Chicago’s Top 10 : The University of Chicago

by

With Chicago’s expansion in the late 19th century, a
major university was the perfect addition to an array of new cultural
institutions. Funded by oil magnate John D. Rockefeller, (who deemed it
his best ever investment) the forward-thinking institution opened in
1892. Today, the university is one of the USA’s most respected, boasting
78 Nobel prize winners as students, faculty, or researchers, as well as
several on-campus attractions that are destinations in their own right.

  • 5801 S. Ellis Ave.

  • 1 773 702 1234


  • www.uchicago.edu

  • Metra Station: 55th/56th/57th Sts.; 59th St.

Bond Chapel

  • open 8am–4:45pm daily

  • Free

Smart Museum of Art

  • open 10am–4pm Tue–Fri (to 8pm Thu); 11am–5pm Sat & Sun, Jun–Sep

  • Free

Cobb Hall

  • Renaissance society open 10am–5pm Tue-Fri, noon–5pm Sat & Sun

  • Free

Rockefeller Memorial Chapel

  • open 8am–4pm daily (except during services)

  • Free

Regenstein Library

  • special collections exhibits open to the public 8:30am–4:45pm Mon–Fri, Sat 9am–12.45pm term-time

  • Free




Go for a deep-dish pizza at a Chicago favorite, Girodano’s (

5311 S. Blackstone Ave.

).


Rockefeller memorial chapel’s carillon is played Oct–Jun 6pm Mon–Fri, noon Sun, Jun–Sep, every Sun.


Unless otherwise stated, all attractions have Disabled Access.

Top 10 Features

  1. Oriental Institute

    The institute’s amazing museum 
    has five galleries that showcase the history, art, and archaeology of
    the ancient Near East. Don’t miss the Egyptian Gallery’s towering 17-ft
    (5.2-m) statue of King Tutankhamun.




  2. Bond Chapel

    Built
    in 1926, this small, ivy-covered chapel features exterior stone
    carvings of angels, imps, and Adam and Eve. Inside, stained-glass
    windows illustrate scenes from the New Testament.




  3. Smart Museum of Art

    Magazine
    moguls David and Alfred Smart founded this museum in 1974. It might be
    small, but its contents (ranging from ancient ceramics to 20th-century
    sculpture) pack an impressive punch.

  4. Main Quadrangle

    Rejecting
    post-Civil War modernity, Henry Ives Cobb’s 1891 campus plan mimics
    England’s Gothic Oxford University, with this main unifying quad
    surrounded by smaller ones.

  5. Robie House

    Frank
    Lloyd Wright described his striking low-rise, Prairie-style masterpiece
    as “the cornerstone of modern architecture.” The not-so-humble
    architect built it in 1909 for bicycle manufacturer Frederick C. Robie .




  6. Cobb Gate

    This
    ornate northern entrance to the Main Quad is adorned with gargoyles.
    University lore says they represent students’ four years of college
    life: from struggling freshman at the base to graduation at the apex.


  7. Nuclear Energy

    This 12-ft
    (3.65-m) bulbous bronze sculpture by Henry Moore marks the general area
    where Enrico Fermi and his team of scientists achieved the first
    controlled self-sustaining nuclear chain reaction in 1942.

  8. Rockefeller Memorial Chapel

    The
    tallest building on campus is this mini-cathedral named for university
    patron John D. Rockefeller. It boasts magnificent stained glass, a
    72-bell carillon (the world’s second largest), and a 10,000-pipe organ.




  9. Cobb Hall

    Confusingly,
    the oldest building on campus is not named for its architect, Henry
    Cobb, but for an unrelated donor, Silas Cobb. Built in 1882, the
    beautiful Gothic structure houses classrooms, offices, and the
    Renaissance Society, a contemporary art gallery.

  10. Regenstein Library

    The
    1970-built limestone “Reg,” honors Chicago industrialist Joseph
    Regenstein. Exceptional jazz archives, map collections, and children’s
    books feature among its seven million plus volumes.





Top 10 Alumni

  1. Milton Friedman (1912–2006), economist

  2. James D. Watson, (1928–), scientist

  3. Philip Glass (1937–), composer/musician

  4. Edwin Hubble (1889–1953), astronomer

  5. Susan Sontag (1933–2005), critic/author

  6. Eliot Ness (1903–57), author/law enforcer

  7. John Ashcroft (1942–), US Attorney General

  8. Philip Roth (1933–), author

  9. Carl Sagan (1934–96), astronomer/author

  10. Studs Terkel (1912–), oral historian