@JHS you could say the same about Butler College and Fine Hall at Princeton, arguably Spellmen too.
I really like the Reg, actually.
@kaukauna aw, shucks.
The windows in those older gothic buildings might actually reflect an esthetic of the sort you see in Rockefeller Chapel - that is, a certain proto-modernist plainness (no stained glass, no gew-gaws on the walls) folded in with the gargoyles, spires and European paraphernalia. It was the robber-baron-age going medieval. It was culture coming to Chicago. One would expect a bit of vulgarity to accompany the high thinking. The Cobb windows have to be read iconographically as well as literally. I start to get fonder of them even as I write. I say they reflect something indefinably characteristic about UChicago - something a bit rawboned and awkward and distinguishable from eastern smoothness and effeteness. I’ll bet those windows were real beauts in the eyes of John D. Rockefeller and Henry Ives Cobb.
When I was at the college today, the “reg” reminded me of some sort of future apoplectic fortress where punishment was dolled out profusely, nicely offset by the futuristic enlightenment of the egg. A true ying and yang.
I really like the Reg, actually. But not so much how it looks. That was an unfortunate period in architecture. The Reg is far from the worst example – it may even be one of the best – but it doesn’t meet any standard of “beauty” I know. And Max P. . . . almost unforgivable. It might have been merely tacky but OK if they had stuck it somewhere on the periphery, but right in the heart of the campus?
You’re right about Butler. It’s funny – I have definitely walked past it, but I never paid any attention to it. It wasn’t there when I was your age and visited friends at Princeton. The Venturi/Scott-Brown building looks less heinous than some of the others.
Anyway, how colleges look is not that important, at least to me. When I did my big four-college visit way back when, I thought Yale was the stupidest-looking college by far – like the Epcot Center version of Oxford (if Epcot Center had existed back then). Of course, everything there acquired enormous emotional resonance for me by living there, etc., and I love every foot of it. But subjectively. And Stanford! If I had visited Stanford prior to showing up for my first day of classes, I would never, ever have gone there. I hated the way it looked! (There was no internet back then, and no discount airlines. People – including my sister, who went there – said Stanford was beautiful, and I believed them. I also saw two pictures of a part of the campus I never saw once I was there.) I didn’t think I could stand spending every day there. And of course everything there acquired enormous emotional resonance . . . .
Anyone who doesn’t like Butler should see what was there before - the “New New Quad”, known for its waffle ceilings. I don’t mind Butler, but it looks worse than it is because it’s juxtaposed with the rest of Princeton.
“The windows in those older gothic buildings might actually reflect an esthetic of the sort you see in Rockefeller Chapel - that is, a certain proto-modernist plainness (no stained glass, no gew-gaws on the walls) folded in with the gargoyles, spires and European paraphernalia.”
Actually, they reminded me more of the fine gothic cathedrals of England, devoid of their stained glass because the Puritans had smashed them. A bit of anti-popery amidst the medieval spendor. Perhaps the western version of yin and yang.
Fabulous experience at admitted students events at UChicago. The area is perfectly fine. One should probably avoid going south of the third block of the law school. For undergrads, there is no reason generally to cross the Midway. Campus is gorgeous. There is a palpable sense that UChicago is on a tremendous upward trajectory. Students and staff seem enthusiastic and down to earth. Nondorf said they had the most selective year ever, but mentioned 8 percent – which I think was same as last year. Yield will be up substantially. Test scores highest ever with average SAT of 1499. As was noted by the key note speaker “Maroon is the new Crimson.” 
@JHS You don’t like Reg? I am surprised. When I first arrived at U of C in the 1980’s, I was completely floored by Reg. I thought that was a muscular modern compliment to the Gothic buildings of the Main Quadrangle. To me Reg is the epitome of what a distinguished university library should look like: a solid fortress of concrete with strong line of profile. Reg means business. I can’t say the same for Mansueto (or Divergent Library according to my DD) . I usually like Helmut Jahn’s work but I am not sure how Mansueto really fits in U of C architectural style.
On the other hand, I do agree with you that Max P is an architectural disaster. It looks like there is a circus landed right next to the St. Paul’s Cathedral of learning . Campus North looks like a Shangri-la hotel in Asia but at least it doesn’t have the hideous color of Max P.
I was there Palm Sunday and I agree, so much has changed! And the pedestrian road in front of Saieh Hall (with the Oriental Museum on the other side) kinda exposed the real beauty of that building. Saieh a gem. Best looking building on campus. UChicago should buy more churches and theological seminaries and retrofit them… just saying
The Quad looks more open. And the wider and better paved paths make it more pedestrian friendly. I’m amazed how Harper Reading Room actually looks good now. Its like the food court at Reynolds… It used to be a cluster… Booth leaving Stuart must have allowed the school to actually make those buildings at the far end more livable. I wonder if they improved winter heating and lighting - these old Gothic buildings have horrible climate control systems and have dim ambient lights. (Edit: just saw the youtube video, they narrowed the roads and widened the foot paths, hence a “wider” feeling to the place)
I hate the Reg but glad to see the Mansueto beside it actually kinda makes it more like a juxtaposition in contrast (brutalist vs fluid architecture)
I dont dislike Palevsky… it kinda makes sense when seen as an extension of the look and feel of the commons and the red/brick buildings between 57th and 56th west of Woodlawn plus Saieh Hall. Its just like Booth being a reimagining of the gothic architecture of the Quad (plus a smattering of Robie House)…
The new hospital/med buildings near Ratner actually make Ellis feel less broken… with so much new facilities, I think the Med school would be doing much better soon…
And the core of UChicago looks expanded now from 51st to 63rd and fully span Stony Island to Cottage grove… I think in a couple more years, especially when the Obama Library is open and the UChicago Art Block is done Jackson Park and Washington Park will be considered “part” of the UChicago campus much like Midway Plaisance and Promontory Point are now.
And those restaurants and bars on 53rd…
@Chrchill I don’t know, we walked down to the Cottage Grove stop on the green line to catch the train back to OHare. Didn’t feel uncomfortable at all and the people there will all friendly enough. I don’t know if I would do that at midnight but during the day it was fine.
Midnight you take Uber. Would do the same around Yale, columbia, Hopkins (even day time). Unlike JHU you dont feel you are in an island. North and east are fine.
Oh my gosh Cottage Grove is fine at midnight! As long as the Green Line is running there are a steady stream of people coming and going from the station. If you’re really worried, go in a group, but an uber is totally unnecessary.
Also one of the shuttles goes there.
Wow - that’s ^^ certainly different from 30 years ago! A good reminder that despite the bad press, the south side is a lot safer than it used to be. @HydeSnark, where on campus do you pick up the shuttle?
Just learned about the 192 Express bus. Limited hours of operation (more for afternoon commuters) but it gets you to Union Station or the Transportation Center pretty quickly. Disembarks from UChicago Hospitals. For anyone catching an evening Megabus or Amtrak, this seems like a quick way to get to the West Loop.
@JBStillFlying Pretty much everywhere, lol. It’s the South Shuttle and it does this weird figure 8 loop around the entire campus.
It’s the red route.
A few years ago, they built some [new subsidized housing](Woodlawn 'Getting Better' With Redevelopment of Old Grove Parc Apartments - Woodlawn - Chicago - DNAinfo) to replace the old section 8 housing. Look at streetview of the area [url=<a href=“https://www.google.com/maps/@41.7830255,-87.6059656,3a,75y,74.96h,89.43t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1skW1QFqjExIaWmBQShiWb5w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656%5Dbefore%5B/url”>https://www.google.com/maps/@41.7830255,-87.6059656,3a,75y,74.96h,89.43t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1skW1QFqjExIaWmBQShiWb5w!2e0!7i13312!8i6656]before[/url] and [url=<a href=“https://www.google.com/maps/@41.7830367,-87.6060126,3a,75y,74.96h,89.43t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s4YpNkrS7Sc1MKqoy7ouZ0A!2e0!5s20161001T000000!7i13312!8i6656%5Dafter%5B/url”>https://www.google.com/maps/@41.7830367,-87.6060126,3a,75y,74.96h,89.43t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1s4YpNkrS7Sc1MKqoy7ouZ0A!2e0!5s20161001T000000!7i13312!8i6656]after[/url]. It made a difference.
Thanks @HydeSnark. I’ve noticed stuff like that throughout the south side which is wonderful to see. So you think the green line is safe even at night? Because it goes through some of the high-violent-crime areas of the south side that have noted in the press (of course). But then so does the bus to Midway Airport and I think you’ve said in prior posts that this was pretty safe regardless of time of day. I know that the Orange Line to the Loop is fine and I’m sure that goes through some rough patches. I see posts on other sites where UChicago students (including single females) use the Green Line at night, disembarking at Cottage Grove. Someone said cops were posted on the corners and it’s heavily lit. Very encouraging to know that they have made it safe® for the students.
@JBStillFlying Yeah, definitely. I have never had any problems - heck, I’ve literally never had anyone try to talk to me on the green line besides the occasional person trying to sell untaxed cigarettes. If you are very nervous, sit in the front car, it’s the safest. I think it’s probably safe for everyone to ride by themselves, but it’s really really definitely safe if you are with other peoples.
Race is the elephant in the room no one wants to talk about. Some people are going to feel unsafe when they’re the only white person on the train regardless of actual danger. But the fact is, most of the people on the train are just normal people going around their lives. They’re tired and ready to get home, just like you. Even the guy covered in tattoos talking on the phone about how they just let him out of jail just wants to get wherever he’s going. The media’s coverage of the Black community in Chicago as filled with the brutal semi-human animals ready to jump, rob and murder anyone for any reason is completely false - they’re just normal people stuck in a pretty awful situation, even in the heart of Englewood.
Frankly I think every first year should be required to read Souls of Black Folk or something before coming here.
The big issue I - and my daughter! - would have wouldn’t be race but incidence of crime. The Green was notoriously crime-ridden back in the 80’s so we avoided it. Keep in mind that most students really want to get from point A to point B cheaply - no one avoided the public transportation in my days in HP unless there was a good reason to!
As I mentioned, CTA buses from Hyde Park were considered safe and fast. They also tended to be filled with AA’s (teens as well as grownups) and plenty of white people and Asians. Race not an issue there. The ME also had a fair share of AA riders and white folks and no problem - race not an issue there either. The issue was the crime surrounding the immediate area that the transportation vehicle picked up and dropped off, as well as how thoroughly CTA was monitoring its transportation system for the safety of its riders in ALL locales. They clearly neglected certain areas of the city once upon a time. Happily, that situation seems to have been corrected.
I can’t speak for the 80s, but that really doesn’t sound that different from now.
Many students still avoid the Green Line under the claim that it’s “notoriously crime ridden”. It still picks up and drops off people in areas with relatively high crime rates. There are still complaints that the trains are unsafe and the CTA doesn’t try to monitor crime. From my experience riding the Green Line literally hundreds of times at all hours, I don’t think any of those fears are particularly well-founded in reality. Most people who say that have never ridden it, don’t know and are assuming based on hearsay. Scarily often, “crime” is nothing more than a dog whistle for “Black people”.
Race wasn’t the issue but only the routes that white people rode were safe…? I’m sorry, I don’t really understand your point there.
@HydeSnark - assuming that what I was reading on other sites is actually true: Cottage Grove stop well lit now, cop on every corner, etc. - are you implying that’s the case because people are racist?