Columbia has a nontraditional campus located in the
South Loop and
Near South Side of
Chicago. The college owns sixteen academic, gallery/performance, administrative, and student residential buildings, and leases additional office and student residential space in four buildings. Most of the campus is contained in an area bounded by Ida B. Wells Drive, State Street, Roosevelt Road, and Michigan Avenue. Many of Columbia's buildings were built in the early 20th century and were acquired by the school as it expanded. The college also operates an intensive five-week Semester in Los Angeles program on the premises of
Raleigh Studios in Hollywood, California, for upper-level (80+ credit hours completed, 3.0 GPA) Cinema Art & Science, Television, Communication and Media Innovation, Music, and Business & Entrepreneurship students.
Alexandroff Campus Center Located at 600 S. Michigan Avenue, Columbia College's Main Building was built in 1906–07 by Christian A. Eckstorm, an architect popular for his industrial and warehouse designs, to serve as the headquarters of the
International Harvester Company. 600 S. Michigan was a modern skyscraper of its era, built with a steel skeleton, high-speed
elevators, 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. 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.
33 East Ida B Wells Drive The 33 East Ida B Wells Drive (formerly 33 East Congress) Building was built in 1925–26 by noted Chicago architect
Alfred S. Alschuler, 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 & Acoustics, Journalism and Radio departments.
623 South Wabash Avenue 623 South Wabash Avenue was built in 1895, designed by
Solon S. Beman, architect of the industrial town of
Pullman, one of the 19th century's largest, most complex, and globally famous planned industrial communities for the
Pullman Palace Car Company. The ten-story 623 South 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 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 students and alumni artists, musicians, filmmakers etc. exclusively.
624 South Michigan Avenue 624 South Michigan Avenue was built by Christian A. Eckstorm
1104 South Wabash Avenue 1104 South Wabash Avenue, built in 1891, is on the City of
Chicago Landmarks (1996) and is listed on the
National Register of Historic Places (1980). Built by
William LeBaron Jenney, acknowledged as the inventor of the
skyscraper for his fire-proofed metal skeleton-frame designs, the
Ludington Building, as it was historically known, represents his continuing experimentation as the first entirely
terra cotta-clad
skyscraper. The structure is also a rare survivor, being 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
Chicago's 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 fourth through sixth floors, and to accommodate the anticipated eight-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
Baltimore and Ohio Railroad's
Grand Central Station at Harrison and Wells Streets and the
Illinois Central Railroad's
Central Station at Michigan Avenue and Roosevelt Road, made it ideal for the distribution of the company's products. The
Ludington Building was owned by descendants of its original owners until 1960, although it was occupied by many different tenants, including the
Pepsodent toothpaste company in the 1910s and 1920s. In 1960, it was sold to
Warshawsky and Company, an autoparts firm, for use as a storage facility. The college purchased the building from Warshawsky in 1999. The Ludington currently houses the school's
Center for Book and Paper Arts, the Glass Curtain Gallery and the Conaway Multicultural Center. The majority of the building is used for offices, classrooms and studios of the Department of Cinema and Television Arts. The college's 260-seat state of the art Film Row Cinema theater is located on the 8th floor.
Music Department 1014–16 South Michigan Avenue was built in 1912 by Christian A. Eckstorm 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 4730 North Sheridan Road in a former movie theater in the
Uptown neighborhood of Chicago. 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.
Media Production Center Located at 1600 South State Street, the Media Production Center (MPC) was completed in 2010 and was the college's first new-construction building in its history. Designed by
Studio Gang Architects, the 35,500-square-foot facility serves students in the Cinema and Television Arts and Interactive Arts & Media programs. It contains two film production soundstages, a motion-capture studio, digital labs, animating suites, a fabrication shop, and classrooms. It received a 2010 Citation of Merit in the Distinguished Building category from the Chicago chapter of the American Institute of Architects. It has also received LEED Gold certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. == Environmental record ==