Northwestern's original Evanston, Illinois campus, located just north of Chicago on the shores of Lake Michigan, can be traced to 1851, one year after the institution's founding. The campus still hosts the majority of Northwestern's undergraduate programs, as well as several of its graduate and professional schools. Unlike many prestigious universities of the time, whose campuses were iteratively master-planned, buildings on the Evanston Campus range heavily in both architectural style and date, due in part to the university's historically fluctuating finances. The earliest buildings are of Victorian, Gothic-adjacent, Neoclassical, and Renaissance-Revival styles. Numerous buildings on the Evanston campus constructed from the early to mid-twentieth century, including lecture halls, student residences, and the university's flagship library, were commissioned in the Collegiate Gothic style by notable American campus architect James Gamble Rogers. In the postwar period, numerous brutalist projects were undertaken, including an expansion of the main library by Walter Netsch. Many of these buildings are located on the Northwestern University Lakefill, a 1964 landfill extension of Northwestern's campus into Lake Michigan. As the university's first and primary campus, Evanston has seen major development in the past decade, including the construction of major new projects for its Music, Business, and Athletic programs designed by leading architecture firms.
The oldest standing building on campus, which currently houses the English Department. University Hall was designed by architect Gurdon P. Randall in the Victorian Gothic style and is composed of Joliet limestone transported to Evanston by rail and barge via Lake Michigan.[1] The interior was renovated in 1992 and it is now home to the American Studies and Science in Human Culture Programs (SHC).
Designed by Charles Coolidge in the neoclassical style with a series of ionic columns flanking the entrance, and adorned with the names of various social science fields. Today Harris Hall houses the History Department's classrooms and administration.
Annie May Swift Hall
1895
1920 Campus Drive
Designed by Evanston architect Charles R. Ayers in a mixture of Venetian GothicRevival and Romanesque styles with an ornate use of nonstructural decorative masonry. It was named for Annie May Swift, a Northwestern student and the daughter of notable Chicago meatpacking mogul Gustavus F. Swift, who donated the building in her honor following her death of typhoid. The building originally housed the School of Oratory, now the School of Communication's departments of Performance Studies and Radio/Television/Film.
Designed by William Augustus Otis in the Italian Renaissance style. Originally housing Northwestern's Main academic library before the opening of Deering, the building still contains a mathematics library. Lunt houses the Mathematical Experience for Northwestern Undergraduates Program (MENU), and the Department of Mathematics.
Home to the Robert R. McCormick School of Engineering and Applied Science and the science departments of the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences (Chemistry, Earth and Planetary Sciences, Physics and Astronomy). The Holabird & Root designed building was one of the largest buildings in the United States upon its completion. Construction of the building became possible after Walter Patton Murphy, a wealthy inventor of railroad equipment, donated $6.735 million in 1939. Murphy wanted the institute to offer a new kind of “cooperative education.” Various wings have been added to the Tech Institute since its inception, including the Center for Catalysis and Surface Science.
Kresge Hall
1955
1880 Campus Drive
A multipurpose academic building housing various academic departments, including the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures, Department of Art History, Department of Classics, and the Alice Kaplan Institute for the Humanities. Built in the 1950s with reserved gothic details, Kresge is the newest building in the oldest Evanston Campus quad surrounding The Rock.
Crowe Hall
2003
1860 Campus Drive
A later wing adjoining Kresge Hall, this building houses the African American Studies Department, Comparative Literary Studies Program, French and Italian Department, Latina and Latino Studies Program, Religious Studies Department, Spanish and Portuguese Department, and Crown Family Center for Jewish Studies.
Designed by George Maher in the early 20th-century, with various later art deco additions. Swift Hall is home to Northwestern's Program in Brain, Behavior, and Cognition (BBC), Cognitive Science Program, and the Department of Psychology.
A contemporary five-story, 415,000-square-foot facility with unobstructed views of Lake Michigan and a large curved glass facade. The flagship building of the Kellogg School of Management; designed by firm KPMB Architects with a layout "designed to encourage collaboration" among students of the prestigious graduate business program.[3]
Housed the Kellogg School of Management until its administration moved to the new Kellogg Global Hub. Currently unused. The 1973-built Jacobs Center sat on the recently vacated site of Northwestern's first building, Old College (designed by John M. Van Osdel), which was heavily damaged by lighting before its demolition after standing for 118 years. As of 2024, the Jacobs Center is undergoing a renovation converting it for use by the Weinberg College of Arts and Sciences, with the aim to create "a collaborative space to address pressing societal issues."[4]
Houses various academic classrooms. Prior to 2010, Locy Hall was home to the Department of Earth and Planetary Science (previously Geological Sciences).
Designed by James Gamble Rogers in the Collegiate Gothic style, at the top of Deering Meadow. The library's exterior is modeled after King's College Chapel at Cambridge University and features 68 unique stained glass windows by G. Owen Bonawit; many of which picture the shields of other universities or various academic disclipines. Houses the Northwestern University Archives, the Music Library, and the Art Collection and the Special Collections Department, with indoor connections to the larger University Library complex. The building's exterior underwent major renovation and restoration in 2013.[8] As of 2024, the interior of Deering Library is closed for a refurbishment expected to conclude in September 2025.[9]
Northwestern's third and most contemporary library building, dedicated to science and engineering. A major renovation of the building was completed in 1999. The library was expanded again in 2017,[10] a project which included such amenities as "collaboration rooms" and showers in renovated study areas.
Houses the Block Museum of Art, an art gallery run by the university. Re-opened in 2000 after a renovation designed by Dirk Lohan.[12]
Cahn Auditorium
1940
600 Emerson Street
1000-seat auditorium designed by James Gamble Rogers; equipped with an orchestra pit and suitable for musical theatre productions, operas, concerts, speeches, convocation ceremonies and other large-scale events.[13]
Music Administration Building
1874
711 Elgin Road
A 19th-century building, designed by Gurdon P. Randall, originally serving as the headquarters of the WillardWomen's College before its eventual merger with Northwestern. It then housed the School of Music for over 70 years, seeing little modification.[14] The building was vacated in 2015 following the opening of the new Ryan Center for the Musical Arts and is currently unused.
Designed by Walter Netsch of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. It is home to a 200-seat master-class lecture hall, musical practice facilities, and teaching studios.
Contemporary building comprising a theater, a green room, a dressing room, classroom and meeting spaces, and rehearsal studios. Home to the Department of Theatre and Dance's MFA in Acting program.[17][18]
John J. Louis Hall
1991
1877 Campus Drive
A Lakefill structure housing multimedia spaces and classrooms for the Department of Radio/Television/Film and the WNUR-FM radio station.[19]
Marjorie Ward Marshall Dance Center
1983
10 Arts Circle Drive
A modern, $1,000,000 performance venue donated by filmmaker Garry Marshall in honor of his mother, Marjorie Ward Marshall.[20][21]
Small, nondescript one-story building constructed and opened in 1943 as classrooms for the Navy College Training Program. It remained a classroom building for the military until the end of World War II in 1945, and has served as a venue for student-directed theatrical productions and dance performances since.
Music Practice Hall
1915
1823 Sherman Avenue
Original School of Music practice hall Nicknamed "The Beehive." The building was the first use of a soundproof door in a music venue.[14]
Brentano Hall
[?]
1818 Hinman Avenue
Converted residential property that now houses a music academy for surrounding communities.
Designed by Cobb and Frost in the Richardsonian Romanesque style and home to the Dearborn 18 and 1/2 inch refractor, which was once the largest telescope in the United States. The building was moved in 1939 to make room for the Technological Institute, an effort which took 26 men three months.[22][23] The observatory is still used by the Department of Physics and Astronomy.
Midcentury brutalist building housing the offices and laboratories of the Program in Biological Sciences, Center for Reproductive Science, Institute for Neuroscience, Neurobiology and Physiology, Interdisciplinary Biological Sciences Graduate Program (IBiS), Neurobiology and Physiology, Plant Biology and Conservation Program (PBC), Argonne Institute of Science and Engineering (NAISE), and Center for Water Research.
Designed by architects Zimmer, Gunsul, and Frasca. An 84,000-square-foot building for the Center for Nanofabrication and Molecular Self-Assembly.
Center for Catalysis and Surface Science
1984
2137 Tech Drive
Houses the Center for Intelligent Processing of Composites (IPC) laboratories.[26]
Cook Hall
1992
2220 Campus Drive
A facility named Cook Hall, in 2001, for William A. "Bill" Cook and his wife Gayle. Home to Molecular Biosciences, the Keck Biophysics Facility, and the departments of Materials Science and Engineering, and Neurobiology and Physiology.
The Garage
2015
2311 N Campus Drive
A cross-disciplinary site within a parking garage for students to develop start-up companies.[27]
Pancoe-NSUHS Life Sciences Pavilion
2003
2200 Campus Drive
A 88,000 sq ft (8,200 m2) research building that includes research laboratories, faculty offices, a vivarium, auditorium and cafe.[28]
Richard and Barbara Silverman Hall for Molecular Therapeutics and Diagnostics
Modern facility housing the Chemistry of Life Processes Institute, Center for Molecular Innovation and Drug Discovery, and Physical Science-Oncology Center (PSOC).
Designed in the gothic revival style with a 6-story central tower; houses the offices and classrooms of Garrett Evangelical Theological Seminary, a private seminary and graduate school of theology on Northwestern's campus.
The newest of the strictly gothic revival constructions on Northwestern's campus, home to a 100-rank Aeolian-Skinner organ, stained-glass windows, and a 151-foot (46 m) spire. The interior of Alice Millar Chapel is connected to the classrooms of Parkes Hall.
A modernized version of an existing building, now housing Northwestern Hillel, a national campus Jewish student organization. The project was delayed until the end of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but has since been completed.
Lutheran Center
[?]
2204 Orrington Ave
A converted residential property containing Northwestern's Lutheran Center.
Home of Northwestern Football, formerly named Dyche Stadium. Originally designed by James Gamble Rogers in a signature collegiate gothic style. The original structure's demolition has begun as of January 2024. This will make way for an unprecedentedly modern college football stadium. The new stadium was opposed by many neighborhood residents for noise and traffic concerns but was approved by Evanston City Council in November 2023.[34] The university is moving forward on completely redeveloping the original structure and surrounding athletics campus and states it aims to "address the deficiencies of the current stadium," aiming to improve efficiency while simultaneously reducing its overall capacity.
Northwestern University's home for men's basketball, women's basketball, women's volleyball, and wrestling. The 7,039-seat multi-purpose arena arena underwent a 110-million dollar renovation in 2018, and is now "believed to be the most ADA accessible anywhere in college athletics."[1]
Original fitness center, which once housed multipurpose courts and weight room but is now a state-of-the-art golf practice center. The collegiate gothic structure, a 1940 successor to the previous, architecturally-notable Prairie School Patten Gymnasium (which sat on land now occupied by the Technological Institute), maintains the original statues placed at its entrance: sculptures titled "Physical Development" and "Intellectual Development" (nicknamed "Pat and Jim") by artist Hermon Atkins MacNeil.[36]
Walter Athletics Center
2018
2255 Campus Drive
A massive, 420,000-square-foot indoor, cantilevered football practice field designed by Perkins&Will.[37] Includes floor to ceiling glass walls overlooking Lake Michigan. The $270 million facility also includes a strength and conditioning center, with meeting rooms and a technologically assisted sport performance center.
Henry Crown Sports Pavilion and Norris Aquatic Center
1987
2311 Campus Drive
"SPAC," the largest fitness and recreation center open to non-athlete Northwestern students. Contains courts for basketball, volleyball, and racquet sports, and a sizable swimming and diving pool. Also includes the adjacent indoor Combe Tennis Center, physical therapy, and other treatment facilities.
Blomquist Recreation Center
1963
617 Foster Street
Smaller facility with exercise equipment and multipurpose courts for use by undergraduate students at the South of Northwestern's campus.
Trienens Hall
1996
2707 Ashland Avenue
A fieldhouse with three practice courts, adjacent to Welsh-Ryan Arena. A renovation was completed in 2018 to modernize the facility, which included a name change to "Trienens Performance Center."[38]
Anderson Hall
2005
2701 Ashland Avenue
Modern building in the vicinity of Ryan Field, designed by architects Nagle, Hartray, Danker, McKay, and Penney. Houses athletic offices and academic advising for student athletes.[39]
Northwestern's student union building named for named for Lester J. Norris, an alumnus of Northwestern University who died in 1967. Norris University Center is a hub for many student-run activities and amenities and also houses various dining options. Designed in the brutalist style by Edward D. Dart as one of the earliest buildings to be constructed on the university's Lakefill Campus.
A contemporary, state-of-the-art, glass and stone visitors center. The structure, which overlooks Lake Michigan from the southernmost point of Northwestern University's lakefront property, was designed by architecture firm Perkins&Will. Segal is named for alumni Gordon and Carole Segal, and features a large parking ramp on its upper levels with space for over 400 cars.[44]
Rebecca Crown Center
1968
633 Clark Street
Houses various administrative offices as well as the main offices of The Graduate School. The structure comprises a raised courtyard, clocktower, and various office wings with a unique facade clad in protruding rectangular panels. Designed by Walter Netsch of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill.[45]
Central Utility Plant
1964
2026 Campus Drive
The main utility plant of the Evanston campus, where water is cooled and heated until it becomes high-pressured steam that can be piped throughout campus for heating its buildings. In 2009 the Central Utility Plant's chilled water facility was expanded approximately 100 feet to the south to accommodate two new 5000 ton chillers.[46][47]
Originally a High Victorian Gothic manor designed by L.D. Norton on the university's original property administered Dr. John Evans, one of the nine founders of Northwestern (a bust of Evans is currently displayed in the center's living room). In the early-1900s, the house was purchased by Rufus Dawes and remodeled into the Tudor style, with the turret shape being reconfigured and entrance moved from Sheridan Road to Clark Street. The property, fronting Evanston's Centennial Park, was acquired by Northwestern University in 1943 and now houses its main alumni relations center.[48]
Originally constructed for the Roycemore School, an Evanston-based K-12 preparatory school, before its relocation to a larger facility in 2012. The series of adjoined buildings were designed by architect Lawrence Buck and the firm of Talmadge & Watson in the Arts and Crafts style with Prairie School influence. They were purchased by Northwestern and are zoned for the university's intended use of the buildings as dormitories or expanded classroom space, however plans to utilize the property were heavily opposed by nearby residents, citing noise complaints. The now vacant structure is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
Houses the Black House, the Black Student Union (BLU) of Northwestern University, an organization originally created in the fall of 1968 as part of the institution's agreement with students to end the Bursar's Office takeover in April of that year. The house is one of multiple formerly private residences along Sheridan Road purchased by the university during its expansion. It designed in the Queen Anne style, includes programming rooms, a prayer space, and computer lab available to students, and was renovated to be fully ADA-compliant.[49]
Houses Northwestern's Multicultural Center, established in 1999 as the result of advocacy from an increasingly diverse student body. One of multiple formerly private residences along Sheridan Road purchased by the university during its expansion. The house itself is designed in a rare symmetrical Victorian style, and contains various murals and student artworks, private social and study rooms, a prayer space, and a computer lab available to students.[49]
The Women's Center is a social justice, feminist, and educational outreach organization created in 1986 to promote gender equity and inclusion at Northwestern to serve the needs of women and LGBT+ people on the Evanston campus. One of multiple formerly private residences along Sheridan Road purchased by the university during its expansion. The two-story house is designed in the Tudor Revival style and houses the center's offices as well as areas for education and social events in its casual environment.
Searle Hall Student Health Services Center
1962
633 Emerson Street
A modernist building originally constructed as the Student Health Facility and Infirmary, currently houses Student Health Services (NUHS) as well as portions of the Counseling and Psychological Services (CAPS) and sexual health resources available to Northwestern students. Renovated in 2010 with additional procedure rooms and a modified layout.[50]
1810-12 Chicago Avenue, department of anthropology, department of sociology
1815 Chicago Avenue
405 Church Street, College Preparation Program
515 Clark Street
555 Clark Street, Cook Family Writing Program, Mathematical Methods in the Social Sciences Program, Center for the Writing Arts, various student financial offices
619 Clark Street, various financial offices
625 Colfax Street
629 Colfax Street, Office of Global Safety and Security
617 Dartmouth Place, Center for Talent Development
627 Dartmouth Place, Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching
630 Dartmouth Place, International Office
1201 Davis Street, various alumni and development offices, University Police
619 Emerson Street, Holocaust Educational Foundation, Office of Undergraduate Studies and Advising
633 Emerson Street, Student Health Services
618 Garrett Place, Master of Science in Education (MSEd)
1603 Orrington Ave, Office of Compliance, Audit and Advisory Service
2020 Ridge Avenue, various administrative offices
1902 Sheridan Road, Equality Development and Globalization Studies (EDGS), Roberta Buffett Institute for Global Studies, Center for International and Comparative Studies, Center for Technology Innovation Management
1908 Sheridan Road, Office of Undergraduate Studies and Advising
1914 Sheridan Road, African American Student Affairs
1922 Sheridan Road, Office of Undergraduate Studies and Advising
1936 Sheridan Road, Multicultural Center, Multicultural Student Affairs, University Academic Advisory Center, Asian/Asian American Student Affairs
1940 Sheridan Road, Office of Fellowships & the University Academic Advising Center (UAAC)
2000 Sheridan Road
2006 Sheridan Road, Statistics Department
2010 Sheridan Road, Programs for Asian Studies, International Studies, International and Area Studies, and Latin American and Caribbean Studies, and the Harvey Kapnick Center for Business Institutions
2016 Sheridan Road, Department of Linguistics
2040 Sheridan Road, Institute for Policy Research
2046 Sheridan Road
2122 Sheridan Road, various residential services
1800 Sherman Avenue, Innovation and New Ventures Office (INVO), Art History Department, Gender and Sexuality Studies, Department of German, Global Health Studies Program, Middle East and North African Studies (MENA), Slavic Languages and Literatures (purchased by Northwestern in 2004[52])
720 University Place, Human Resources Department, Payroll
Houses various administrative services for the School of Law. Abbott Hall served as a Naval Reserve Midshipman's School during the World War II era and operated as a student dormitory in a period following 1945.[54] When built at a cost of $1.75 million to house more than 800 residents, the 20-story building was then believed to be the tallest structure in the world used exclusively as a college dormitory.
The smallest of three original James Gamble Rogers buildings constructed for the Northwestern's new Chicago campus in the Collegiate Gothic style. The structure consists of a series of collegiate gothic classrooms surrounding an internal courtyard landscaped with grass, trees, shrubbery and ivy.[55] Houses the Bluhm Legal Clinic, Master of Science in Law Program (MSL), Pritzker Legal Research Center, Registrar.
A three-story, L-shaped gothic building named for Colonel McCormick, a member of Northwestern's Class of 1907 and the famed editor and publisher of the Chicago Tribune. Along with law classrooms, houses the Office of Student Services for the Chicago campus.
Houses the Bluhm Legal Clinic, Office of Admissions, Pritzker Legal Research Center, and Thorne Auditorium. The modernist lakefront tower adjoins James Gamble Rogers's Levy Mayer Hall and sits immediately west of Lake Shore Drive.
A prominent skyscraper and the largest of three buildings designed for the Chicago campus by James Gamble Rogers in the Gothic Revival-style. The Ward Memorial Building, named for the famous national department store enterprise of its namesake Chicago salesman Aaron Montgomery Ward, was the first "academic skyscraper" to ever have been constructed by a university.[59] Alongside other Gamble Rogers buildings at the Chicago campus, the 20-story Ward Building was given Landmark Status by the Chicago City Council in 2014 for its unique style amongst other skyscrapers and relevant historical significance.[60][61] It houses comprehensive medical education facilities and in 2019 opened the Simpson Querrey Biomedical Research Center.[62]
Robert H. Lurie Medical Research Center
2005
303 E. Superior Street
12-story building with research labs and an auditorium.[63] The medical research center is part of a major donation from the Ann and Robert H. Lurie Foundation.
A mid-century modernist tower housing the departments of Nephrology/Hypertension, Pediatrics, Pharmacology, and Neuroscience, the School of Medicine's Interdepartmental Neuroscience Program (NUIN), and its Center for Microbiology-Immunology and academic press. Alongside multiple buildings on Northwestern's Evanston Campus, the Searle Medical Research Building is named for Francis Searle.
A more contemporary Gothic Revival skyscraper with modernist elements adjacent to the Ward Memorial Building. Houses the Feinberg School of Medicine's Medical Scientist Training Program (MSTP) and the Department of Physiology.
Tarry Building
1990
300 E. Superior Street
17-story building with additional research and education space for basic science, clinical research, teaching, and support services.[66]
Buildings of the associated Northwestern Memorial Hospital, Ann & Robert H. Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago, and the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (RIC)*
Listed alphabetically by address. These buildings are not considered parts of Northwestern's academic campus but are associated with the Feinberg School of Medicine and Northwestern Medical System.