64 E. Lake Building​

Installed: Aug 2018

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By the 1920’s DePaul had grown enough that the board of trustees, with Rev. Thomas Levan, cm (President), felt a need to seek expansion in the downtown Loop area of Chicago.  The idea was to give higher education access to more people by having day and night classes for working people.  At first in 1920, a building was rented (the Taylor Building at 84 E. Randolph), mainly to test the market in the Loop.  Soon it was seen that the demand for classes was high enough that serious planning had to be made by acquiring for the University its own building, with the University as the only tenant.

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     The 64 E. Lake Building served a great need. Built for DePaul in 1928, it was owned by DePaul Educational Aid Society and rented to the University. The building was sold in the 1960s after DePaul's academic divisions moved into the permanent university-owned quarters of the Frank J. Lewis Center on Jackson and Wabash.  Architects: Vitzhum & Burns.

 

     The building had seventeen floors, and every inch was used and utilized.  Pretty much all of DePaul’s colleges and schools had a presence in the building.  Law, Liberal Arts, Music, Commerce, Business, and Secretarial.  The façade having an ornate presence, the building created for the first time, a two campus University.  

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Inspiration/Background:

 

Historical yearbook photos used on the pillar itself or found in research leading to the creation of the composition in question include students goofing about on the roof, students at the main entrance, studying in the library, and an overall shot of the building.