CNU Architectural Ages: Age Four (2002 – 2009)

View from the Ferguson Parking Deck, 2011

York River Hall (2002)

CNU Apartments (2002)

Football Stadium [Phase 2] (2002)

Potomac River Hall (2004)

Captain's Park [Baseball] (2004)

Ferguson Center Parking Deck (2004)

Captain's Park [Softball] (2005)

CNU Village (2005)

David Student Union (2006)

Captain's Park [Baseball] [Addition - Press Box & stands] (2006)

Madison Hall [rebuild] (2007)

Paul and Rosemary Trible Library [Addition] (2008)

Three Oaks [President's House] (2009)

Age Four was a dynamic age. Whereas other Ages had buildings that all fit together, this Age was an active transition between Ages Three and Five. Building by building, the style became less contemporary and more neo-classical, where traditional architecture elements replaced contemporary ones.

It appears around the time the initial Age Four projects were in their planning phase was when Trible started thinking long-term architecturally. His initial campus solutions had worked and started to make the University popular. But going forward, what was CNU? What should it say? What would elevate it architecturally? For Trible, modern architecture did not speak to him. During this Age, he started to reveal what did. Ultimately, “President Trible wanted a campus that reflected the history, traditions and values of Virginia,” explained Brauer. “These ideals are represented through the language of architecture, but with a 21st century twist, ie. with features that are firmly rooted in the modern century.”[55] It was classical architecture that became our nation’s first self-appointed style. Its establishment in America started in the Mid-Atlantic region and was in large part due to prominent Virginian Thomas Jefferson. While serving in various leadership capacities in Virginia and the United States, Jefferson was able to guide the new country towards embracing it, through competitions of the President’s House and Capitol, and in his own designs of the Virginia Capitol, Monticello, and the University of Virginia. Many Virginia colleges have or have had building phases focused on traditional design elements – the College of William & Mary, the University of Mary Washington, Longwood University, Hampden-Sydney College, and Washington & Lee University (the last two of which Trible attended for his undergraduate and graduate degrees, respectively). And so, in that great classical tradition, so too would CNU follow.[56]

Much of CNU’s Age Four was designed predominantly by the architectural firm DMJM Design. They designed all of the larger building projects during this Age, as well as creating the master site plans for this Age and the previous one.[57]

At the beginning of the Age, York River Hall was built. York River is two separate yet identical V-shaped buildings next to each other. Each hall has a small central lobby with an octangular roof decoratively supported by pressed wood arches. From the lobby are two 4-story wings containing student housing. Most of its windows have no muntins, only a window sash. The gable roofs and dormers are clad with imitation slate. Thick, tan brick stringcourses denote the buildings’ stories. Inside past the lobby, walls are mainly painted cinderblocks, carpet, and linoleum tiles. It is very clear you are in a 21st century building. Only the outside has allusions to classical architecture.

York River Hall grand opening, 2002
Courtesy of the CNU Archives

A group of individuals in the York River Hall lobby
Courtesy of the CNU Archives

Next that same year came the CNU Apartments on East Campus. These five buildings are single-wing cousins of York River, but with more cross gables and prefab materials. Basic rule of thumb for East Campus architecture: it all fits in within the main campus style, but because it’s across the street, the architecture is pared down and rules are loosened up. Simple cornices and classical columns are present. There are triangular windows in some of the gables, a very modern choice. Unlike York, utility exhaust pipes in the roof are visible from the ground level.

One of the CNU Apartments

Triangular window in a pediment

Two years later brought Potomac River Hall in 2004. This complex is fairly identical to York River, but details were modified and enhanced. Potomac’s lobbies were expanded and rethemed, invoking classical architecture with classical columns, dentils, and crown molding. The housing wings feature modern elements, similar to, yet changed-up, from York’s.

A wing and lobby of Potomac Hall
While York River's wings are all 4 stories,
Potomac River has two wings that are 4 stories
and two that are 3 stories.

Potomac Hall Lobby

2005 brought the CNU Village to East Campus. Here, the building puts on a façade of classical design along the roadway but abandons it in the pedestrian areas. The front is clad in brick, cross-gables, a stringcourse, decorative Chinese Chippendale railing, and a small pedestrian-entrance pavilion. The parts of the building hidden from the roadway are clad in vinyl siding and surround the unadorned concrete parking deck.

The front of CNU Village

The backside of CNU Village

Finally, the Age ended with the David Student Union (DSU) (2006) and the Paul and Rosemary Trible Library (2008). While these two buildings are some of the most Neo-Georgian buildings in Age Four, so much so that they could be considered Age Five, I have decided to group them into Age Four for the following reasons:

• The DSU and Library were the last DMJM designs at CNU. Age Five will get a new primary campus architectural firm.
• The DSU and Library have columns made of Glass Fiber Reinforced Concrete (GFRC), which are lighter and less dense than regular concrete. Age Five will use precast concrete, which is much more solid and heavy. The GFRC columns are also composed of multiple pieces, with many seams. Columns in Age Five will eliminate as many seams as possible to create more solid-looking columns.
• Columns and entablatures in Age Four buildings are white. Those elements’ color in Age Five will change to tan.[58]
• Where the DSU and Library use traditional architecture, you can readily tell they were built with modern building practices. The library has vertical seams in its brick sections, which make the walls look like prefabricated sheets of brick. The DSU proclaims its modernity by featuring a created architectural narrative of two buildings joined into one. Age Five buildings hide/avoid evidence of modern building practices on its exterior and main interior areas, using them in more utilitarian/support spaces.

Front of the Trible Library

Trible Library Rotunda

David Student Union (DSU)
The narrative story is of two Georgian buildings
joined together by a modern-day hyphen.

"Evidence" of former exterior windows
and walls, inside the modern-day hyphen.

David Student Union Street and Staircase

CAMPUS COHESION VS. ZEITGEIST

On many college campuses, buildings and their expansions are built piecemeal, still part of an overall campus plan but aesthetically products of their time. This creates a zeitgeist look to these campuses. Even if there is at one time a push for overall cohesion, it only takes a leadership transition or funding pulled to dash those plans. CNU had developed a similar condition. It had the 1960’s Contemporary Oriental buildings of Age One, the similar-yet-not-always Contemporary Oriental buildings of Age Two, the bold 2000’s contemporary buildings of Age Three, and the current transitional contemporary-to-classical buildings of Age Four. CNU had also bought over 100 neighboring properties with buildings that had nothing architecturally to do with any of the previously listed styles. With Paul Trible’s continued tenure and fundraising success, the CNU transformation could continue into the long-term, addressing campus cohesion. The main plan of action during this Age was renovating existing buildings into the Neo-Georgian style. The only physical example in this Age was the Smith Library transforming into the Trible Library, but other original buildings also were envisioned to receive new looks, reskinned with hipped roofs.[59] 

CNU Masterplan concept sketch from the 2000's
The Student Center and Gosnold are depicted reskinned as Neo-Georgian buildings
Sketched by and courtesy of Tom Donaghy

The only exception to the cohesion efforts would be the Ferguson Center for the Arts. The Ferguson, a landmark building designed by a world-famous architectural firm, is not a building that can have its architecture easily changed in the name of campus cohesion. So even though it was built in Age Four, it remained as it had been designed in Age Three. For the time being, it was separated from the other buildings of campus by distance. However, any buildings built between the two would become architectural transition points. The first instance of this appeared in the Ferguson Parking Deck. Originally as designed, the deck was to be placed next to the library, west of the Ferguson. Later on in planning, it moved behind the Ferguson, allowing for the parking deck to adopt a mix of elements from Ages Three and Four. The parking deck features the Ferguson’s brick pattern, curving concrete forms, and a decorative pergola reminiscent of those at the 2001 Freeman Center. It also features square hipped roofs on its elevator towers, keystones, and some concrete entablature elements.

Ferguson Parking Lot Pedestrian Entrance

Another Ferguson Parking Lot Pedestrian Entrance

LANDSCAPE

For all intents and purposes, landscaping in Age Four was a continuation of Age Three.

York River Hall from the Trible Plaza

Campus expansion meant much space was changed, exchanged, and/or transformed by new buildings and parking lots. The ellipse roadway became the DSU. The parking lot to the west of the Student Center became Potomac River Hall. The woods surround the Japanese Teahouse were leveled to make space for Parking Lot M. The Teahouse was removed from campus and became part of Newport News Park. The front entrance was pushed to the right to allow for the construction of York River Hall. A widening of Warwick Boulevard allowed for the creation of a tree-lined roadway.

The Shoe Lane reroute, named Avenue of the Arts, would open in late 2004. It cut off the first few hundred yards of Shoe Lane from Warwick Boulevard. A new road started from the Warwick/J. Clyde intersection, curved behind the Ferguson Center, and connected to the remainder of Shoe Lane and CNU’s entrance via a roundabout. The Avenue was bordered by earthen berms and shrubs to reduce noise to the nearby neighborhoods, while also blocking out Ferguson’s Parking Deck and support spaces.[60]

Roundabout, Ferguson Parking Deck,
and Avenue of the Arts, 2011

More sculptures were placed around campus. Following the Canada Geese fountain in Saunders Plaza, three other bronze works by Turner Sculpture were brought to campus: a flying bald eagle at Potomac River Hall, two herons at the York River Hall fountain, and a family of eagles in the Peebles Theater Lobby (originally known as the Music and Theater Hall). Along the Avenue of the Arts, a statue of Christopher Newport by Jon Hair was erected. In the center of the roundabout, an abstract Cararra marble piece entitled Elements by Inger Sannes was installed. At some point during this Age, campus’ first sculpture The Ships moved from standing behind Santoro to laying on the ground next to the school dumpsters.[61]

Alice's Garden in between the York's,
featuring herons by Turner Sculpture

The Ships by the school dumpsters, 2011

The tree of choice was pine, used in projects at the Ferguson and Potomac River Hall.

This is also where we start to get construction in the middle of campus, rather than on the edges, so their green tarp-covered/wooden fences start becoming a prominent feature on the campus landscape. While the fences might move, their presence was very permanent through many school generation cycles.

Green fences surrounding the still-open Science Building, 2010

NAMES

Age Four continued Age Three’s naming trends. During Age Four, East Campus was established, and with it, a new naming protocol. The residential apartment buildings across Warwick were named after U.S. Presidents that were born in Virginia. There have been eight so far, the most of any state – Washington, Jefferson, Madison, Monroe, Harrison, Tyler, Taylor, and Wilson.

The Harbor Lights Dining Hall was renamed to the Hiden-Hussey Commons, after the Hiden and Hussey families gave CNU a block of land north of campus. This included the four-story SunTrust building, a single-story standalone bank, a post office, and a bowling alley.[62] (Rappohannock River Hall and CNU North currently occupy this block)

Following a lengthy renovation, the Captain John Smith Library was renamed the Paul and Rosemary Trible Library. This restarted the tradition of naming buildings after individuals/couples who had gone above-and-beyond for the University.



EXTRAS

Madison Hall caught on fire after being struck by lightning on August 4, 2006. As it was before the fall semester began, only ten students were in the building at the time. All were able to evacuate safely without any injuries. Portions of the third and fourth floors were damaged. There were initial hopes that CNU could repair what remained, rather than raze. However, after Tropical Storm Ernesto dumped enough rain to flood the Great Lawn, the building was too damaged by water and mold to be usable. Other than the foundation and the staircases at either end, the building was torn down and rebuilt with the same floorplan. The new Madison Hall opened Fall 2007.[63] Here is a video of some of the blaze: 

For the design of the Trible Library, Trible showed prospective architects an image of St. Peter's Basilica in Rome to inspire what he was going for in "dignity in architecture."[64]

The flying eagle sculpture in front of Potomac Hall was placed on a fully marble plinth. At some point, the marble started to crack under the statue's weight, and straps had to be put around the marble to keep it together. In 2011, the statue received a new marble plinth, this time with the core of a steel beam to support the statue's weight.

Potomac Hall Eagle sculpture, 2010
Black straps around the marble plinth

Close-up on the straps and marble plinth
(and crack), 2010

New plinth on ground, waiting steel core installation
Old plinth still in place, with pieces broken off
Eagle behind scaffolding, placed on the ground by a crane (not in shot)

Next: CNU Architectural Ages: Age Five (2010 - Present) 

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[55] Holmes, H. Randolph, See the Dome: Exclusive Campus Tour of Christopher Newport University, 2 June 2018 [lecture and campus tour]; Brauer, William L., email correspondence with author, 14 October 2020.
[56] Howard, Hugh, Dr. Kimball and Mr. Jefferson: Rediscovering the Founding Fathers of American Architecture, Bloomsbury USA, 2011.
[57] Spillis Candela/ Warnecke, CNU Master Site Plan, 14 September 1998; DMJM Design, Christopher Newport University, Comprehensive Master Plan, https://schooldesigns.com/Projects/christopher-newport-university-comprehensive-master-plan/.
[58] Holmes, H. Randolph, See the Dome: Exclusive Campus Tour of Christopher Newport University, 2 June 2018 [lecture and campus tour].
[59] Donaghy, Tom, email correspondence with author, 20 February 2021; Brauer, William “Construction Projects Inventory - Trible Years,” [spreadsheet], 24 March 2023.
[60] Gabriele, Tony “Going Around In Circles Feels Just Like Old Times,” Daily Press, 12 December 2004; Jelonek, A.J. “The History of the Ferguson,” History Scout, 18 May 2022.
[61] Public Commissions, Turner Sculpture, accessed 5 December 2022, https://www.turnersculpture.com/commissions.htm; N.a. “University’s statue has history buffs up in arms,” The Virginian Pilot, 19 July 2007, https://www.pilotonline.com/news/columns/article_c43502b9-c71f-57e6-a9c9-a1c570b81174.html; N.a “BY GIVING STATUE A RIGHT ARM, WE WRONG HIS FEATS OF HEROISM,” Daily Press, 13 May 2007, https://www.dailypress.com/news/dp-xpm-20070513-2007-05-13-0705130006-story.html; “Elements – Inger Sannes,” Newport News Public Art Foundation, https://nnpaf.org/nnpaf-sculptures/elements/; Zagursky, Erin A “Ships run aground: new organization, students clash over memorial,” The Captain’s Log, 29 November 1999; Jelonek, A.J. “P1320251,” [Photo], 6 February 2011.
[62] Robinson, Tyrone, “Harbor Lights starts off new school year as Hiden-Hussey Commons,” The Captain’s Log, 14 September 2005.
[63] N.a. “CNU dorm must be razed after fire, water, mold damage,” The Virginian-Pilot, 28 September 2006; Forest, Angela “CNU MAY REBUILD, RATHER THAN RAZE, DORM,” Daily Press, 26 August 2006; MacSwain, Hillary “Two staircases mark rebuilding of Madison,” The Captain’s Log, 24 January 2007; Hutcheson, Jesse “Supershot,” The Captain’s Log, 6 September 2006; “Cerimele, Regina “A strike of bad luck for CNU,” The Captain’s Log, 30 August 2006.
[64] Holmes, H. Randolph, See the Dome: Exclusive Campus Tour of Christopher Newport University, 2 June 2018 [lecture and campus tour].