Wren Building Topping Off Ceremony

Glavé & Holmes Architecture’s Historic Preservation Studio recently joined William & Mary and the full design and construction team to celebrate the topping off of the Wren Building, a National Historic Landmark and the oldest academic building in continuous use in the United States.

The Wren Building has endured over 300 years of history—fires, reconstructions, and the natural effects of age. Each brick tells a story, and our responsibility was to respect that legacy while ensuring the building remains watertight and structurally sound for future generations. Guided by the Secretary of the Interior’s Standards, every intervention was approached with restraint: repairing, replacing, or preserving historic fabric only when necessary, and always with careful attention to authenticity.

A woman in glasses and a light blazer speaks at a wooden podium with a green WILLIAM & MARY sign during the Topping Off Ceremony. She stands outdoors near stairs, wooden scaffolding, and a brick wall of the historic Wren Building. Several people face her, listening to the speech.

Materials were sourced to match historic precedents—from handmade reproduction bricks from Colonial Williamsburg, to roof tiles from Ludowici, to Portland stone imported from the same quarry in England. Mortar was analyzed across each façade and meticulously matched in all characteristics.

Our guiding principle throughout the project was clear: the signs of age should not be erased, but the building must be protected. If we have done our job well, the Wren Building will continue to shine with its historic character intact—without drawing attention to our interventions.

As Restoration Architects, our role on this project has been both humbling and rewarding. Together with William & Mary’s leadership, including University Architect, Dan Pisaniello and Project Manager, Matt Rossi, our Principal and Director of Historic Preservation, Susan Reed, Project Manager and Historical Architect, Nickolas Coile, and Architectural Historian and Historical Architect, Gibson Worsham worked closely with a talented array of consultants, including WDP (envelope engineering), VHB (civil engineering), PACE Collaborative (mechanical and electrical engineering), LAM Partners (exterior lighting), ECS Mid-Atlantic (hazardous materials), and Axias (specialty cost estimating).

We are grateful to William & Mary for entrusting us with this important work, to our design partners for their expertise, and to Grunley Construction for bringing these preservation plans to life in the field.

A weather vane marked 1693 sits atop a cupola with shuttered windows on a shingled roof, overlooking a brick path lined with leafless trees, green lawns, and a statue under a clear blue sky—an iconic scene of the Wren Building’s historic architecture.