Postcard of the Virginia vs. Georgia game at Lambeth Field, 1914
Postcard of the Virginia vs. Georgia game at Lambeth Field, 1914 (MSS 11425-o)

New athletic facilities enabled U.Va. to compete--literally--with other universities nationwide. As part of the formalization of the athletic program in the late 1890s, baseball, football, and track needed a new field. Robert E. Lee Taylor, alumnus and former football and baseball star, designed the amphitheater-style seating and covered colonnade of Lambeth Field in 1911. Intended to be the “finest athletic stadium in the South and one that compares very favorably with the stadiums at Syracuse and Harvard,” Lambeth Field was named after Dr. William A. Lambeth, director of athletics and superintendent of buildings and grounds.