Columbia College Chicago
Encyclopedia
Columbia College Chicago is one of the largest art colleges in the United States
with nearly 12,000 students pursuing degrees within 120 undergraduate and graduate programs. Founded in 1890, the school is located in the South Loop of Chicago.
It is organized into three schools:
It also is home to many research centers as well as to the Garment Collection and the Center for Book and Paper Arts. It is also home to one of the very few, but very popular undergraduate program in cultural studies.
Columbia College Chicago is not affiliated with Columbia University
, Columbia College Hollywood
, or any other Columbia College in the United States.
), in Boston
, Massachusetts
. Mary Blood became the College’s first president, serving in this capacity until her death in 1927. The women established a co-educational school that “should stand for high ideals, for the teaching of expression by methods truly educational, for the gospel of good cheer, and for the building of sterling good character” in the Stevens’ Art Gallery Building, 24 E. Adams Street.
After the death of Ida Riley in 1901, the school changed its name to the Columbia College of Expression in 1905, adding coursework in teaching to the curriculum. In 1928, the college was associated with the Pestalozzi-Froebel Teachers College, a family-run school centered on training its students for teaching kindergarten. By 1934, Columbia College curriculum also focused on the growing field of radio broadcasting.
In 1944, the College left its partnership with the Pestalozzi-Froebel school and changed its name to Columbia College with Norman Alexandroff as its president. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, the College broadened its educational base to include television, journalism, marketing, and other mass communication
areas. Prosperity was short lived, however, and by 1961, Columbia held fewer than 200 students and a part-time faculty of 25.
In 1961, Mirron (Mike) Alexandroff, son of Norman Alexandroff, who worked at the school since 1947, became president, and created a liberal arts college with a “hands-on minds-on” approach to arts and media education with a progressive social agenda. He established a generous-admissions policy so that qualified high school graduates could attend college courses taught by some of the most influential and creative professionals in Chicago
. For the next thirty years, Alexandroff worked to build Columbia College into an urban institution that helped to change the face of higher education.
With this renewed focus on building its academic program, the institution was awarded full accreditation in 1974 from the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
and in 1984, received accreditation for its graduate programs. In 1975, when Columbia’s enrollment exceeded 2,000, the College purchased its first real estate, the 175000 square feet (16,258 m²) building at 600 S. Michigan, (currently the Alexandroff Campus Center). At the time of Alexandroff's retirement in 1992, Columbia College served 6,791 students and owned or rented more than 643000 square feet (59,736.7 m²) of instructional, performance and administrative space.
From 1992 until 2000, John B. Duff
, former commissioner of the Chicago Public Library
and former chancellor of the Massachusetts Board of Regents of Higher Education, served as the College's president. During his tenure, Columbia College changed its name to Columbia College Chicago and the school continued to expand its educational programs and add to its physical campus by purchasing available buildings in the South Loop. This played a significant part in Columbia’s presence in the South Loop and downtown Chicago
. Today, Columbia’s campus occupies almost two dozen buildings and utilizes over 2.5 million square feet.
In 2000, Dr. Warrick L. Carter became president of Columbia College Chicago. An educator, jazz composer and performing artist, Dr. Carter joined Columbia from The Walt Disney Company
, where he spent four years as director of entertainment arts. Previously, he spent 12 years at Berklee College of Music
in Boston
, one of the world’s largest independent schools of music, where he served as dean of faculty and then provost/vice president of academic affairs.
Through 2010, under his leadership, the College has created new student-based initiatives such as Manifest, the annual urban arts festival celebrating Columbia’s graduating students and ShopColumbia, a store where students can showcase and sell their work on campus; partnered with local universities to construct the University Center; purchased new campus buildings; added new curricula; and oversaw Columbia's first newly constructed building, the Media Production Center.
Today, Columbia continues its mission of providing a strong arts and media education and has a growing program of international exchanges, including associations with Dublin Institute of Technology
and the University of East London
. Through the vast diversity of students and graduates, the school brings a rich vision and a multiplicity of voices to American culture, encouraging students to “author the culture of their times”.
Columbia has a nontraditional campus located in the South Loop
of Chicago. Columbia's campus is composed of many buildings that were built in the early parts of the 20th century and were bought by the school as it expanded. Most buildings contain more than one academic department.
Company. 600 S. Michigan was a modern skyscraper of its era, built with a steel skeleton, high-speed elevator
s, electric light, the most advanced mechanical systems available and a floor plan designed to maximize natural light for all of its interior office spaces.The 15-story brick
-clad
building with classical stone
detailing has an Art Deco
lobby that retains much of its original marble. In 1937 the building was purchased by the Fairbanks-Morse
Company, makers of railroad locomotives, farm equipment and hydraulic systems. It was acquired by Columbia College in 1975. In its early years as the home of Columbia, it was adaptively reused to house classrooms, the library, darkrooms
, studios, and an auditorium
. When the campus expanded through the acquisition of other buildings, especially after 1990, some of these functions, such as the greatly expanded library, were moved to other locations, and the spaces were again adapted for new uses. The building continues to serve as the administrative center of the College, and houses the Museum of Contemporary Photography
on its first two floors, along with the 180-seat Ferguson Memorial Theater, photography darkrooms
, three professional television
studios, film/video editing facilities, and classrooms.
, who designed the 1927 Chicago Mercantile Exchange
. The seven-story brick and terra cotta “Congress-Wabash Building” was commissioned by Ferdinand W. Peck, Jr., a real estate developer, and initially housed a bank
, offices, and recreation rooms that included dozens of pool tables. A national billiards championship was held here in 1938. By the 1940s, the building was known by the name of its major tenant, the Congress Bank. In the 1980s it became the home of MacCormac College
. Columbia leased space in the building starting in 1997 and purchased the structure in 1999. It currently houses administrative offices, classroom space and the college’s radio station (WCRX 88.1 FM). The building is home to Columbia's American Sign Language
-English Interpretation, Audio Arts and Acoustics, Journalism and Radio departments.
, one of the nineteenth century’s largest, most complex, and globally famous planned industrial communities for the Pullman Palace Car Company. The ten-story 623 S. Wabash building was originally built for the Studebaker
Brothers Carriage Company of South Bend, Indiana
as its Chicago
regional office and warehouse facility. It was later owned by the Brunswick Corporation
, makers of wood furnishings and built-in furniture
for libraries, universities and a variety of public commercial and governmental facilities. By the late 19th century Brunswick became specialists in designing such entertainment furnishings as bars, billiards
tables, and bowling
alleys for drinking establishments nationwide. Subsequent owners are unknown. The building was acquired by Columbia in 1983 and now houses classrooms, academic offices, a computerized newsroom, sciences laboratories, art studios and two public gallery spaces. The building is also home to Anchor Graphics and ShopColumbia, a retail venue that sells the work of Columbia studentsand alumni artists, musicians, filmmakers etc. exclusively.
, a concern headed by Florenz Ziegfeld Sr., father of Ziegfeld Follies
producer Florenz Ziegfeld
, Jr. A seven-story addition was designed and built in 1922 by Alfred Alschuler. The building was renamed the Blum Building and housed the studios of a dance school and boutique women’s clothiers. Tenants in the building in the 1920s included Augustus Eugene Bournique’s dancing schools and two select women’s clothiers, Stanley Korshak’s Blackstone Shop and Blum’s Vogue. Brick clad with classical detailing, this 15-story building retains its period marble
and brass
lobby. Columbia College acquired the building in 1990 and it now houses the College's five-story library, classrooms, departmental offices, student and faculty lounges and the College’s bookstore
(1980). Built by William LeBaron Jenney, acknowledged as the inventor of the skyscraper
for his fire-proofed metal skeleton-frame designs, the Ludington Building
represents his continuing experimentation as the first entirely terra cotta
-clad skyscraper
. The Ludington Building
is also a rare survivor, one of only two extant loft
buildings in Chicago built by Jenney.
This eight-story, steel-frame building, boasting one of the finest examples of a terra-cotta clad façade, was commissioned by Mary Ludington Barnes for the American Book Company (1890), which was owned by her husband, Charles Barnes. At the time, Chicago was a national center for the publishing
industry, as demonstrated by this building and many others, particularly those on “Printers Row,” and including the former Lakeside Press Building owned by Columbia College. The American Book Company built the building to house its offices, printing presses, packaging and shipping operations. Its frame was built to withstand the weight and vibrations of the presses, which were originally located on the 4th through 6th floors, and to accommodate the anticipated 8 story addition that was never built. Its status as a manufacturing facility determined its form as a loft building, with a practical and efficient interior that had few elegant original elements. Its location, between the Grand Central Station (Chicago)
at Harrison and Wells Streets and the Illinois Central Railroad
station at Michigan Avenue and Roosevelt Road, made it ideal for the distribution of the company’s products.
The Ludington Building
was owned by descendents of its original owners until 1960, although it was occupied by many different tenants, including the Pepsodent
toothpaste company in the 1910s and ‘20s. In 1960 it was sold to Warshawsky and Company
, an autoparts firm, for use as a storage facility. Columbia College Chicago purchased the building from Warshawsky in 1999. The Ludington currently houses the school’s Center for Book and Paper Arts, a portion of the Film and Video Department, the Glass Curtain Gallery and the Conaway Multicultural Center.
, a piano
virtuoso, teacher and composer.The school’s most famous alumna may be the comedienne Phyllis Diller
, who was a piano
student at the Sherwood School in the 1930s but did not graduate. The building was acquired by Columbia College Chicago in 1997 and now houses the school’s Music department. The artistic, cultural and performance education tradition of this building, as it was adaptively reused since the 1940s, is continued today in the programs of the the Music Center of Columbia College.
skyscrapers such as the Chicago Board of Trade
, the Palmolive Building
and the 333 N. Michigan Avenue Building. 72 East 11th Street, a six- story, limestone
-clad Art Deco
building, was originally owned by the Chicago Women’s Club and housed the organization’s meeting rooms, offices and a theater. Rich in history, it was the site for rallies in support of women’s voting rights, efforts on behalf of compulsory education laws and fund raising for scholarships at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a women’s dormitory at the University of Chicago. Subsequent owners and uses are unknown. Acquired by Columbia in 1980 as the school’s Theater Center, it currently houses a renovated 400-seat theater, classrooms, and space for film and photography studios.
The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago is one of the region's leading education centers offering programs to encourage the development of professionals in dance
, and is also one of Chicago's leading presenters of world-class dance companies.
Presenting companies have included:
Merce Cunningham Dance Company,
Lucky Plush Productions,
Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan,
Koosil-ja/danceKUMIKO,
JUMP RHYTHM Jazz Project,
Troika Ranch
,
Wayne McGregor Random Dance, and
Hedwig Dances.
1306 S. Michigan Avenue, the Dance Center Building, was built in 1930 by architect Anker S. Graven. This sleek four-story Art Deco building, clad in limestone
, was erected as the Paramount Publix Corporation as a film exchange, a venue for the presentation of films to the independent cinema operators throughout the Midwest
who could rent them for exhibition at their theaters. The studio occupied the building up to about 1950, when it was taken over by the Equitable Life Assurance Company
. In the 1970s it was known as the Seafarers International Union Building. The City of Chicago
took possession of it in a tax sale in 1984, and used it for the Health Department’s Environmental Health Clinic. The building was acquired by Columbia College in 1999 for use as the school’s Dance Center. After extensive interior renovation and adaptation, the Dance Center opened its state-of-the-art educational and public performance facilities in the fall of 2000.
Prior to the relocation to Michigan Avenue, the Dance Center was located at 3750 North Sheridan Avenue in a former movie theater. The first floor housed the department office, lobby, dressing rooms, and the "main space", the primary dance studio. The second floor, accessed via a metal staircase in the back of the main space, held the ballet studio, the T'Chi room and music recording rooms.
program which recently moved onto the premises of Raleigh Studios in Hollywood, California. The program offers highly intensive coursework for television, arts, entertainment and media management, and film majors.
(88.1 FM) is the college's radio station. These outlets are run by students for class credit in their respective departments. However, students working at The Chronicle and Frequency TV can get paid for their work. The newspaper has won numerous awards, the most recent in 2009-2010 as Best Weekly College Newspaper in the state, midwest and nation.
Broadcast journalism students produce two television news shows that are broadcast each week on Frequency TV: Newsbeat and Metro Minutes. The student-produced Out on a Limb comedy television show has been nominated for a local Emmy Award
. Radio students work on WCRX producing live mixes by local DJs, their own imaging, PSA
s, and carrying select sport games. In 1998-1999, WCRX produced and broadcast Entertainment Primetime Weekly, a show that is produced in newsradio style. It has also broadcast the Emmy Awards.
Journalism Department student in the Magazine Workshop class produce a magazine each semester called Echo.
AEMMP Records is the student-run record label. The staff develops an artist, produces an album, and markets the product throughout the course of an academic year.
Other Columbia College Chicago publications include: Hair Trigger, Columbia Poetry Review, South Loop Review, Center for Black Music Research Journal, DEMO, and@LAS
student group. Other notable organizations are the Latino Alliance and Black Student Union, two of the oldest student groups on campus. These student organizations work together to provide leadership training and experience to Columbia students so they will be ready to take on leadership roles in their future places of employment.
The Senate consists of student representatives from each of the colleges academic departments, eight senators "at-large" who represent the college community as a whole, two senators who represent the college's vast commuter population, one senators from the Student Organization Council, one senator from the Student Athletics Association, and two senators from the Residence Hall Association.
From those Senators there are six committees, each with a different focus. Each committee has a chair and a vice chair. The Executive Vice President is in charge of overseeing the committees and their work.
SGA Senate meetings are open to the public and are held on Tuesdays at 5pm during the academic year.
magazine listed Columbia College Chicago as #600 in their list of America's Best Colleges. In 2009, Columbia College Chicago was ranked #252.
In 2010, Gamepro
listed Columbia College Chicago in their list of 6 Game Design Schools to Watch.
In 2010, Columbia Journalism students won an Emmy Award
in the Student News Feature category for the piece "Youth Programs Aim to Combat Chicago Violence"
In 2011, YouTube
chose Columbia College Chicago and the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts to launch the first YouTube Creator Institute programs.
Campus media
Other
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
with nearly 12,000 students pursuing degrees within 120 undergraduate and graduate programs. Founded in 1890, the school is located in the South Loop of Chicago.
It is organized into three schools:
- The School of Fine and Performing Arts is composed of nine departments: Art & Design; Arts, Entertainment & Media ManagementArts, Entertainment & Media ManagementArts, Entertainment & Media Management is an academic department in the School of Fine & Peforming Arts at Columbia College Chicago.It offers comprehensive preparation for managerial and entrepreneurial careers in music promotion and distribution, live entertainment and the performing arts,...
; Dance; Dance Movement Therapy & Counseling; Fiction Writing; Music; Photography; Sherwood Conservatory; and Theater.
- The School of Liberal Arts and Sciences is composed of six departments: ASL-English Interpretation; Education Department; English Department; Humanities, History and Social Sciences; First Year Seminar; and Science and Mathematics.
- The School of Media Arts is composed of eight departments: Audio Arts & Acoustics; Film & Video; Interactive Arts & Media; Interdisciplinary artsInterdisciplinary artsInterdisciplinary Arts is an academic department in the School of Media Arts at Columbia College Chicago. As one of the earliest interdisciplinary arts programs in the United States, it has been an incubator for new approaches towards art making that has shaped the development of arts professionals...
; Journalism; Marketing Communication; Radio; and Television.
It also is home to many research centers as well as to the Garment Collection and the Center for Book and Paper Arts. It is also home to one of the very few, but very popular undergraduate program in cultural studies.
Columbia College Chicago is not affiliated with Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
, Columbia College Hollywood
Columbia College Hollywood
Columbia College Hollywood is a film school located in Tarzana, California, USA. It is approved by the State of California to offer degrees, and is an associate institutional member of the National Association of Schools of Art and Design...
, or any other Columbia College in the United States.
History
Columbia College Chicago was founded in 1890 as the Columbia School of Oratory by Mary A. Blood and Ida Morey Riley, both graduates of the Monroe Conservatory of Oratory (now Emerson CollegeEmerson College
Emerson College is a private coeducational university located in Boston, Massachusetts. Founded in 1880 by Charles Wesley Emerson as a "school of oratory," Emerson is "the only comprehensive college or university in America dedicated exclusively to communication and the arts in a liberal arts...
), in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, Massachusetts
Massachusetts
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...
. Mary Blood became the College’s first president, serving in this capacity until her death in 1927. The women established a co-educational school that “should stand for high ideals, for the teaching of expression by methods truly educational, for the gospel of good cheer, and for the building of sterling good character” in the Stevens’ Art Gallery Building, 24 E. Adams Street.
After the death of Ida Riley in 1901, the school changed its name to the Columbia College of Expression in 1905, adding coursework in teaching to the curriculum. In 1928, the college was associated with the Pestalozzi-Froebel Teachers College, a family-run school centered on training its students for teaching kindergarten. By 1934, Columbia College curriculum also focused on the growing field of radio broadcasting.
In 1944, the College left its partnership with the Pestalozzi-Froebel school and changed its name to Columbia College with Norman Alexandroff as its president. During the late 1940s and early 1950s, the College broadened its educational base to include television, journalism, marketing, and other mass communication
Mass communication
Mass communication is the term used to describe the academic study of the various means by which individuals and entities relay information through mass media to large segments of the population at the same time...
areas. Prosperity was short lived, however, and by 1961, Columbia held fewer than 200 students and a part-time faculty of 25.
In 1961, Mirron (Mike) Alexandroff, son of Norman Alexandroff, who worked at the school since 1947, became president, and created a liberal arts college with a “hands-on minds-on” approach to arts and media education with a progressive social agenda. He established a generous-admissions policy so that qualified high school graduates could attend college courses taught by some of the most influential and creative professionals in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. For the next thirty years, Alexandroff worked to build Columbia College into an urban institution that helped to change the face of higher education.
With this renewed focus on building its academic program, the institution was awarded full accreditation in 1974 from the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
The North Central Association of Colleges and Schools , also known as the North Central Association, is a membership organization, consisting of colleges, universities, and schools in 19 U.S. states, that is engaged in educational accreditation...
and in 1984, received accreditation for its graduate programs. In 1975, when Columbia’s enrollment exceeded 2,000, the College purchased its first real estate, the 175000 square feet (16,258 m²) building at 600 S. Michigan, (currently the Alexandroff Campus Center). At the time of Alexandroff's retirement in 1992, Columbia College served 6,791 students and owned or rented more than 643000 square feet (59,736.7 m²) of instructional, performance and administrative space.
From 1992 until 2000, John B. Duff
John B. Duff
John Bernard Duff is an American historian born in South Orange, New Jersey on July 1, 1931 to John Bernard Duff, Sr. and Mary Cunningham Duff. He is the oldest of four brothers, including Thomas, Joseph and Peter Duff...
, former commissioner of the Chicago Public Library
Chicago Public Library
The Chicago Public Library is the public library system that serves the City of Chicago in Illinois. It consists of 79 branches, including a central library, two regional libraries, and branches distributed throughout the city....
and former chancellor of the Massachusetts Board of Regents of Higher Education, served as the College's president. During his tenure, Columbia College changed its name to Columbia College Chicago and the school continued to expand its educational programs and add to its physical campus by purchasing available buildings in the South Loop. This played a significant part in Columbia’s presence in the South Loop and downtown Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. Today, Columbia’s campus occupies almost two dozen buildings and utilizes over 2.5 million square feet.
In 2000, Dr. Warrick L. Carter became president of Columbia College Chicago. An educator, jazz composer and performing artist, Dr. Carter joined Columbia from The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company is the largest media conglomerate in the world in terms of revenue. Founded on October 16, 1923, by Walt and Roy Disney as the Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio, Walt Disney Productions established itself as a leader in the American animation industry before diversifying into...
, where he spent four years as director of entertainment arts. Previously, he spent 12 years at Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music
Berklee College of Music, located in Boston, Massachusetts, is the largest independent college of contemporary music in the world. Known primarily as a school for jazz, rock and popular music, it also offers college-level courses in a wide range of contemporary and historic styles, including hip...
in Boston
Boston
Boston is the capital of and largest city in Massachusetts, and is one of the oldest cities in the United States. The largest city in New England, Boston is regarded as the unofficial "Capital of New England" for its economic and cultural impact on the entire New England region. The city proper had...
, one of the world’s largest independent schools of music, where he served as dean of faculty and then provost/vice president of academic affairs.
Through 2010, under his leadership, the College has created new student-based initiatives such as Manifest, the annual urban arts festival celebrating Columbia’s graduating students and ShopColumbia, a store where students can showcase and sell their work on campus; partnered with local universities to construct the University Center; purchased new campus buildings; added new curricula; and oversaw Columbia's first newly constructed building, the Media Production Center.
Today, Columbia continues its mission of providing a strong arts and media education and has a growing program of international exchanges, including associations with Dublin Institute of Technology
Dublin Institute of Technology
Dublin Institute of Technology was established officially in 1992 under the but had been previously set up in 1978 on an ad-hoc basis. The institution can trace its origins back to 1887 with the establishment of various technical institutions in Dublin, Ireland...
and the University of East London
University of East London
The University of East London is a university located in the London Borough of Newham, East London, England, based at two campuses in Stratford and Docklands areas...
. Through the vast diversity of students and graduates, the school brings a rich vision and a multiplicity of voices to American culture, encouraging students to “author the culture of their times”.
Locations
Chicago Loop
The Loop or Chicago Loop is one of 77 officially designated Chicago community areas located in the City of Chicago, Illinois. It is the historic commercial center of downtown Chicago...
of Chicago. Columbia's campus is composed of many buildings that were built in the early parts of the 20th century and were bought by the school as it expanded. Most buildings contain more than one academic department.
Alexandroff Campus Center
Located at 600 S. Michigan Avenue, Columbia College's Main Building was built in 1906-1907 by Christian A. Eckstorm, an architect popular for his industrial and warehouse designs, to serve as the headquarters of the International HarvesterInternational Harvester
International Harvester Company was a United States agricultural machinery, construction equipment, vehicle, commercial truck, and household and commercial products manufacturer. In 1902, J.P...
Company. 600 S. Michigan was a modern skyscraper of its era, built with a steel skeleton, high-speed elevator
Elevator
An elevator is a type of vertical transport equipment that efficiently moves people or goods between floors of a building, vessel or other structures...
s, electric light, the most advanced mechanical systems available and a floor plan designed to maximize natural light for all of its interior office spaces.The 15-story brick
Brick
A brick is a block of ceramic material used in masonry construction, usually laid using various kinds of mortar. It has been regarded as one of the longest lasting and strongest building materials used throughout history.-History:...
-clad
Cladding (construction)
Cladding is the application of one material over another to provide a skin or layer intended to control the infiltration of weather elements, or for aesthetic purposes....
building with classical stone
Dimension stone
Dimension stone is natural stone or rock that has been selected and fabricated to specific sizes or shapes. Color, texture and pattern, and surface finish of the stone are also normal requirements...
detailing has an Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
lobby that retains much of its original marble. In 1937 the building was purchased by the Fairbanks-Morse
Fairbanks-Morse
Fairbanks Morse and Company was a manufacturing company in the late 19th and early 20th century. Originally a weighing scale manufacturer, it later diversified into pumps, engines, windmills, locomotives and industrial supplies until it was merged in 1958...
Company, makers of railroad locomotives, farm equipment and hydraulic systems. It was acquired by Columbia College in 1975. In its early years as the home of Columbia, it was adaptively reused to house classrooms, the library, darkrooms
Darkroom
A darkroom is a room that can be made completely dark to allow the processing of light sensitive photographic materials, including photographic film and photographic paper. Darkrooms have been created and used since the inception of photography in the early 19th century...
, studios, and an auditorium
Auditorium
An auditorium is a room built to enable an audience to hear and watch performances at venues such as theatres. For movie theaters, the number of auditoriums is expressed as the number of screens.- Etymology :...
. When the campus expanded through the acquisition of other buildings, especially after 1990, some of these functions, such as the greatly expanded library, were moved to other locations, and the spaces were again adapted for new uses. The building continues to serve as the administrative center of the College, and houses the Museum of Contemporary Photography
Museum of Contemporary Photography
The Museum of Contemporary Photography was founded in 1984 by Columbia College Chicago. It is well known for an active program and curating which discovers many emerging and mid-career artists...
on its first two floors, along with the 180-seat Ferguson Memorial Theater, photography darkrooms
Darkroom
A darkroom is a room that can be made completely dark to allow the processing of light sensitive photographic materials, including photographic film and photographic paper. Darkrooms have been created and used since the inception of photography in the early 19th century...
, three professional television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
studios, film/video editing facilities, and classrooms.
Congress Campus
The 33 East Congress Building was built in 1925-26 by noted Chicago architect Alfred S. AlschulerAlfred S. Alschuler
Alfred S. Alschuler was one of Chicago's most prolific and versatile architects during the height of the city's architectural boom. His designs included warehouses, department stores, industrial buildings, synagogues, and offices...
, who designed the 1927 Chicago Mercantile Exchange
Chicago Mercantile Exchange
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange is an American financial and commodity derivative exchange based in Chicago. The CME was founded in 1898 as the Chicago Butter and Egg Board. Originally, the exchange was a non-profit organization...
. The seven-story brick and terra cotta “Congress-Wabash Building” was commissioned by Ferdinand W. Peck, Jr., a real estate developer, and initially housed a bank
Bank
A bank is a financial institution that serves as a financial intermediary. The term "bank" may refer to one of several related types of entities:...
, offices, and recreation rooms that included dozens of pool tables. A national billiards championship was held here in 1938. By the 1940s, the building was known by the name of its major tenant, the Congress Bank. In the 1980s it became the home of MacCormac College
MacCormac College
MacCormac College is a private non for profit two year college in Chicago, Illinois, USA.-References:*...
. Columbia leased space in the building starting in 1997 and purchased the structure in 1999. It currently houses administrative offices, classroom space and the college’s radio station (WCRX 88.1 FM). The building is home to Columbia's American Sign Language
American Sign Language
American Sign Language, or ASL, for a time also called Ameslan, is the dominant sign language of Deaf Americans, including deaf communities in the United States, in the English-speaking parts of Canada, and in some regions of Mexico...
-English Interpretation, Audio Arts and Acoustics, Journalism and Radio departments.
Wabash Campus Building
623 S. Wabash Avenue was built in 1895, designed by Solon S. Beman, architect of the industrial town of PullmanPullman, Chicago
Pullman, one of Chicago's 77 community areas, is a neighborhood located on the city's South Side. Twelve miles from the Chicago Loop, Pullman is situated adjacent Lake Calumet....
, one of the nineteenth century’s largest, most complex, and globally famous planned industrial communities for the Pullman Palace Car Company. The ten-story 623 S. Wabash building was originally built for the Studebaker
Studebaker
Studebaker Corporation was a United States wagon and automobile manufacturer based in South Bend, Indiana. Founded in 1852 and incorporated in 1868 under the name of the Studebaker Brothers Manufacturing Company, the company was originally a producer of wagons for farmers, miners, and the...
Brothers Carriage Company of South Bend, Indiana
South Bend, Indiana
The city of South Bend is the county seat of St. Joseph County, Indiana, United States, on the St. Joseph River near its southernmost bend, from which it derives its name. As of the 2010 Census, the city had a total of 101,168 residents; its Metropolitan Statistical Area had a population of 316,663...
as its Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
regional office and warehouse facility. It was later owned by the Brunswick Corporation
Brunswick Corporation
The Brunswick Corporation , formerly known as the Brunswick-Balke-Collender Company, is a United States-based corporation that has been involved in manufacturing a wide variety of products since 1845. Brunswick's global headquarters is in the northern Chicago suburb of Lake Forest, Illinois...
, makers of wood furnishings and built-in furniture
Furniture
Furniture is the mass noun for the movable objects intended to support various human activities such as seating and sleeping in beds, to hold objects at a convenient height for work using horizontal surfaces above the ground, or to store things...
for libraries, universities and a variety of public commercial and governmental facilities. By the late 19th century Brunswick became specialists in designing such entertainment furnishings as bars, billiards
Billiards
Cue sports , also known as billiard sports, are a wide variety of games of skill generally played with a cue stick which is used to strike billiard balls, moving them around a cloth-covered billiards table bounded by rubber .Historically, the umbrella term was billiards...
tables, and bowling
Bowling
Bowling Bowling Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule Bowling (1375–1425; late Middle English bowle, variant of boule...
alleys for drinking establishments nationwide. Subsequent owners are unknown. The building was acquired by Columbia in 1983 and now houses classrooms, academic offices, a computerized newsroom, sciences laboratories, art studios and two public gallery spaces. The building is also home to Anchor Graphics and ShopColumbia, a retail venue that sells the work of Columbia studentsand alumni artists, musicians, filmmakers etc. exclusively.
South Michigan Campus
624 S. Michigan Avenue was built by Christian A. Eckstorm in 1908 as an eight story building to house the Chicago Musical CollegeChicago Musical College
Chicago Musical College is a division of Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt UniversityIt was founded in 1867, less than four decades after the city of Chicago was incorporated...
, a concern headed by Florenz Ziegfeld Sr., father of Ziegfeld Follies
Ziegfeld Follies
The Ziegfeld Follies were a series of elaborate theatrical productions on Broadway in New York City from 1907 through 1931. They became a radio program in 1932 and 1936 as The Ziegfeld Follies of the Air....
producer Florenz Ziegfeld
Florenz Ziegfeld
Florenz Ziegfeld, Jr. , , was an American Broadway impresario, notable for his series of theatrical revues, the Ziegfeld Follies , inspired by the Folies Bergère of Paris. He also produced the musical Show Boat...
, Jr. A seven-story addition was designed and built in 1922 by Alfred Alschuler. The building was renamed the Blum Building and housed the studios of a dance school and boutique women’s clothiers. Tenants in the building in the 1920s included Augustus Eugene Bournique’s dancing schools and two select women’s clothiers, Stanley Korshak’s Blackstone Shop and Blum’s Vogue. Brick clad with classical detailing, this 15-story building retains its period marble
Marble
Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite.Geologists use the term "marble" to refer to metamorphosed limestone; however stonemasons use the term more broadly to encompass unmetamorphosed limestone.Marble is commonly used for...
and brass
Brass
Brass is an alloy of copper and zinc; the proportions of zinc and copper can be varied to create a range of brasses with varying properties.In comparison, bronze is principally an alloy of copper and tin...
lobby. Columbia College acquired the building in 1990 and it now houses the College's five-story library, classrooms, departmental offices, student and faculty lounges and the College’s bookstore
1104 Wabash Campus
1104 S. Wabash Avenue, built in 1891, is on the City of Chicago Landmarks (1996) and is listed on the National Register of Historic PlacesNational Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
(1980). Built by William LeBaron Jenney, acknowledged as the inventor of the skyscraper
Skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...
for his fire-proofed metal skeleton-frame designs, the Ludington Building
Ludington Building
The Ludington Building is the earliest-surviving, steel-frame building in Chicago, Illinois. It is located in the Chicago Loop community area. It was designed by William Le Baron Jenney and was named a Chicago Landmark on June 10, 1996. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on...
represents his continuing experimentation as the first entirely terra cotta
Terra cotta
Terracotta, Terra cotta or Terra-cotta is a clay-based unglazed ceramic, although the term can also be applied to glazed ceramics where the fired body is porous and red in color...
-clad skyscraper
Skyscraper
A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...
. The Ludington Building
Ludington Building
The Ludington Building is the earliest-surviving, steel-frame building in Chicago, Illinois. It is located in the Chicago Loop community area. It was designed by William Le Baron Jenney and was named a Chicago Landmark on June 10, 1996. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on...
is also a rare survivor, one of only two extant loft
Loft
A loft can be an upper story or attic in a building, directly under the roof. Alternatively, a loft apartment refers to large adaptable open space, often converted for residential use from some other use, often light industrial...
buildings in Chicago built by Jenney.
This eight-story, steel-frame building, boasting one of the finest examples of a terra-cotta clad façade, was commissioned by Mary Ludington Barnes for the American Book Company (1890), which was owned by her husband, Charles Barnes. At the time, Chicago was a national center for the publishing
Publishing
Publishing is the process of production and dissemination of literature or information—the activity of making information available to the general public...
industry, as demonstrated by this building and many others, particularly those on “Printers Row,” and including the former Lakeside Press Building owned by Columbia College. The American Book Company built the building to house its offices, printing presses, packaging and shipping operations. Its frame was built to withstand the weight and vibrations of the presses, which were originally located on the 4th through 6th floors, and to accommodate the anticipated 8 story addition that was never built. Its status as a manufacturing facility determined its form as a loft building, with a practical and efficient interior that had few elegant original elements. Its location, between the Grand Central Station (Chicago)
Grand Central Station (Chicago)
Grand Central Station was a passenger railroad terminal in downtown Chicago, Illinois, from 1890 to 1969. It was located at 201 W. Harrison Street in the south-western part of the Chicago Loop, the block bounded by Harrison Street, Wells Street, Polk Street and the Chicago River...
at Harrison and Wells Streets and the Illinois Central Railroad
Illinois Central Railroad
The Illinois Central Railroad , sometimes called the Main Line of Mid-America, is a railroad in the central United States, with its primary routes connecting Chicago, Illinois with New Orleans, Louisiana and Birmingham, Alabama. A line also connected Chicago with Sioux City, Iowa...
station at Michigan Avenue and Roosevelt Road, made it ideal for the distribution of the company’s products.
The Ludington Building
Ludington Building
The Ludington Building is the earliest-surviving, steel-frame building in Chicago, Illinois. It is located in the Chicago Loop community area. It was designed by William Le Baron Jenney and was named a Chicago Landmark on June 10, 1996. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places on...
was owned by descendents of its original owners until 1960, although it was occupied by many different tenants, including the Pepsodent
Pepsodent
Pepsodent is a brand of toothpaste with a minty flavour derived from Sassafras. The brand is owned by Unilever, but in 2003 the rights to the brand in the United States and Canada were bought by Church and Dwight....
toothpaste company in the 1910s and ‘20s. In 1960 it was sold to Warshawsky and Company
JC Whitney
JC Whitney began its life in 1915 as The Warshawsky Company, a scrap metal yard on the South Side of Chicago. The company's founder was a Lithuanian immigrant named Israel Warshawsky. Throughout World War I, Israel bought failed auto manufacturers and added new parts to his inventory. The Warshawky...
, an autoparts firm, for use as a storage facility. Columbia College Chicago purchased the building from Warshawsky in 1999. The Ludington currently houses the school’s Center for Book and Paper Arts, a portion of the Film and Video Department, the Glass Curtain Gallery and the Conaway Multicultural Center.
Music Department
1014-16 S. Michigan Avenue was built in 1912 by Christian A. Eckstorm A red brick 4-story building with terra cotta detailing, this structure was erected by a developer as a speculative commercial building. During its first 30 years, it housed offices for a shingle distributor, a lumber company and an electrical parts manufacturer. In 1941, the building was rehabilitated for the Sherwood Conservatory of Music, founded in 1895 by William H. SherwoodWilliam Sherwood
William Sherwood was an English ecclesiastic. He was Bishop of Meath, and later Chancellor of Ireland.-Life:He obtained the see by papal provision in April, 1460. Of his earlier life nothing is known....
, a piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
virtuoso, teacher and composer.The school’s most famous alumna may be the comedienne Phyllis Diller
Phyllis Diller
Phyllis Diller is an American actress and comedian. She created a stage persona of a wild-haired, eccentrically dressed housewife who makes jokes about a husband named "Fang" while pretending to smoke from a long cigarette holder...
, who was a piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
student at the Sherwood School in the 1930s but did not graduate. The building was acquired by Columbia College Chicago in 1997 and now houses the school’s Music department. The artistic, cultural and performance education tradition of this building, as it was adaptively reused since the 1940s, is continued today in the programs of the the Music Center of Columbia College.
Getz Theater
72 E. 11th Street was built in 1929 by Holabird & Root, architects of notable ChicagoChicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
skyscrapers such as the Chicago Board of Trade
Chicago Board of Trade
The Chicago Board of Trade , established in 1848, is the world's oldest futures and options exchange. More than 50 different options and futures contracts are traded by over 3,600 CBOT members through open outcry and eTrading. Volumes at the exchange in 2003 were a record breaking 454 million...
, the Palmolive Building
Palmolive Building
The Palmolive Building, formerly the Playboy Building, is a 37-story Art Deco building at 919 N. Michigan Avenue in Chicago. Built by Holabird & Root, it was completed in 1929 and was home to Colgate-Palmolive-Peet....
and the 333 N. Michigan Avenue Building. 72 East 11th Street, a six- story, limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
-clad Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
building, was originally owned by the Chicago Women’s Club and housed the organization’s meeting rooms, offices and a theater. Rich in history, it was the site for rallies in support of women’s voting rights, efforts on behalf of compulsory education laws and fund raising for scholarships at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and a women’s dormitory at the University of Chicago. Subsequent owners and uses are unknown. Acquired by Columbia in 1980 as the school’s Theater Center, it currently houses a renovated 400-seat theater, classrooms, and space for film and photography studios.
The Dance Center
Dance
Dance is an art form that generally refers to movement of the body, usually rhythmic and to music, used as a form of expression, social interaction or presented in a spiritual or performance setting....
, and is also one of Chicago's leading presenters of world-class dance companies.
Presenting companies have included:
Merce Cunningham Dance Company,
Lucky Plush Productions,
Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan,
Koosil-ja/danceKUMIKO,
JUMP RHYTHM Jazz Project,
Troika Ranch
Troika Ranch
Troika Ranch is a New York City based performance group that integrates dance, theater, and interactive multimedia in their live performances. The company is the collaborative vision of artists Mark Coniglio and Dawn Stoppiello...
,
Wayne McGregor Random Dance, and
Hedwig Dances.
1306 S. Michigan Avenue, the Dance Center Building, was built in 1930 by architect Anker S. Graven. This sleek four-story Art Deco building, clad in limestone
Limestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
, was erected as the Paramount Publix Corporation as a film exchange, a venue for the presentation of films to the independent cinema operators throughout the Midwest
Midwestern United States
The Midwestern United States is one of the four U.S. geographic regions defined by the United States Census Bureau, providing an official definition of the American Midwest....
who could rent them for exhibition at their theaters. The studio occupied the building up to about 1950, when it was taken over by the Equitable Life Assurance Company
AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company
AXA Equitable Life Insurance Company, formerly The Equitable Life Assurance Society of the United States, also known as The Equitable, was founded by Henry Baldwin Hyde in 1859. In 1991, AXA, a French insurance company, acquired majority control of The Equitable...
. In the 1970s it was known as the Seafarers International Union Building. The City of Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
took possession of it in a tax sale in 1984, and used it for the Health Department’s Environmental Health Clinic. The building was acquired by Columbia College in 1999 for use as the school’s Dance Center. After extensive interior renovation and adaptation, the Dance Center opened its state-of-the-art educational and public performance facilities in the fall of 2000.
Prior to the relocation to Michigan Avenue, the Dance Center was located at 3750 North Sheridan Avenue in a former movie theater. The first floor housed the department office, lobby, dressing rooms, and the "main space", the primary dance studio. The second floor, accessed via a metal staircase in the back of the main space, held the ballet studio, the T'Chi room and music recording rooms.
Los Angeles operations
Since 1999 Columbia College Chicago has operated the Semester in Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
program which recently moved onto the premises of Raleigh Studios in Hollywood, California. The program offers highly intensive coursework for television, arts, entertainment and media management, and film majors.
Campus media
The Columbia Chronicle is the college's award-winning weekly newspaper. Frequency TV is the college's television station. WCRXWCRX
WCRX is a radio station based in Chicago, Illinois. Located at 33 East Congress in Chicago Columbia College Chicago owns the station's FCC license and facilities. The station is completely run by Columbia College Chicago students and is operated by the school's radio department.-About WCRX:WCRX...
(88.1 FM) is the college's radio station. These outlets are run by students for class credit in their respective departments. However, students working at The Chronicle and Frequency TV can get paid for their work. The newspaper has won numerous awards, the most recent in 2009-2010 as Best Weekly College Newspaper in the state, midwest and nation.
Broadcast journalism students produce two television news shows that are broadcast each week on Frequency TV: Newsbeat and Metro Minutes. The student-produced Out on a Limb comedy television show has been nominated for a local Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
. Radio students work on WCRX producing live mixes by local DJs, their own imaging, PSA
PSA
PSA may refer to:* PSA International , world's second largest port operator* PSA Peugeot Citroën, French vehicle manufacturer...
s, and carrying select sport games. In 1998-1999, WCRX produced and broadcast Entertainment Primetime Weekly, a show that is produced in newsradio style. It has also broadcast the Emmy Awards.
Journalism Department student in the Magazine Workshop class produce a magazine each semester called Echo.
AEMMP Records is the student-run record label. The staff develops an artist, produces an album, and markets the product throughout the course of an academic year.
Other Columbia College Chicago publications include: Hair Trigger, Columbia Poetry Review, South Loop Review, Center for Black Music Research Journal, DEMO, and@LAS
ShopColumbia
ShopColumbia is Columbia College Chicago's student art store that features a curated collection of Columbia student and alumni talent. Offerings include everything from photography, paintings and sculpture to 'zines, calendars and journals to tees, belts and totes, to jewelry, buttons and faux tattoos.Student organizations
In addition to the academic programs offered at the college, students engage in many extracurricular activities. There are several major organizations on campus in addition to countless other growing organizations. All of these organizations are run by students. They include the Producer's Guild of Columbia (PGC), the Student Government Association, the Student Organization Council, the Student Alumni Association, the Student Athletics Association (Renegades), Columbia Urban Music Association, ReachOut, Senior Class, the Student Programming Board, the Asian Student Organization, the International Student Organization, the Columbia College Association of Black Journalists (CCABJ), Hispanic Journalists of Columbia (HJC) and Common Ground, the on-campus LGBTLGBT
LGBT is an initialism that collectively refers to "lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender" people. In use since the 1990s, the term "LGBT" is an adaptation of the initialism "LGB", which itself started replacing the phrase "gay community" beginning in the mid-to-late 1980s, which many within the...
student group. Other notable organizations are the Latino Alliance and Black Student Union, two of the oldest student groups on campus. These student organizations work together to provide leadership training and experience to Columbia students so they will be ready to take on leadership roles in their future places of employment.
Student Government Association
The Student Government Association (SGA) consists of an Executive Board, the Senate, and committees. The Executive Board, or E-Board, consists of the President, Executive Vice President, Vice President of Communications, Vice President of Finance, and the student representative to the College Board of Trustees.The Senate consists of student representatives from each of the colleges academic departments, eight senators "at-large" who represent the college community as a whole, two senators who represent the college's vast commuter population, one senators from the Student Organization Council, one senator from the Student Athletics Association, and two senators from the Residence Hall Association.
From those Senators there are six committees, each with a different focus. Each committee has a chair and a vice chair. The Executive Vice President is in charge of overseeing the committees and their work.
SGA Senate meetings are open to the public and are held on Tuesdays at 5pm during the academic year.
Reception, reputation, awards and criticism
In 2010 ForbesForbes
Forbes is an American publishing and media company. Its flagship publication, the Forbes magazine, is published biweekly. Its primary competitors in the national business magazine category are Fortune, which is also published biweekly, and Business Week...
magazine listed Columbia College Chicago as #600 in their list of America's Best Colleges. In 2009, Columbia College Chicago was ranked #252.
In 2010, Gamepro
GamePro
GamePro Media was a United States gaming media company publishing online and print content on the video game industry, video game hardware, and video game software developed for a video game console , a computer, and/or a mobile device . GamePro Media properties include GamePro magazine and...
listed Columbia College Chicago in their list of 6 Game Design Schools to Watch.
In 2010, Columbia Journalism students won an Emmy Award
Emmy Award
An Emmy Award, often referred to simply as the Emmy, is a television production award, similar in nature to the Peabody Awards but more focused on entertainment, and is considered the television equivalent to the Academy Awards and the Grammy Awards .A majority of Emmys are presented in various...
in the Student News Feature category for the piece "Youth Programs Aim to Combat Chicago Violence"
In 2011, YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
chose Columbia College Chicago and the University of Southern California School of Cinematic Arts to launch the first YouTube Creator Institute programs.
External links
- Official website
- College Archives
- Columbia College Chicago Timeline
- President Biographies
- Oral Histories
- Honorary Degree Recipients
Campus media
Other
- ShopColumbia Student art store
- DEMO Magazine building history article
- Historic Building Histories
- Columbia College Renegades - Fitness, Intramural and Club Athletics
- The Dance Center