The University of Chicago acquired a mansion at 5725 S. Woodlawn Avenue for $3.4 million on October 31. The property is located adjacent to the Hillel Center and near the Institute of Politics.
In recent years, the University has built up a significant commercial real estate portfolio throughout Hyde Park and Woodlawn, backing and acquiring hotel and development projects ranging from the Woodlawn Jewel-Osco to the Harper Theater. This acquisition comes on the heels of the University’s recent purchase of the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago and McCormick Theological Seminary campuses.
According to TRD Real Estate News, the first occupants of the property, which was built in 1900, were Cora Howland, daughter of former Chicago Mayor John Roche, and her husband, George Howland, one of the University’s first teaching professors. Later, in the 1970s, the home was owned by Antonin Scalia, who taught at the law school before his appointment to the Supreme Court.
The University’s $3.4 million payment for the mansion is significantly above the property’s $1.07 million tax valuation by the Cook County Assessor. The mansion is located on a stretch of Woodlawn Avenue where many historic properties have been converted into University facilities.
In a written statement to The Maroon, the University did not specify how exactly it plans to use the building.
“The University owns and maintains multiple properties in that vicinity for University offices and programs, including the nearby Institute of Politics, the Department of Comparative Human Development, and the Neubauer Collegium for Culture and Society. The future use of the building at 5725 S. Woodlawn will likewise be… in support of the University’s educational mission.”
JT / Feb 10, 2024 at 2:30 pm
why can’t the next right wing devout Catholic with lots of kids Law School professor buy it for his family? Why does everything on that block have to be institutional?
Jack Spicer / Jan 12, 2024 at 12:20 pm
The University now owns 12 historic properties on the 5700 block of Woodlawn Avenue, the “Gateway to Hyde Park”. The previous 11 are governed by an agreement with the City’s Landmark Commission that prevents their demolition or tasteless facade remodeling. This agreement is known as Planned Development 43 and it serves the long-term best interests of the University and the community. I trust that the UofC will fold its newly bought house at 5725 Woodlawn into PD43.
Joe / Jan 11, 2024 at 8:21 pm
Tax Valuation are never the appraised value of a property. The writer should look it up before quoting such silliness
Jacob Myrene / Jan 10, 2024 at 5:01 pm
With useless purchases like this, is it any wonder we are going bankrupt?
Bob Michaelson / Jan 10, 2024 at 12:39 pm
The building was designed by Rapp & Rapp (brothers Cornelius and George Rapp), who were best known for designing “movie palaces” in Chicago and elsewhere – the most prominent surviving of their movie palaces is the Neo-Baroque 1921 Chicago Theatre at 175 North State Street, which was renovated in 1986, placed on the National Registry of Historic Places in 1979, and listed as a Chicago Landmark in 1983. Other prominent Rapp & Rapp movie palaces in Chicago include the Riviera; the huge Uptown (4,381 seats!), sadly closed and vacant since 1981; the Oriental (now called the Nederlander); the Central Park Theatre on West Roosevelt Rd (converted to a church in 1971), added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2005; and the demolished Tivoli (which was at 63rd and Cottage Grove).
I hope, though, that no traces of the disgusting Scalia remain in the Woodlawn house.