The John Evans Alumni Center

The John Evans Alumni Center serves as the home for the Northwestern Alumni Association, constituent organizations and alumni visiting Northwestern.

Meetings, lectures, receptions and dozens of other events occur frequently on the Center's first floor, designed to accommodate programs in a comfortable and attractive atmosphere.

The second and third floors house the offices of the Northwestern Alumni Association.

The original house was built in 1880 by L.D. Norton on land believed to be part of the original property purchased for the University by Dr. John Evans. It was purchased in 1900 by Newell C. Knight. After being vacant for a time early in the 1900s, it was purchased by Rufus C. Dawes, brother of a former Vice President of the United States, Charles G. Dawes.

Rufus Dawes remodeled the original high Victorian structure in the Tudor style, a design idiom extremely popular in the first decade of the 20th century. The prominent turret on the east elevation was an adaptation of the original Victorian cone-shaped turret to the Tudor style.

The front entrance originally opened onto a porch facing Sheridan Road. During the renovation, Dawes moved the front door from Sheridan to Clark Street, and rebuilt the porch as a sunroom. Nonetheless, the building's official address remains Sheridan Road, and not Clark Street–a sometimes confusing situation for new visitors.

Northwestern University acquired the property in 1943, and opened a student religious center. In 1958 it officially became the John Evans Alumni Center, the home of the Northwestern Alumni Association.

Dr. John Evans, for whom the Center and the city of Evanston are named, was one of the nine founders of Northwestern. He lived here from 1855 - 1862 in a home within 100 feet of site of the Center. In 1862, he moved to Denver to serve as the first Territorial Governor of Colorado.

A marble bust of Dr. Evans, displayed in the center's living room, was presented to the University in 1893.

Many of the center's furnishings have been donated by dedicated alumni, including a set of commemorative plates displayed in the dining room. Created in 1932, they are part of a limited edition of plates presenting Northwestern's campuses as they appeared at the time, during the presidency of Walter Dill Scott.