Washington and Lee University Photo courtesy of Virginia Department of Historic Resources

The historic heart of Washington and Lee University is an architecturally harmonious complex of buildings forming one of the Nation's most dignified and beautiful campuses. The central element, the Colonnade, gives the impression of a single design concept. It is, in reality, the product of a building program extending over 150 years. The first buildings of the program, erected in 1803 for what was then Washington College, have disappeared. The classical theme of the complex was established with the oldest existing building, the temple-form Washington Hall of 1824. Its builder-architects, John Jordan and Samuel Darst, here transformed the prevailing Roman Revival style into a sturdy regional idiom. Washington Hall was flanked by Payne Hall in 1831 and by Robinson Hall in 1843. Two pairs of porticoed faculty residences were also added to the complex. Stylistically contrasting elements are the distinctive President's House of 1868 and the neo-Norman style Lee Chapel, constructed in 1867, and now a National Historic Landmark. Robert E. Lee, the president of the college at the time, was instrumental in having the chapel constructed. The body of the former Confederate commander lay in State in the chapel in 1870 and was later interred in a family crypt established here. Lee's office in the chapel has been carefully preserved as he left it.

The Washington and Lee University Historic District, a National Historic Landmark, is located in Lexington. The main entrance to the campus is located off Rte. 11 Business, past the Virginia Military Institute. Parking is available in the Lee Chapel lot on Jefferson St. For more information, visit the university's website. Lee Chapel is open April-October, Monday-Saturday, 9:00am to 5:00pm and Sunday 1:00pm to 5:00pm; from November-March, the chapel closes at 4:00pm. Visit the chapel's website for further information. Washington and Lee University has also been documented by the Historic American Buildings Survey

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