Milton Friedman Institute will be housed in seminary buildings

Photo by Peter Kiar

The Chicago Theological Seminary’s main buildings will serve as a new home for the Milton Friedman Institute. This location will enable the newly proposed institute to be centrally located between the University’s Main Quadrangles and the Charles M. Harper Center of the Graduate School of Business.

The University’s purchase of the Chicago Theological Seminary’s main building (5757 S. University Ave.) and McGiffert Hall (5751 S. Woodlawn Ave.) will enable the newly proposed Milton Friedman Institute to be centrally located between the University’s Main Quadrangles and the Charles M. Harper Center of the Graduate School of Business, further fostering collaboration in economic scholarship.

As part of the $44 million purchase agreement, the University will construct a new home for the seminary at the southeast corner of Dorchester Avenue and 60th Street. Chicago architect Dirk Danker will design the new seminary, which will provide facilities for current programming and accommodate future expansion.

For more than 45 years, the Seminary Co-op Bookstore (http://chronicle.uchicago.edu/011004/bookstore.shtml) has been a tremendous campus and community asset, and University officials say there are no immediate plans to relocate the bookstore.

“Going forward, any exterior renovations will fully take into account the historical significance of the main Seminary building. And the Seminary Co-op Bookstore plays an essential and very distinctive role in the life of both the campus and the community,” said David Greene, Vice President for Strategic Initiatives. “As a more detailed program for the building emerges in the coming years, we will work with bookstore management and the bookstore board to ensure the bookstore remains central to campus and community life, whether in the current building or in an alternative central location.”

The main building will house the Milton Friedman Institute, and plans for renovating the interior, including Hilton Chapel, will be part of an overall architectural assessment. Possible uses for McGiffert Hall are in the early stages of discussion.