The Council of Independent Colleges: Historic Campus Architecture Project

Dillingham Center

Click on image titles for larger views.

Dillingham Center (general view, from the east), Ithaca College

Dillingham Center (view from the south), Ithaca College

Dillingham Center (view from the west), Ithaca College

Institution Name: Ithaca College
Original/Historic Place Name: Dillingham Center
Location on Campus:
Date(s) of Construction and Designer(s):

1969	original construction Tallman & Tallman

Type of Place: Individual building
Style(s): (Glossary)
Materials:

Foundation: concrete

Walls: concrete

Roof: rubber

Function:

ca. 1969-present (2007)	theater
ca. 1969-present (2007)	classrooms
ca. 1969-present (2007)	academic department building (theater arts, philosophy, and previously communications)

Significance: culture, education
Landmark designation:

none

Narrative: see below
References: see below

Narrative:
The building has not changed significantly in form or function since its completion in 1969. It has remained central to the mission of the College as an arts institution of prominence. The College's main theaters, the Clark and the Hoerner, have served as a setting for student productions of high quality and as a showcase for talented individuals who have gone on to significant careers in the arts.

The facility is named for Howard Dillingham (fourth president of the college), who with his wife Dorothy was a moving force behind the creation of the South Hill campus and who also championed the cause of modern architecture. President Dillingham believed that the modernist aesthetic was essential for the presentation of the College as a contemporary and forward-looking institution. Dillingham Center was part of the original conception of the new campus, which was established in the 1960s and described in Time magazine as "the miracle on the hill." (The South Hill campus replaced a collection of adapted, but scattered, structures in downtown Ithaca that had been in use for slightly over a half century.)

References:

I. Bibliographic sources:

Harcourt, John B. The Ithaca College Story. Ithaca, NY: Ithaca College, 1983.

Hodne, Scott. The History of Ithaca College. Ithaca, NY: Ithaca College, 1991.

Sasaki Associates Inc. Ithaca College Master Plan Report. [Watertown, MA: Sasaki Associates Inc.], 2002.

II. Location of other data:

University: Library, Special Collections, Facilities Management Office