Charles M Robinson

Charles Morrison Robinson

• American

Charles M Robinson was born on 3 March 1867 in Hamilton, Loudoun County, Virginia. He received his formal architectural training in Michigan under D S Hopkins, and then with John K Peebles and in 1906 he set up offices in Richmond. He soon won bids for the state normal schools at Harrisonburg and Fredericksburg, now James Madison University and Mary Washington College, respectively. By 1918, he had started work on the twenty-one buildings at the Virginia State College in Petersburg and had been chosen by the Virginia State Board of Health to design sanatoriums at Catawba, Burkeville and Charlottesville. Success meant expansion and in the early 1920s he moved into larger office space and added three partners: his son, Charles Custer; Benjamin Ruffin; and J Binford Walford.

In 1925, the College of William and Mary retained Robinson to create the campus master plan and design the buildings that were to define this plan. The entry for Robinson in The Virginia Architects 1835-1955 describes his work thusly: On the William and Mary campus he skillfully manipulated the traditional hallmarks of Virginia's Georgian buildings using such architectural details and elements as Flemish bond brickwork with glazed headers, brick water tables and belt courses, rubbed brick jack and segmental arches, pedimented entries, and cupolas... William and Mary's 20th century Georgian revival-style campus has had a tremendous influence in popularizing this style for educational, residential and religious uses not only in Virginia but throughout the country. - NRHP