A BRIEF HISTORY OF WASHINGTON AND LEE - Society for ...

PRESERVATION MASTER PLANOCTOBER 2005Figure 9: Newcombe Hall and Colonnade, ca. 1880s. (Source: Lyle & Simpson, The Architecture of Historic Lexington.)Lee died in October 1870, and was buried in the floor of the libraryin the lower level of the Chapel. The Lee Memorial Associationcommissioned sculptor Edward V. Valentine to create a memorialin 1870. In 1883 a statue chamber and family crypt were added anda marble statue of Lee lying on his camp bed was delivered to theschool and placed in the chapel. Lee’s tenure as President had savedthe institution from financial and moral destitution and infused itwith a new vitality and pride. In recognition of this, the name of thecollege was changed in 1871 to Washington and Lee University.ECONOMIC PROSPERITY: 1871-1900During a brief period of economic recession, very little occurred atWashington and Lee, except the remodeling of Robinson Hall into amuseum (later Brooks museum), for the display of a large donationof biological and geological specimens made to the school in 1876.Things brightened in the late 1880s and early 1890s prompting abuilding campaign. This came to fruition under Baltimore architectJames Crawford Neilson, who was hired to design a new librarybuilding, Newcomb Hall, built in 1882 (see fi gure 9). John Champe,a local brick mason, laid distinctively patterned bricks forming awalkway along the Colonnade. Although shipped from Lynchburgand used in many communities in the area, they became known asLexington bricks and were used throughout the town. 2323Mame Warren, Ed. Come Cheer for Washington And Lee (Lexington, VA:Washington And Lee University, 1998).2-13