This post is about the second-floor rooms of the Wren Building, and it will pretty much finish off my
photographs that I have taken of that historic building on the campus of William and Mary.
The second floor of the building was where all the faculty and administration lived during the Colonial period (the students lived on the third floor). This hallway, called the Gallery, would have been a gathering place back then. Today, it has the portraits of fifteen of the twenty-five presidents of the College displayed on the walls.
The other room on the second floor that is open to the public is the Blue Room (not a very imaginative name, to be sure, but a nice one nevertheless). This room was the administrative seat of the College back in the Colonial period, where all the important meetings were held and important documents like the College charter were kept. The room is still used today by students defending their doctoral dissertations.
On the wall flanking the fireplace are portraits of Bishop Henry Compton, the first Chancellor of the College, and George
Washington, the first American Chancellor. The position of chancellor is an honorary position appointed by the College's Board of Visitors for a seven-year term. On the opposite wall is a portrait of Margaret, the Lady Thatcher, who was Chancellor when I arrived at the College in 2000. She was the first female Chancellor of William and Mary and the first British one since the Revolutionary War. The present Chancellor is Dr. Henry Kissinger.
That covers all the rooms that are open to the public in the Wren Building at the College of William and Mary. Maybe another day I will post more pictures of the campus and all the lovely things there, but for today, I will close with a photograph of the back of the Wren building.
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