Land on Reynolda, the estate of tobacco magnate R. J. Reynolds, was given to the College by the Reynolds family for the new campus.
Designed by Jens Fredrik Larson and built at a cost of $19 million, the majority of the new buildings were placed around a central quadrangle that was flanked at one end by a chapel and at the other by an administrative building.
Though much larger than the old campus and possessing a symmetry made possible by a single, unified plan, to many people the Reynolda campus was a poignant reminder of the old Wake Forest with its casual grouping of brick Georgian buildings around a landscaped lawn.