Roosevelt University
Roosevelt University

Author: Laura Mills

Publisher: Arcadia Publishing

Published: 2014-09-15

Total Pages: 128

ISBN-13: 1439647291

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In 1945, faculty and students at Chicagos Central YMCA College walked out to protest admission quotas on race and religion and created one of the nations first institutions to admit all qualified students. Despite having no endowment, library, or campus, Roosevelt College attracted more than 1,000 students in its first year. The next year, it purchased Chicagos famed Auditorium Building. By 1949, enrollment topped 6,000, and the Roosevelt story captured the nations imagination. In 1954, Florence Ziegfelds Chicago Musical College merged with Roosevelt, and five years later the college became a university. As it nears its 70th anniversary, Roosevelt has six colleges, two campuses, and over 85,000 alumni, including former Chicago mayor Harold Washington. This book celebrates a pioneering institution that helped shape the history of American higher education.

The Auditorium Building
The Auditorium Building

Author: Jay Pridmore

Publisher: Pomegranate

Published: 2003

Total Pages: 74

ISBN-13: 9780764924965

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Commissioned by Ferdinand Peck and produced by architects Louis Sullivan and Dankmar Adler--soon to be leaders of the Chicago School--in 1889, the Auditorium Building was a wondrous complex, housing a hotel, offices, stores, and a theater. Adler's engineering skills overcame the problem of a foundation that had to support an unevenly distributed weight; Sullivan designed the stunning theater, which was spanned by four elliptical arches studded with 3,500 incandescent electric lights and decorated with gold leaf. Adler created a hydraulic stage--with twenty-six lifts--and one of the first air-conditioning systems in a public building. Among the many design features in the interior of the Auditorium were murals, onyx, marble, open loggias, stained glass, filigreed vents, wainscoting, and bronze-plated posts. Scholars considered the Auditorium Building the most important single structure in Chicago. The Auditorium thrived until its closing in 1940. In 1946 Roosevelt University purchased the building, and the Auditorium Theatre Council restored the theater to its former glory. Today, the Auditorium Building is thriving as a showcase for major theatrical events, Roosevelt University concerts, and other events.