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WASHINGTON AND LEE UNIVERSITYLEXINGTON, VIRGINIAFigure 5: The Colonade, ca. 1867. (Source: Lyle & Simpson, The Architecture of Historic Lexington.)buildings. The colonnade created a critical juncture between pastoralideals of the beautiful rural landscape and the civilizing construct ofthe classical city on a hill:I suggest an improvement that would secure ourpasturage and the college buildings themselves fromthe intrusion of cattle not a trifling annoyance, Viz.the construction of a strong three-railed post and railfence in a straight line between the extreme backcorner of the gardens next to the college building;and the erection of a self-shutting twelve-foot widegate for wagons at the eastern corner of the campuson the avenue. The fence can be erected for $30and the posts and boards between the buildings bethrown first to make repairs elsewhere. The expenseof keeping up styles would be saved. 18A lithograph of the campus in ca. 1855-1867 indicates a farm in theforeground of the front lawn area, with a fence that encloses a wideexpanse of lawn in front of the colonnade and encompassing thesingle-story dormitories (see fi gure 5).In 1855, considerations were again given to the improvement of18Minutes of the Board of Trustees, 1854. Washington and Lee UniversityTrustees Papers, Folder 142.2-10
PRESERVATION MASTER PLANOCTOBER 2005the landscape and tree planting was referred to as: “The proprietyof ornamenting by trees, shrubs etc. the front of the campus issuggested as a matter of considerable importance in the machineryof education, external neatness and beauty, has a very happy andnot a trifling influence in generating good taste in the inner man.” A“rough fence had been ordered to be erected on the rear side of thebuildings” but had not yet been undertaken. 19With the onslaught of the Civil War normal operations at the collegewere brought to a standstill and most of its students and part of itsfaculty served in the Fourth Virginia Volunteers. During the war,the college continued to run as a preparatory school, taking in boystoo young to fight and those not able to serve due to disabilities. Nodamage was done to the college buildings, although General DavidHunter’s troops occupied Lexington during Hunter’s Raid of June1864 and the college was looted.In 1865, General Robert E. Lee was elected president of the college.On assuming his new post, Lee found that many structures werein terrible condition, with some undergoing repair but all of themneeding attention. The grounds were so torn up and neglected thatthere were more patches of bare soil and weeds than there wasgrass. Under Lee’s supervision a superintendent of grounds, EdwardClifford Gordon, was hired. In addition, Washington College offeredloans to townspeople willing to erect new structures to accommodatestudents or faculty.Figure 6: Lee Chapel, ca. 1930. (Source: Lyle& Simpson, The Architecture of HistoricLexington.)During Lee’s tenure as President, the college was transformed froma Presbyterian-based, classical academy into a practical and modernuniversity, although the Christian faith was still a vital part of collegelife. Lee suggested the idea of an independent chapel, particularlyin light of an increasing student body. Until this time a chapel andbeen housed in one room in the Robinson building. The Board agreedwith Lee that it should have its own building. This building wasconstructed in a style that conformed to an ideal that had begun to bepopular during the 1860s, in which buildings were intended to fit intothe landscape rather than stand in sharp contrast to it (see figure 6).The picturesque was a sensibility that infused both landscapearchitectural and architectural design. It was dominated by irregularoutlines, colors, and textures, intending to be more at one withnature. The chapel stands apart from the classical dominance ofthe colonnade, fitting snugly into a low point at the base of the hill,designed in the Romanesque tradition, possibly inspired by JohnRenwick’s 1847 Smithsonian Institution in Washington. It is alsonot clear how much Lee himself was involved with the design, but19Source: Arthur Bartenstein – President’s notes – George Junkin.2-11
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