Restoration work is rarely about turning back the clock to a single “original” moment, and the newly completed restoration of William & Mary’s Sir Christopher Wren Building is a clear example. The 1695 academic building in Williamsburg, Virginia, has been rebuilt and altered repeatedly over more than three centuries, including after multiple fires. The latest project, finished in May 2026, keeps that layered history in view while renewing key materials that protect the building for the next generation.
The Wren Building, named for English architect Sir Christopher Wren, lost many early details in a 1705 fire and was reconstructed, but not as an exact replica of the first version, according to architect Susan Reed of Glavé & Holmes, who led the project. Two more fires in the 1800s brought additional changes. A major restoration in 1931 by Colonial Williamsburg aimed for a mid-19th century look, including a roof that used terra cotta tiles to mimic earlier wooden shingles.
Nearly a century later, that 1931 roof had reached the end of its useful life. Reed’s team went back to the original terra cotta manufacturer, Ludowici, which used an identical mold to produce new tiles. The exterior masonry, woodwork, and interior plaster were also repaired in kind, with the project team placing equal value on the original 1695 brick and the work completed in the 1920s and ’30s.
For mason contractors, the takeaways are familiar and practical: restoration scope lives or dies on documentation, material sourcing, and the willingness to treat later repairs as part of the building’s story when they have historic value. In this case, that meant matching a legacy terra cotta roof system and approaching brick repairs with an eye toward compatibility across centuries of construction.
Today, the Wren Building continues its role as a working campus facility, with classrooms, faculty offices, and space for events, while remaining the oldest academic building in the United States.
Read the full, original article from National Trust for Historic Preservation here.