W&M Receives Grant From National Park Service for Wren Building Project

WASHINGTON — The National Park Service (NPS) announced $25.7 million in Save America’s Treasures grants to fund 59 projects that will preserve nationally significant sites and historic collections in 26 states and the District of Columbia.

Built by enslaved labor and craftsmen in 1695, the Wren Building predates the city and colonial capital of Williamsburg and was the catalyst to choose the area as a replacement capital after Jamestown, according to the announcement from the National Park Service.

One of the central features of the building is the flights of steps leading up to the main entrance, used weekly by thousands of students, faculty members, and visitors who access the building, NPS explained. Treatments applied during the 1928-1931 restoration and subsequent repairs have contributed to the steps’ deterioration, and funding from the grant will rebuild the steps using Portland limestone and stonemasons, historic brick masons, and other specialized craftspeople.

“The Save America’s Treasures program began 25 years ago and continues to enable communities across the United States to preserve and conserve their nationally significant historic properties and collections,” said National Park Service Director Chuck Sams. “It’s fitting to celebrate this milestone anniversary through a wide range of projects that help to pass the full history of America and its people down to future generations.”

Since 1999, the Save America’s Treasures program has provided over $405 million from the Historic Preservation Fund (HPF) to more than 1,400 projects to provide preservation and conservation work on nationally significant collections, artifacts, structures, and sites. This year’s $25.7 million award will be matched by almost $50 million in private and public investment.

NPS partners with the National Endowment for the Arts, National Endowment for the Humanities, and the Institute for Museum and Library Services to award the grants.

Established in 1977, the HPF has provided more than $2 billion in historic preservation grants to states, Tribes, local governments, and nonprofit organizations. Administered by NPS, HPF grant funds are appropriated by Congress annually to support a variety of historic preservation projects to help preserve the nation’s cultural and historic resources.

The HPF, which uses revenue from federal offshore oil and gas leases, supports a broad range of preservation projects without expending tax dollars. The intent behind the HPF is to mitigate the loss of nonrenewable resources through the preservation of other irreplaceable resources, the park service said.

Applications for next year’s round of the Save America’s Treasures Grant Program will open in the fall of 2024. $25.5 million in funding will be available, according to the National Park Service.