, pre-Age Four buildings. On the Commons, Ratcliffe, and the Freeman Field House, there is a direct line where the Georgian stops and the older building’s style(s) appear. The Trible Library also suffered from this until it received its 2018 addition. Now, Commons I know had a full Georgian wraparound design proposed at one point, I saw the concept rendering of it (along with a lovely rain shelter over its north-east entrance). For a school highly focused on appearance and architectural cohesion, not completely reskinning these buildings seems very lazy. No one is happy with this outcome.
Then, there is the 2021 Ferguson Renovation, with a new building exit featuring a traditional precast door frame. Pray tell why this happened? This goes against everything the Ferguson is. To add this classical element to a contemporary building and nothing else to support it? It doesn’t fit. Couldn’t we have taken the glass tower off of Ratcliffe and placed it here instead? That would have been a better use of funds.

The misguided classical door frame
at the contemporary Ferguson Center for the Arts

 

I like how the names of buildings reflect things of note for Virginia. But in this era of Black Lives Matter, maybe it’s time to retire the Virginia presidents naming theme on East Campus? Of the eight men represented, seven of them owned enslaved individuals. The eighth, Woodrow Wilson, was a documented racist. I think one of the reasons there haven’t been calls to change their names is because the men are so divorced from the buildings. There is no mention of who these individuals are around the buildings (but Washington, Jefferson, and Madison are pretty easy to guess who they are). Could we name these halls after other significant individuals born in Virginia? Could they be named after mountains? The geographical regions? Or, what a great nod would it be to reuse the names of the original captains of the Jamestown settlement?


I’ve been ruminating on a thought. Georgian architecture was built onto the school with the intent of celebrating the history and traditions of Virginia. If the Georgian buildings were built in the Virginian architectural era it portrays, it definitely would have been built using the labor of enslaved people. That’s true for many older institutions in Virginia. But CNU is able to divorce the style away from this context by building it today. Is this romanticizing the past but not fully conveying the history of that past? Is this sort of like antebellum parties?


I write all of this with the utmost love for my alma mater. However, love is never impervious to giving critiques. My intention is by sharing these thoughts, I hope CNU can grow and become a better institution. I also write this with full knowledge that some of the ideas I am bringing up can be “blue sky,” that don’t have financial or logistical constraints factored in. But where would this campus be without dreams?

Looking up in the Torggler Center dome
featuring the artwork Shylight

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Thanks to Sarah Pultz ('15) for bouncing ideas off of, Daniel Ericson-Teal for reviewing, and M. Baxter Vendrick, Jr. for guidance (even when I choose to not follow it).

Thank you to Bill Brauer, Randy Holmes, Michelle Campbell, and Tom Donaghy for answering all of my questions over the years.

So much of my knowledge of the current campus came from the “See the Dome: Exclusive Campus Tour of Christopher Newport University” back in 2018. It was led by Glavé & Holmes Architecture and hosted by the Center for Palladian Studies in America and the Washington Mid Atlantic Chapter of the Institute for Classical Art and Architecture. That was an incredible experience for my specific geeky niche. Thanks also to Clarke Newton for encouraging me to drop everything and go to it. Granted, it didn’t take much encouragement, but thank you nonetheless!

Thank you to Forrest Colie & Associates and Glavé & Holmes Architecture for designing beautiful buildings for Christopher Newport, and to W.M. Jordan Construction Company who built most of them.

SOURCES

- Holmes Jr, H. Randolph & Taylor, Henrika Dyck, Elevating the Human Spirit: The Architecture of Glavé & Holmes, 2019.
- Email Correspondences with William Brauer, H. Randy Holmes, and the CNU Grounds Department.

- Holmes, H. Randolph, See the Dome: Exclusive Campus Tour of Christopher Newport University, 2 June 2018 [lecture and campus tour].
- Chambers, Hubbard, Wood, Memories of Christopher Newport College the First Decade 1961 – 1971 in Words and Pictures, Hallmark Publishing Company, 2008.

Peering through the McMurran cross-through

The Architectural Ages of CNU Series

Introduction

Age One (1964 - 1976)

Age Two (1976 - 1996)

Age Three (1996 - 2001)

Age Four (2002 - 2009) 

Age Five (2010 - Present)

Conclusion

Related CNC/CNU Articles

The History of the Ferguson

What Remains of Christopher Newport College?

The Daniel School

Creating CNU's LEGO Alumni House

CNU Architectural Ages: Age Five (2010 – Present)

Christopher Newport Hall

Lewis Archer McMurran, Jr. Hall (2010)

Mary Brock Forbes Hall (2011)

Freeman Center [Addition] (2011)

University Police [Renovation] (2011)

Warwick River Hall (2012)

Hiden-Hussey Commons [Addition] (2012)

Ratcliffe Hall [Addition] (2012)

Joseph W. Luter, III Hall (2013)

Mary Brock Forbes Hall [Addition] (2013)

Rappahannock River Hall (2013)

Grounds Department Service Buildings (2013)

C. Larry and Mary Pope Chapel (2013)

Bell Tower (2014)

Christopher Newport Hall (2015)

Captain's Park [Softball] [Seating & Press Box] (2015)

Greek Village (2016)

Gregory P. Klich Alumni House (2017)

David Student Union [Addition] (2018)

Paul and Rosemary Trible Library [Addition] (2018)

Jennings Family Stadium (2019)

Presidents Hall (2020)

Mary M. Torggler Fine Arts Center (2021)

Ferguson Center for the Arts [Renovation] (2022)

CNU North Replacement (opening anticipated later in 2023)

Joseph W. Luter, III Hall [Addition] (opening anticipated for 2025)

“We are unapologetic about building buildings of civic proportions and beautiful architecture. Our job is to instruct and inspire, and there’s nothing that does that more powerfully than great art and great architecture.”
                    – Paul Trible, Jr., September 2019 [65]

The dawn of Age Five began in 2010 with the completion of the new Lewis Archer McMurran, Jr. Hall. To the team of Paul Trible, Rosemary Trible, Bill Brauer, a fourth was added: the Richmond-based Glavé & Holmes Architecture firm. Glavé & Holmes was first brought to the table in 2006 to create a new master site plan for the university, and their designed McMurran was the first major implementation of that plan. The firm became the prime architects for all major campus construction projects, setting a new consistent look and feel to Christopher Newport.[66]

Lewis Archer McMurran, Jr. Hall

Glavé & Holmes marked the solidification and full embrace of Neo-Georgian as the campus style. It follows English Palladianism, with a sprinkle of Jeffersonian campus ideals. Through this, buildings are infused with traditional design principles, yet suited for the needs of the 21st century.

Age Five architecture is about symmetry, geometrical proportions, hipped roofs, keystoned windows, and pedimented porticos. Buildings are clad in brick, and entablatures are tan instead of white. Modern elements are no longer decorative features, being instead relegated into technology, infrastructure, and utilitarian/safety spaces. While these buildings are built at a larger scale than their historic counterparts, their massing is usually broken up to give the illusion of a grouping of buildings.

Forbes Hall Lobby Nook

Paired with this is the reorganization of campus. While most master site plans Ages Two - Four mainly worked around what was already built, Glavé & Holmes’ sought to significantly reorganize the campus layout. They worked on creating a strong sense of place: a strong “heart” of campus, centerlines, axis, clearly defined edges and thresholds, and consistent building texture.[67]

Campus is laid out in a series of rings, based on building purpose. In the center is the Great Lawn, the “heart.” Denoting the lawn’s border are the academic buildings, the first major ring. The second ring is composed of the gathering locations (Student Union, Library, Fine & Performing Arts Centers, Athletics). The final ring is the residential ring. This layout brings a larger amount of people to descend around the same areas, creating movement and a greater possibility of chance encounters.[68]

As the age has progressed, building designs have become more elaborate. More ornamentation has been sprinkled in, more columns/pilasters show up along façades, and there’s more complexity in massing and layout. Different orders of columns have made appearances, from Ionic and Tuscan, to Corinthian and most recently Greek Doric. All of these elaborations have supported Glavé & Holmes’ secondary goal: to make CNU’s campus a physical teaching tool on classical architecture, much like Jefferson’s intent for his Academical Village.[69]

Trible Library 2018 expansion

Included with the buildings are homages to other great works. Luter Hall prominently features Monticello’s dome. Forbes Hall expands on the idea of UVA’s Pavilion IX, which itself pulled inspiration from the now-demolished Hotel Guimard in Paris. The inner rotunda of the Pope Chapel is based off of John Soane’s Bank of England. Christopher Newport Hall takes inspiration from many different works, mainly Palladio’s Il Redentore in Venice, but also the Leinster House in Dublin (which also influenced the United States' White House). Its dome in particular draws from the ones on St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City and Saint Isaac’s Cathedral in St. Petersburg, Russia.[70]

Mary Brock Forbes Hall

Luter Hall's Dome

Academic buildings are three-story hipped roof buildings. They each have the same basic setup. They have a signature entryway, a two-story lobby space, a 100-seat lecture hall off the lobby, a hallway running the length of the building, and an outdoor passageway through the first floor to not impede pedestrian circulation around campus. The academics differ from each other by their signature entryway, where the entryway is located on their façade, and the number of perpendicular hallways branching off from the main hallway. Luter Hall also features an extra space on its third floor, the Dome Room. This octagonal space is used for casual lounging, studying, and formal events. Much like its Monticello predecessor, its crown is capped with an oculus. While Luter’s dome ceiling is plainer on the inside, the space is plussed with ionic order columns, built-in screens and projectors that can be hidden from view by a push of a button, and a wrapround balcony on a surprise fourth floor.

Classroom in McMurran

Forbes Lecture Hall

Torggler Auditorium/Lecture Hall

Luter Hall's Dome Room

Residential buildings are a mix of shapes and sizes. The high-capacity Warwick and Rappahannock Halls are four-story U-shaped structures with precast masonry brick first floor walls. Warwick also has quoins on its corners and is topped off by a cupola and chimneys. Presidents Hall, the only East Campus project in Age Five, has a similar blueprint to the CNU Apartments, but it features an updated façade with more brick and columns. Greek Village features four small-yet-impressive houses. They feature identical layouts, yet their façades have different mixes of architectural elements, including shutters (a first at CNU), quoins, and Chinese Chippendale railings.

Warwick River Hall

Rappohannock River Hall Courtyard, August 2013
(building open but courtyard garden unfinished)

Greek Village, Phase I

Christopher Newport Hall is the showstopper of campus, with many neoclassical elements elegantly integrated into its design. It is a four-story structure, topped with a hipped roof, pediments, and a copper-sheeted dome and cupola. Along its front are columns of the Corinthian order, pre-cast masonry walls, a large ceremonial staircase, and a balcony over an arcade. On its backside is an entrance into the William L. Brauer Courtyard, a small patio and fountain in the heart of the building, allowing light to enter into most of the building’s interior. Inside continues the deluxe architectural treatment, with marble floors and lush carpet, lots of crown molding, more columns, and other tasteful flourishes. From the center of the second floor up, you can see all the way up to the top of the dome. On the fourth floor, there is a walkable glass floor in the Cynthia Perry Rotunda with the option to turn it opaque with a flip of a switch.

Christopher Newport Hall at night

Christopher Newport Hall Admissions Lobby

Looking up in the Cynthia Perry Rotunda

Looking down onto the ground
of the Cynthia Perry Rotunda

William L. Brauer Courtyard

Staircase detail

CAMPUS COHESION VS. ZEITGEIST

This Age would address much of the zeitgeist architecture around campus. While there had been talks of reusing some buildings, ultimately almost all of the pre-1990’s structures were demolished for the new Age Five buildings.

Destruction of Gosnold Hall, Summer 2019

As expansions/renovations occurred on what remained, they were reskinned/covered over to better match the new architectural style of campus. Campus cohesion was once again achieved. There are many cases, however, where construction projects did not include the entire façade, leaving clear lines between two differing styles and unfinished work.

Age Two Commons abruptly becomes Age Five
architectural style near its expansion

Ratcliffe Hall, an Age One building with
Age Three and Age Five revisions, all still present.

The major exception to campus cohesion would be the new Mary M. Torggler Fine Arts Center. This is due to, again, the iconic Ferguson Center. The Torggler sits between the Ferguson and the rest of campus, so it was decided it would bridge the architectural gap between them. The Ferguson-facing side continues the colonnade to its originally-intended length while the wall behind it imitates the Ferguson’s brick pattern and height. It ends the colonnade with three glass domes, creating a balanced endpoint to the concert hall on the other end. Around the corner from the domes, the building transitions into neoclassical architecture, blending into and reconciling with the rest of campus.

Torggler Fine Arts Center

Torggler's transition point

Inside the dome

LANDSCAPE

Landscaping continues to follow the main plan of action since Age Three. Buildings and paths are bordered by plants, bushes, and deciduous trees. Green lawns are plentiful. If there is a small lawn bordered by plants, most likely a tree is placed in the middle. Flowers and decorative shrubs are set around buildings and paths in pots.

Hedges by Forbes Hall

Green space surrounded by Luter Hall

An alley between the Freeman Center, the Trible Library,
and Christopher Newport Hall.

Existing landscaping continued to be uprooted with construction. Following the demolition of old McMurran Hall, the Great Lawn’s orientation rotated 90 degrees to run from the new McMurran Hall to the Administration Building/Christopher Newport Hall. The Greenhouse, after losing much of its purpose once the Ornamental Horticulture major was discontinued, was demolished in 2010. The Wise Woods, previously given a permanent moratorium in the 1990’s, was chopped down in 2011 for construction of Luter Hall. Saunders Plaza was moved from the Great Lawn to a new, downsized home next to the Pope Chapel in 2014.[71]

View of the Great Lawn from McMurran Hall, 2015

As old elements leave, plenty of new elements arrive. There are five new fountains, a 64' tall bell tower featuring a carillon, a Hitchcock-esque sculpture of St. Francis with birds, a “whispering wall” exedra, an East Campus community garden, courtyards, and plenty of lawns.

Bell Tower

St. Francis of Assisi Statue 

The most formal landscaped area appeared in the redesigned entrance road between the library and roundabout in 2013. Unlike the rest of campus’ asphalt car routes, this stretch of road is paved with bricks, in an effort to democratize the space for both pedestrian and car use. Precast emblems of the sails logo and the CNU acronym are inlaid in some of the larger bricked areas here.

CNU Entrance Road, view from the Trible Library

The crowning landscape jewel established was the George Hillow Arts Garden. This garden, a converted Ferguson High School courtyard, was dreamed up by theater professor George Hillow and CNU landscape designer Bob Goodheart. It features a half-circle pergola, fountain, student artwork, and wooden chairs and benches. The garden holds roses, Italian cypress trees, herbs, and various types of vines to climb the pergola.[72]

The George Hillow Arts Garden

NAMES

The previous Ages’ naming trends continued.

This Age added a twist by reusing two previously-used names, both of which graced the same building. In 2010, the current Lewis Archer McMurran, Jr. Hall opened, soon after followed by the original one’s demolition. In 2015, the new administration building was dubbed the new Christopher Newport Hall.

Over on East Campus, CNU had a new residential hall. As CNU had run out of Virginian-born United States presidents to name buildings after, it was simply named Presidents Hall. Theoretically, this building could be renamed once a ninth Virginian-born president is elected to office.

Presidents Hall

EXTRAS

Honorary Building: The CNU Free Library (2023)

The Christopher Newport campus now encompasses 260 acres. Its student population averages around 5,000 pupils, of which almost 80% lives on campus. CNU students mainly fall between the ages of 18-22. While some still hail from the Hampton Roads area, a large portion now come from other parts of the Commonwealth.[73]

Luter Hall, the largest academic building on campus, cost $40.6 million to build in 2013. To compare from earlier, the total cost for all the buildings of Age One was $4.4 million. Updated for inflation, they would have been around $19 million in 2013.[74]

Greek Village was only built with four buildings, but was planned out for a second phase with space for four more. Although this next phase of the Village is not yet built, the lampposts around the green are already set up to show where they will go.

Greek Village Phase I and its lampposts

The Pope Chapel is a bit of a modern-day rarity. Building a chapel on a public university can only be done through private funds (which the Pope chapel was). Because of this, Trible claimed it was the first chapel built at a Virginia public university in over 50 years.[75]

The Pope Chapel is nondenominational, so any religion can use the space. In most world religions, there is a connection between the earth and the sky/heavens/the beyond. To highlight that connection, the cupola on the Pope Chapel has a glass top, so you can see the sky from inside. [76]

Pope Chapel Cupola

The reason why Age Five’s entablatures are tan instead of white: “When we developed McMurran Hall, the first project that we did on campus, we tried to match the precast that was on the David Student Center. We were working from very small samples, and when the actual full-size pieces begin to arrive, the color was not a dead match. It had more of a buff color than the white precast on DSU. President Trible was not happy. John Lawson, the president of W.M. Jordan Construction Company, which was building the project at the time, invited President Trible to walk the campus with him one summer evening. It was in that conversation that Mr. Lawson convinced President Trible that the warm buff color was more like limestone and thus more like real stone and a better choice for the campus. Paul came to agree with him and thereafter every project uses that precast color as a standard.” – Randy Holmes, Glavé & Holmes.[77]

Much of campus infrastructure is purposely hidden from view or disguised. Sometimes, it’s a carefully placed hedge. By the Greek Village, one is disguised as a small outbuilding. Between Santoro and Forbes is the Central Plant, servicing multiple buildings. It features the most elaborate disguise, surrounded by a wall that makes it look like a carriage yard.

Path between Forbes and Luter Halls
In the foreground is a hedge surrounding utilities

Greek Village Outbuilding / Hidden Dumpster

The Central Chiller Plant behind Forbes Hall

Saunders Plaza’s geese fountain was attached to water lines via Wingfield Hall. When Wingfield was demolished in 2011, the fountain lost its water. So that it wasn’t just an empty fountain for a year, CNU filled in its basins with dirt and ornamental plants. The fountain had water flowing again in time for 2012’s Commencement, so the throwing-penny tradition could continue. The fountain wasn’t in complete working shape, as it required the addition of an exterior tube. The fountain would stay like this until after Commencement 2013, when it was removed and rebuilt next to the Pope Chapel in time for 2014’s Commencement.

Saunders Fountain/Flower Bed, early 2012

Saunders Fountain, Summer 2012

Saunders Plaza in its new home by the Pope Chapel

The composite order of columns is the only order not (currently) present on campus. This is due to the difficulty of making precast columns with that much detail. The most complex columns made for CNU were CNH’s Corinthian order.[78]

Christopher Newport Hall's Corinthian Order Columns

At one point, green paint/fertilizer was regularly sprayed on certain lawns (like Saunders Plaza) so it looked green every season.

A worker spraying green paint on Saunders Plaza
(Luter Hall under construction in the background)

Two leaves in fall -- one natural, one sprayed with paint

The sparkles found in many of the building lobby floors are thanks to Rosemary Trible. She loves sparkles and can never get enough of them. The sparkles are composed of mother-of-pearl and mirror chips mixed into the terrazzo.[79]

Sparkles in Forbes' entry stairway reflecting light

Elevators around campus are intentionally slow. While also economical to purchase a slower motor, this is also to inspire students to take the stairs more.[80]

McMurran’s lobby is actually not a circle, it's an oval.[81]

With all of the buildings meant to teach students on architecture, the college has looked into starting up its own architecture major. The Commonwealth did not give them permission, however, due to Virginia already having a lot of schools with that major.[82]

From Architect Magazine: “Because state building officials disallow atriums in state construction, the design [of Christopher Newport Hall] employs a fire-rated glass floor at the fourth floor to subdivide the open vertical space into code-acceptable volumes, thus allowing the desired view through to the dome above. This fire-rated structural glass floor is one of the first installed in America.”[83]

3-D concept rendering of Christopher Newport Hall,

showcasing the glass floor

The Trible Library used to be the tallest building on campus at 131’ 3”. In 2015, that title was taken by Christopher Newport Hall, which is 132’ 3” (one foot taller).[84]

With so much construction, there were bound to be projects that ended up on the cutting room floor. Here are some of those projects:

• On a 2011 campus map, a space north of the tennis courts was touted to become a “Ropes Course.” This never came to be, as the tennis courts had to be expanded for intercollegiate play. This area briefly was used as a parking lot, before being transformed into six more tennis courts.[85]
• James River Hall was announced to be getting an “expansion” in the late 2010's. A new unconnected residence hall would be placed to the south of the current James River, creating a “C” shape to mirror the shape of Santoro Hall and finishing their shared courtyard. Unlike the unconnected Yorks and Potomacs, this new hall would look Neo-Georgian instead of matching James River’s look. This space is still open, so this could still be a future possibility.[86]
• Shenandoah River Hall was to be a mixed-use building to the north of Rappahannock Hall. It would have replaced the aging CNU North building, featuring a new bank with a drive-through and school administrative spaces. It also would have had more apartment-style student housing, as well as an expansion of Rappahannock’s parking deck. An administration building of a different design is currently being built next to CNU North. Following CNU North’s impending demolition, that lot is currently planned to be used for a future residential hall, which will most likely end up being named Shenandoah River Hall.[87]
• Sparks Corner was another mixed-use building idea, this time planned to be just north of the CNU Village complex. The project was dubbed Sparks Corner after the Sparks auto repair shop that had previously sat on that corner lot. The Sparks Corner building probably never came to be because CNU’s Real Estate Foundation only owned half of the parcels needed for the development. However, with the Foundation’s purchase of the other parcel (the Mariners Building) last year, this spot may be ripe for this redevelopment in the future.[88]
• At one time, the 2018 Library expansion was slated to have an enclosed bridge connection to Christopher Newport Hall. This would have allowed an indoor route of travel between the two buildings, as well as easy access from CNH to the library’s 100-seat lecture hall, an amenity the late Administration Building had had but CNH did not. Due to budget and state logistic constraints, this did not happen.[89]
• The Torggler Center was once supposed to be only an expansion of the Ferguson Center. It would have been located behind the Ferguson, between it and its parking deck. When it was determined that space couldn’t fit everything CNU wanted for the fine arts, the project moved to its current location.[90]

Rosemary Trible Reading Room,
Trible Library (2018 expansion)

Next: The Architectural Ages of CNU: Conclusion

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

[65] ChristopherNewportU, (2019), President Trible’s State of the University Address 2019, YouTube, Retrieved from https://youtu.be/vodVALxJYVk.
[66] Holmes Jr, H. Randolph & Taylor, Henrika Dyck, Elevating the Human Spirit: The Architecture of Glavé & Holmes, 2019.
[67] Holmes, H. Randolph, See the Dome: Exclusive Campus Tour of Christopher Newport University, 2 June 2018 [lecture and campus tour].
[68] Ibid.
[69] Holmes, H. Randolph, See the Dome: Exclusive Campus Tour of Christopher Newport University, 2 June 2018 [lecture and campus tour]; Holmes, H. Randolph, email correspondence with author, 10 February 2023; Wilson, Richard Guy, “A Classroom as Big as the Lawn,” https://uvamagazine.org/articles/a_classroom_as_big_as_the_lawn, Virginia, The UVA Magazine, Fall 2017, accessed 11 February 2023; Howard, Hugh, Dr. Kimball and Mr. Jefferson: Rediscovering the Founding Fathers of American Architecture, Bloomsbury USA, 2011.
[70] https://jeffersoninparis.wordpress.com/; Holmes, H. Randolph, email correspondence with author, 10 February 2023.
[71] Fellowes, Robert, “4.3 E-1 Memorandum - Petition of the Biology Department,” SAIL - Smart Archiving for Institutional Learning, https://sail.cnu.edu/omeka/items/show/15308; Google Earth, Map Data.
[72] “Faculty on the Move: George Hillow,” CNU on the Move! 2011-2012, CNU Office of Communications and Press Relations, 26 Jan 2012, p. 14, Issuu, https://issuu.com/cnuocpr/docs/cnu_on_the_move_2011/14; Hillow, George “The Scoop: CNU’s Art Garden,” YouTube, uploaded by cnuthecaptainslog, 9 February 2010. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sOVaf-_d_8g; Hillow, George “Christopher Newport University-Arts Garden,” YouTube, uploaded by cnumediamatter, 23 August 2010, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw4aEWbnmPo.
[73] CNU Institutional Research, “Fall Enrollment 1996-2021,” Christopher Newport University, https://cnu.edu/institutionalresearch/_pdf/studentinfo/fallenrollment_f96topresent.pdf, accessed May 2023; “Operations,” Christopher Newport University, https://cnu.edu/operations/, accessed May 2023.
[74] Mangum, Marcia “Higher Enrollment Prompting Construction at CNC,” Daily Press, 11 June 1979; Holmes, H. Randolph, See the Dome: Exclusive Campus Tour of Christopher Newport University, 2 June 2018 [lecture and campus tour]; Inflation Calculator, Retrieved 12 August 2023, https://www.usinflationcalculator.com/.
[75] Brauer, William L., Facebook Messenger correspondence with author, 30 June 2023.
[76] Holmes, H. Randolph, See the Dome: Exclusive Campus Tour of Christopher Newport University, 2 June 2018 [lecture and campus tour].
[77] Holmes, H. Randolph, email correspondence with author, 10 February 2023.
[78] Ibid.
[79] Holmes, H. Randolph, See the Dome: Exclusive Campus Tour of Christopher Newport University, 2 June 2018 [lecture and campus tour]; “Christopher Newport University Luter School of Business” Terrazzo & Marble Supply, 24 June 2014, accessed 12 August 2023, https://www.tmsupply.com/2014/06/24/christopher-newport-university-luter-school-of-business/.
[80] Holmes, H. Randolph, See the Dome: Exclusive Campus Tour of Christopher Newport University, 2 June 2018 [lecture and campus tour].
[81] Ibid.

[82] Ibid.
[83] Marshall, Lauren, “Christopher Newport Hall,” Architect Magazine, 20 March 2017, accessed 12 August 2023, https://www.architectmagazine.com/project-gallery/christopher-newport-hall_1; Holmes, H. Randolph, See the Dome: Exclusive Campus Tour of Christopher Newport University, 2 June 2018 [lecture and campus tour].

[84] Campbell, Michelle, email correspondence with author, 24 July 2023.
[85] CNU campus map, 2011; CNU campus map, 2012; Google Earth, Map Data.
[86] Glave & Holmes “Enhancing the Student Housing Experience,” Glave & Holmes Architecture | News and Press, 27 November 2018, https://glaveandholmes.info/2018/11/27/enhancing-the-student-housing-experience/.
[87] Glave & Holmes “Enhancing the Student Housing Experience,” Glave & Holmes Architecture | News and Press, 27 November 2018, https://glaveandholmes.info/2018/11/27/enhancing-the-student-housing-experience/; CNU Board of Visitors “Christopher Newport University Capital Outlay Program Update” 3 February 2023, https://go.boarddocs.com/va/cnu/Board.nsf/files/CNFU6M7A8B7E/$file/Capital%20Projects%20Update%20February%203%2C%202023.pdf.
[88] “Sparks Corner,” Glavé & Holmes Architecture, accessed via the Wayback Machine, https://web.archive.org/web/20151023031916/http:/www.glaveandholmes.com/projects/sparks-corner; N.A. “CNU PLANS RETAIL, APARTMENT COMPLEX,” Daily Press, 4 September 2003, https://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-xpm-20030904-2003-09-04-0309040245-story.html; Brauer, William L., Facebook Messenger correspondence with author, 18 December 2022.
[89] Holmes, H. Randolph, email correspondence with author, 2 May 2023; “Christopher Newport Hall,” Glavé & Holmes Architecture, www.glaveandholmes.com/projects/christopher-newport-hall, accessed May 2023.
[90] Jelonek, A.J. “The History of the Ferguson,” History Scout, 18 May 2022.