University of Chicago - Cap and Gown Yearbook (Chicago, IL)

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m ) 1929 CAP ino couin Q Jones Chemical Lai;ouatory An important buildinii to he started this year is the liernard A. F.ckhart Hall which will house the Department of Mathematics, and part of the work in Physics, and the Department of Astronomy. The building will be erected adjoining Ryerson Physical Laboratory on the east, extending east to University Avenue and turning north to a point fifteen feet south of Mandel Hall. Pro- vision will be made for a passage way into Hutchinson Court from University Avenue just south of Mandel Hall and also a similar passage at the west end of the building from the main quadrangle. The building will be connected by a corridor to Ryerson Physical Laboratory at the basement and the second floor. The building wil l cost over $500,000 and is made possible through the generous gift of B. A. Eckhart, a prominent Chicago lumber man. It will provide for expansion in the research work of three departments in which the University has been declared, by all, to be pre-eminent. The older Ryerson Hall has been the scene of work for three Americans who have won the Nobel Prize in Physics ; Professors A. A. Michelson and A. H. Compton, who are still working in its laboratories, and Professor Millikan, now of the California Institute of Tech- nology. The new Hall will provide facilities for the further encouragement of work of such a sterling quality. Ryerson Phj-sical Laboratory will be reno- vated and the old equipment replaced by new. Plans are still being made for the greatest project that the L niversity has announced in many years, those for the new dormitories. The total cost of the dormitory unit will be $5,000,000. Plans are now completed for a $3,000,000 section. The buildings will be erected on the south side of the Midway on ground already owned by the University. The new dormitories will not only solve the housing problem, but will make it possible to provide for a large portion of the student body those stimulating associations and influences outside of regular classroom life. There will be a recreation center within the building!?. Paiic Turiitynine n

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¥ 1929 CHV f nv GOUJn ( . ■ ' m,— sat itfe 2 «■ 1 iJS? .,- ' 5 ' ■ ' • , V R ' JQj jGiiK -. ' r ECKHAliT LaBOKATIIRV The foundation for the Social Science building has also been laid. This building will house the work of the University ' s important Local Community Research projects. The $575,000 fund for its erection was provided by the Laura Spelman Rockefeller Foundation. The building lies between Harper Library and Foster Hall and will complete the quadrangle on the Midway side. It will be the only building in the nation devoted exclusively to the social sciences. A series of botany greenhouses is near completion on Ingleside Avenue between 56th and 57th Streets. The greenhouses are equipped with the very newest and best apparatus available. Plans have been made for a central laboratory for Botanical research. This together with the greenhouses will e.xceed the cost of $250,000. Across the Midway we are seeing rise daily the new I ' ower Plant which in the near future will provide the University with light and heat. The entire plant including the units to be added later will cost about $1,500,000. It will eventually take the place, entirely, of the old Power House on Ellis Avenue which is gradually wearing out from over-strain. The location of the plant, F.lackstone Avenue and 61 st Street, will save the University exactlv $20,000 which it costs to cart coal through the streets to the L ' niversity. The new plant, with its side-track, will relieve the stress of this burdensome traffic and reduce the fuel cost. The building w be narrow and high and of dark red brick trimmed with Bedford stone. The stacks, which will be partly hidden by the roof, will be 150 ft. high. From the standpoint of operating efficiency it will rank with the largest modern central plants. An important part of the project is the underground tunnel which runs from the plant to the campus. Through the generosity of Bernard E, Sunny, Chairman of the Board of the Illinois Bell Telephone Company and member of the University Citizen ' s Com- mittee, a $400,000 g mnasium for the elementary school and high school divisions of the University is under way on Kenwood Avenue near the Midwav. This was a much needed addition for the old gymnasium had been cnncK ' nined as misafe. Pa(jc T-tventy-cifiht

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M 1929 CHPi riD GOUin ( r Among the many buildings that have been planned and for which donations have been made is the new Oriental Institute which will cost $1,000,000. The University of Chicago is well known for its accomplishments in oriental research. Professor James H. Breasted, the famous Egyptologist, and a professor in the University, has brought much renown to this department. There are, as yet no specific plans for this unit. There will be two children ' s homes erected. One, the Coimtv Home for Convalescent Children will be located near Wheaton, Illinois. This building will cost $1,200,000. The other a home for destitute crippled children for which $300,000 each has been donated by Gertrude Dunn Hicks and Nancy McElwee. The latter one will be built adjoining the present medical group. The medical group has been the recipient of the majority of donations given to the University in the past year. Mr. Albert Lasker and his wife. Flora W. Lasker, established at the University The Lasker Foundation for Medical Research with an initial endowment of $1,000,000 to which $125,000 has since been added. The research will be for studying the nature and prevention of the diseases of degeneration, with its ideal the extension of life for persons fifty years old and over. Mr. Max Epstein has added $225,000 to his previous gift of $250,000. A Chicago business man who prefers to remain anonvmous has given a $250,000 fund to honor Charles Henry Markham, Chairman of the Board of the Illinois Central Railroad. The Julius Rosenwald Fund has given $250,000 conditional upon the raising of a similar amount from other sources, outside the gifts he has already given. It can hardly be believed that the last few years have seen such rapid development of a great medical program. The new Chapel, dominating the University with its great size and beauty, and symbolizing all the ideal values for which the Universitv stands has in its brief period since the dedication taken an important place in the hearts of all lovers of the Universitv.