Tucker Hall

{{short description|Academic hall at the College of William & Mary}}

{{Infobox building

| name = St. George Tucker Hall

| image = Tucker Hall and James Monroe statue, 2018.jpg

| image_size =

| image_alt = Tucker Hall and Monroe statue in the snow

| image_caption = Tucker Hall and Monroe statue, 2018

| coordinates = {{Coord|37|16|17|N|76|42|36|W|region:US-VA_type:landmark|display=inline,title}}

| architectural_style = Colonial Revival

| address =

| years_built = 1908–1909

| groundbreaking_date =

| start_date =

| stop_date =

| topped_out_date =

| completion_date =

| opened_date =

| inauguration_date = May 14, 1909

| relocated_date =

| renovation_date = 1928, 2013

| cost = $14,297 (construction, 1908)

| owner = College of William & Mary

| height =

| material =

| size =

| floor_count =

| floor_area =

| architect = Cady & See (1908–1909),
Charles M. Robinson (1928)

| architecture_firm =

| parking =

| public_transit =

| website =

}}

St. George Tucker Hall is an academic building on the campus of the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia. Built in 1908–1909 from a design by Cady & See, it was William & Mary's first freestanding library and sits on what is now known as Old Campus. It is an early example of Colonial Revival architecture in Williamsburg that predated the Colonial Williamsburg restoration and reconstruction efforts. A 1928 expansion of Tucker Hall was designed by Charles M. Robinson, with a further renovation performed in 2009. The building is now named for St. George Tucker, who taught at the college. A statue of James Monroe, a U.S. president and alumnus of the college, was installed in front the hall in 2015.

Design and history

Lyon Gardiner Tyler, the president of the College of William & Mary, raised $20,000 ({{Inflation|US|20000|1908|fmt=eq}}), which made William & Mary eligible for a matching donation from the Carnegie Foundation to construct a library. This fundraising was part of Tyler's broader campaign to further develop and expand William & Mary's campus to accommodate the college's increasing number of groups.{{cite book |title=The College of William & Mary: A History |volume=II |publisher=King and Queen Press, Society of the Alumni, College of William & Mary |location=Williamsburg, VA |isbn=0-9615670-4-X |date=1993 |chapter=Part IV–The Tyler Era, 1888–1919 |first=Susan H. |last=Godson |pages=495–497}} It would be the college's first free-standing library; previously, the library had been housed in the Wren Building.{{cite web |url=https://www.flathatmagazine.com/blog/at-face-value |title=At Face Value: Exploring Campus Landmarks |first=J.R. |last=Herman |work=Flat Hat Magazine |date=November 13, 2020 |access-date=December 9, 2023 |location=Williamsburg, VA |archive-date=December 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231209200835/https://www.flathatmagazine.com/blog/at-face-value |url-status=live }}

Colonial Revival architecture arrived at the college with the construction of the now-demolished first Taliaferro Hall in a style akin to the nearby Brafferton in 1894; the new library would follow this styling. Designed by architects of Cady & See and emulating the architecture of 18th-century Virginia courthouses, the cornerstone of the library building was laid on April 13, 1908, during a ceremony attended by Governor Claude A. Swanson.{{cite book |title=Buildings of Virginia: Tidewater and Piedmont |editor-first=Richard Guy |editor-last=Wilson |publisher=Oxford University Press, Society of Architectural Historians |date=2002 |series=Buildings of the United States |isbn=0-19-515206-9}}{{rp|374}} The accepted construction bid was for $14,297 ({{Inflation|US|14297|1908|fmt=eq}}). The building was dedicated on May 14, 1909. This initial construction lacked a cupola.{{cite news |url=https://flathatnews.com/2016/10/05/cupolaspotting-at-tucker-hall/ |title=Cupolaspotting at Tucker Hall |first=Bryan |last=Burgess |work=The Flat Hat |date=October 5, 2016 |access-date=December 9, 2023 |location=Williamsburg, VA |archive-date=December 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231209200835/https://flathatnews.com/2016/10/05/cupolaspotting-at-tucker-hall/ |url-status=live }} The brick building's initial interior layout of the building was in a T-shape inside an 80 ft by 30 ft frame.{{cite news |url=https://flathatnews.com/2013/02/04/tucker-construction-crews-redesign-the-interior-academic-building/ |title=Inside Tucker: Construction crews redesign the academic building's interior |first=Bailey |last=Kirkpatrick |work=The Flat Hat |date=February 4, 2013 |access-date=December 9, 2023 |location=Williamsburg, VA |archive-date=December 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231209200835/https://flathatnews.com/2013/02/04/tucker-construction-crews-redesign-the-interior-academic-building/ |url-status=live }}

An expansion was designed by Charles M. Robinson, who also designed the adjacent Sunken Garden and many of the other buildings that were installed on what is now Old Campus,{{rp|376}} and completed in 1928.{{cite book |url=https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/pdf_files/SpecialCollections/VA-002_Survey_State_Owned_Properties_Higher_Ed_1991_LCA_report.pdf |title=Survey of State-Owned Properties: Institutions of Higher Education |publisher=Virginia Department of Historic Resources |date=May 1991 |page=59 |location=Charlottesville, VA |access-date=2023-12-09 |archive-date=2023-04-02 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230402125724/https://www.dhr.virginia.gov/pdf_files/SpecialCollections/VA-002_Survey_State_Owned_Properties_Higher_Ed_1991_LCA_report.pdf |url-status=live }} Ewell Hall was opened in 1926 on the site now opposite Tucker Hall along the Sunken Garden.{{cite web |url=https://tribetrek.wm.edu/items/show/4 |title=Ewell Hall, Constructed 1925-1926 |website=tribetrek.wm.edu |publisher=Earl Gregg Swem Library, College of William & Mary |location=Williamsburg, VA |access-date=December 10, 2023 |archive-date=December 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231210190518/https://tribetrek.wm.edu/items/show/4 |url-status=live }} By the time of a fire at a neighboring hall in 1930, a cupola was visible atop the library building. This redesign laid the building out in an H-shape.

Renamed for St. George Tucker in 1980,{{cite book |title=Hark Upon the Gale: An Illustrated History of College of William and Mary in Virginia |first=Wilford |last=Kale |date=2016 |orig-date=1985, 2007 |publisher=Botetourt Press |location=Williamsburg, VA |isbn=978-0-9799684-0-2 |page=199}} the hall now serves as the home for the college's English Department. It was renovated in 2013.{{cite news |url=https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/bitstream/handle/10288/1468/04-17-2009.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |title=Departments shuffle with updated buildings: New Alan B. Miller Hall leaves Tyler, Blow classrooms vacant |first=Rachel |last=Smith |work=The Flat Hat |date=April 17, 2009 |volume=98 |issue=45 |location=Williamsburg, VA |pages=1, 5 |access-date=December 9, 2023 |archive-date=December 7, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231207180328/https://digitalarchive.wm.edu/bitstream/handle/10288/1468/04-17-2009.pdf?sequence=1&isAllowed=y |url-status=live }} The involvement of St. George Tucker and his son Nathaniel Beverley Tucker–who, like his father, was a professor at the college–in slavery in Virginia led to archaeologist Ywone D. Edwards-Ingram proposing the hall as a possible location for an exhibit on both men's legacies.{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5kGCDwAAQBAJ |title=Slavery and the University: Histories and Legacies |chapter=Scholars, Lawyers, and Their Slaves:St. George and Nathanial Beverly Tucker in the College Town of Williamsburg |first=Ywone D. |last=Edwards-Ingram |date=2019 |publisher=University of Georgia Press |isbn=9780820354439 |page=266}} A bronze statue by Gordon Kay of U.S. president and college alumnus James Monroe was installed in front of Tucker Hall in 2015. The statue's granite base features bronze reliefs.{{cite encyclopedia |url=https://encyclopediavirginia.org/monroe-statue/ |title=Statue of James Monroe at the College of William and Mary |encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Virginia |first=Carol M. |last=Highsmith |publisher=Virginia Humanities |date=November 24, 2019 |access-date=December 9, 2023 |archive-date=December 3, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231203004720/https://encyclopediavirginia.org/monroe-statue/ |url-status=live }} The statue was vandalized in 2018 with graffiti saying "slave owner".{{cite news |url=https://www.wtkr.com/2018/10/09/william-mary-officials-slave-owner-written-on-james-monroe-statue |title=William & Mary officials: "Slave owner" written on James Monroe statue |first=Nick |last=Boykin |date=October 9, 2018 |access-date=December 9, 2023 |work=WTKR |location=Norfolk, VA |archive-date=December 9, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231209202307/https://www.wtkr.com/2018/10/09/william-mary-officials-slave-owner-written-on-james-monroe-statue |url-status=live }}

References

Category:Brick buildings and structures in Williamsburg, Virginia

Category:College of William & Mary buildings

Category:Colonial Revival architecture in Virginia

Category:Colonial Williamsburg

Category:School buildings completed in 1909

Category:University and college academic buildings in the United States