University of Chicago

University of Chicago Review

Higher education dominates the physical and cultural landscape of Hyde Park and South Kenwood. Much of the original campus was designed by Henry Ives Cobb. Its Gothic-style quadrangles were meant to mimic Oxford and Cambridge. Especially of note are the International House and the Rockefeller Memorial Chapel with its 72-bell carillon, where regular concerts are performed. A departure from this architecture is the very modern-looking Booth School of Business. Its horizontal accents imitate the Frank Lloyd Wright Robie House (1910), located directly across the street. The university's Oriental Institute and the Smart Museum of Art are certainly worth a visit, as is the university-run Court Theatre which stages new and classic works. And a piece of trivia: The faculty, former faculty, and alumni of the University of Chicago have won 85 Nobel prizes, the most of any school in the country. Prizes have been awarded in every field; the most recent is President Barack Obama's Nobel Peace Prize in 2009. A self-guided tour of University of Chicago architecture, A Walking Guide to the Campus, is available for purchase in the University of Chicago Bookstore and will help visitors navigate the campus.