City of Williamsburg

The Stryker Center

Williamsburg, Virginia

The Stryker Center is the centerpiece of Williamsburg’s civic downtown. After much consideration and public discussion, the City entered into an agreement with the Williamsburg Regional Library Foundation to construct a new Stryker Center that would house Library administration staff, provide new meeting space, and be home to new City Council Chambers. Demolition of the old building began in the fall of 2014 and construction on the new modernist Stryker Center, designed by Stemann | Pease Architecture, began soon after. The project cost $6.5 million. The City held an opening ceremony and ribbon cutting on March 7, 2016.

1717 Design was awarded a contract to design the inaugural lobby exhibit entitled “Seventy Five Years of Modernism in Williamsburg.” The exhibit consisted of 14 large graphic panels showcasing the long tradition of modernist architecture found throughout the City of Williamsburg. The opening statement indicated “Modernism came to Williamsburg in 1938 when Architect Frank Lloyd Wright and Painter Georgia O’Keeffe visited the College of William & Mary to lecture and exhibit their work.” Over the next 75 years, numerous modernist buildings have been commissioned to grace the City including the 1956 Phi Beta Kappa Memorial Hall at the College of William & Mary, the 1957 Colonial Williamsburg Visitor Center, the 1970 Williamsburg Regional Library, The 1985 Art Museums of Colonial Williamsburg, and the 1999 Williamsburg Community Building to name just a few.