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An award-winning Chicago Architecture Center tour explores ������’s role in preserving architecture and shaping the South Loop.

Long before the South Loop became the thriving cultural district it is today, Columbia was investing in the neighborhood’s future. 

Beginning with the purchase of 600 S. Michigan Ave. in 1974, the college established roots in a neighborhood still recovering from the decline of the printing industry and rail traffic. Rather than building a traditional campus from the ground up, Columbia preserved and adapted architecturally significant buildings, transforming them into classrooms, theaters, studios, and public spaces while helping shape the cultural identity of the South Loop. 

That legacy is now the subject of an award-winning public tour. 

The Chicago Architecture Center’s  tour recently earned the Myra Gary Award for Outstanding Tour Development, recognizing the experience for its exploration of historic preservation, adaptive reuse, and Columbia’s long-term impact on the neighborhood. 

Originally developed as a public experience centered on Columbia’s Student Center, the project later expanded into a broader examination of the college’s distributed urban campus and its role in preserving historic architecture and shaping the neighborhood. 

Today, the 90-minute walking tour spans nine sites, tracing Columbia’s footprint across the neighborhood and highlighting how the college transformed historic buildings into spaces for learning, performance, creativity, and community engagement. 

The tour explores buildings designed by some of Chicago’s most influential architects, including William LeBaron Jenney, Holabird and Root, Christian Eckstorm, and William Carbys Zimmerman. 

Stops include 624 S. Michigan Ave., originally home to the Chicago Musical College and now housing Columbia classrooms and library spaces; the Ludington Building, one of Chicago’s earliest steel-frame buildings and current home to the School of Film and Television and the Center for Book and Paper Arts; and the Getz Theatre Center, former headquarters of the Chicago Woman’s Club transformed into a professional-quality performance complex hosting dozens of productions annually. 

“Rather than tearing these structures down, Columbia preserved them, pouring money into renovations that kept architecturally significant buildings alive and in active use,” says Lori Nelson, one of the volunteer docents who helped develop the tour. 

The tour also explores Columbia’s impact beyond its buildings. 

At stops including The Garden and the Wabash Arts Corridor, visitors learn how the college helped transform public space through murals, installations, and artist collaborations. Launched by Columbia in 2013, the Wabash Arts Corridor turned Wabash Avenue into what the Chicago Loop Alliance describes as “a living urban canvas,” featuring work by students, alumni, and internationally recognized artists. 

The Student Center represents another chapter in Columbia’s investment in the South Loop. 

Opened in 2019, the building was shaped through input from more than 200 students and designed to bring campus life into the public realm through transparent gathering spaces and connections to the surrounding streetscape. Rather than turning inward, the building reflects Columbia’s longstanding philosophy of embedding itself within the neighborhood. 

“������ uses the historic character of the South Loop and its existing buildings as a foundation for future innovation,” says Dave Broz, assistant professor in the School of Design. “By adapting former industrial and commercial spaces into creative environments, the college connects students to the legacy of the city while encouraging new ideas, experimentation, and cultural production. This approach preserves the authenticity of the neighborhood while continually reimagining how these spaces can serve future generations.” 

The volunteer docents who developed the tour note that Columbia’s distributed urban campus created an opportunity to tell a story different from that of a traditional university setting. 

Unlike campuses built around a central quad, Columbia’s footprint extends across the South Loop, allowing the tour to explore not only architecture, but also adaptive reuse, neighborhood investment, public art, and the ways creativity intersects with urban development. 

According to Nelson, TripAdvisor reviews have highlighted the experience for offering a new perspective on both the South Loop and Columbia’s role in preserving the area’s architectural heritage. 

One visitor wrote that the tour created “an appreciation of the way Columbia College has aided historic preservation.” 

“Columbia is an anchor institution in the truest sense,” says Nelson. “Its preservation of historic architecture, support for public art, cultural programming, and long-term investment in the South Loop have helped shape the neighborhood into what it is today.” 

• Design

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