Join the club for night of dancing, philanthropic financing

The Quadrangle Club will be the setting of the sixth annual Preservation Ball to raise restoration funds for the 1922 building designed by the noted Chicago architect Howard Van Doren Shaw.

The ball, which will be held Saturday, April 29, will feature dinner and dancing to the music of Malik’s Ultimate Band. Ruth O’Brien (A.B., ’83) and Todd Schwebel (X., ’86) are chairs of the event, which is co-sponsored by the Quadrangle Club and the Howard Van Doren Shaw Society.

Originally established in 1893 at a nearby location, the Quadrangle Club is a dining and social club serving both the University faculty and other members of the Hyde Park community.

The current clubhouse at 1155 E. 57th St. is an important example of Shaw’s work, along with McClintock Court of the Art Institute, Market Square and the Ragdale estate in Lake Forest as well as numerous residences in Hyde Park and on the North Shore.

Recognition of the architectural importance of the building led the Quadrangle Club Board of Directors to undertake a restoration under the U.S. Secretary of Interior’s Standards for Rehabilitation and Guidelines for Rehabilitating Historic Buildings. The Eleven Fifty-five Fund was initiated to ensure that the historic building would continue to be maintained for years into the future.

Since the first Preservation Ball in 2001, proceeds from the annual fundraiser have been used to restore the roof, the card room and the bar on the first floor, to refurbish the library and to restore three guest rooms on the third floor, now known as the Howard Van Doren Shaw Suite, the William Rainey Harper Suite and the Swift Room.

The ultimate goal is to refurbish all 17 of the third-floor sleeping rooms and suites to honor prominent figures in the life and history of the community; naming privileges are available for a $25,000 donation to the restoration effort.

The 2006 Preservation Ball will showcase the most recent improvements, including work in the third-floor hallway to expose skylights that had been covered in a previous renovation.

Bernard and Jean Meltzer, longtime members and supporters of the Quadrangle Club, have been named honorary chairs of the event. Bernard Meltzer (A.B. ’35, J.D. ’37), the Edward H. Levi Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in the Law School, joined the University faculty in 1946 and has regularly frequented the Quadrangle Club ever since.

Jean Sulzberger Meltzer attended the University Laboratory Schools from kindergarten until her graduation in 1941, and served on the Lab Schools’ Board of Trustees from 1984 until her retirement in 2003.

She remains the Laboratory Schools’ longest serving board member. As a veteran of many Quadrangle Club Revels performances of years past, she was a member of the dynamic trio who revived the Revels tradition in 2001, after a long dormant period.

Tickets to the ball start at $150, and underwriting opportunities with associated benefits are available in several price categories. For more information, call (773) 667-2679 or (312) 280-1998.