For Immediate Release
July 30, 2004
Media Contact: Micki Leventhal, 312-344-7383; mleventhal@colum.edu or
Priscilla Hunter, 312-344-7805; phunter@colum.edu
Chicago, IL -- Columbia College Chicago has received a $150,000 Campus Heritage Grant from the Getty, which will allow the college to create a campus conservation plan and historic building restoration guidelines. The project will also include research into, and documentation of, the history of the buildings' architectural and cultural past, stories that will be presented to the college community and the general public.
Since 2002, the Getty, one of the largest philanthropic supporters of visual arts in the country, has awarded over $7 million to more than 50 colleges and universities in a nationwide effort to preserve historic buildings, sites and landscapes. The Campus Heritage Grants, launched in 2002, have enabled educational institutions in 24 states to research and develop conservation plans to protect campuses in all regions of the country. Grantees include such colleges and universities as University of Chicago, Bryn Mawr College, Barnard College, Scripps College, Brown University and Columbia University in New York.
"The Getty support will have a transformative effect on our campus," said Warrick L. Carter president of Columbia College Chicago. "It will enable us to make better decisions about future rehabilitation and beautification projects - a key component of Columbia 2010, our five-year strategic plan. The Campus Heritage Grant will also allow us to study, document and conserve our important architectural structures and at the same time, plan for our needs in the decades to come as we adapt and rehabilitate the buildings to meet the demands of a 21st century arts, media and communications college.
"As an urban campus, we are part of the vibrant city around us, but the campus is also visually indistinguishable from that city. Now, with the Getty support, we can begin to create a true campus environment, a real sense of place. In a couple of years, when people come to the South Loop they'll know they're on the Columbia College Chicago Campus."
Nine historic buildings, most located along a one-mile stretch of Wabash and Michigan Avenues, between Congress Parkway and 14th Street, comprise the core of the Columbia College Chicago campus. Some of the most renowned names in late nineteenth and early twentieth century architecture - including Holabird and Root, Alfred S. Alschuler, William LeBaron Jenney, Howard VanDoren Shaw and Solon Beman - designed and built the structures that now house movie and television production studios, theaters, galleries, art, dance and music studios, photography labs, classrooms, administrative offices and student residences.
The buildings are rich with the cultural life of the city - past and present. The college's Dance Center at 1306 S. Michigan was originally the home of Paramount Pictures Film Exchange and included a movie theater. The 1104 S. Wabash "Ludington" building, now home to Columbia's Center for Book and Paper Arts, and much of the school's film and video department, was built to house the American Book Company. The building at 624 S. Michigan was the first home of the Chicago Musical College, as well as several dance schools. Columbia's theater building at 72 E. 11th Street was owned by the Chicago Women's Club and was the site of political organizing and fund raising for issues important to activist women in the first half of the twentieth century.
"It is fitting that these buildings are now home to Columbia College," said Carter. "When they were first built, many of them had cultural uses. By making them home to the education of students in arts and media and as venues for Columbia's extensive calendar of public programming, we have reclaimed and reestablished these buildings' rightful heritage."
Research and documentation on the buildings, most of which were acquired in the past decade, will begin this summer. Training in proper identification, care and maintenance of historic structures for facilities staff will begin in January of 2005. There will also be workshops for the college's faculty and staff, as well as on-site educational opportunities for students.
Fall 2005 will see the public roll-out of the Columbia Campus Heritage Plan with a "Celebrate Columbia College Chicago Week," to include campus tours, a public lecture series and an archival exhibition in the college library.
The architecture firm of McGuire Igleski & Associates, Inc. will serve as principle consultants and will create the final conservation plan and guidelines. The firm has consulted on preservation projects for numerous clients including the Field Museum, the Pullman Historic District, Northwestern University, the Goodman Theater and the Wrigley Building.
"We are delighted to be able to provide support to Columbia College Chicago," said Deborah Marrow, director of The Getty Grant Program. "We are confident of the importance of this project and the abilities of the Columbia team to see it through to completion. Columbia's Campus Heritage Plan will provide future generations of students with a campus environment that will enrich and help define their college experience. This project will also make a significant contribution to the conservation of the urban landscape and the documentation of the city's architectural history."
The J. Paul Getty Trust is an international cultural and philanthropic institution devoted to the visual arts that features the J. Paul Getty Museum, the Getty Research Institute, the Getty Conservation Institute, and the Getty Grant Program. The J. Paul Getty Trust and Getty programs are based at the Getty Center in Los Angeles.
The Getty Grant Program provides crucial support to institutions and individuals throughout the world in fields that are aligned most closely with the Getty's strategic priorities. It therefore funds a diverse range of projects that promote learning and scholarship about the history of the visual arts and the conservation of cultural heritage, and it consistently searches for collaborative efforts that set high standards and make significant contributions. Additional information is available on the Getty Web site at www.getty.edu.
Columbia College Chicago provides innovative practice and education in the visual, performing media and communication arts to nearly 10,000 undergraduate and graduate students. Columbia is committed to open access and excellence in higher education. For further information visit www.colum.edu.