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

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[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.