History Scout: 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

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.