The John Evans Center
The John Evans Center (map) serves as a home on the Evanston campus for constituent organizations and alumni visiting Northwestern.
The second and third floors house the offices of select Alumni Relations and Development staff.
The main administrative offices of the NAA are located at 1201 Davis Street in Evanston.
History
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, one of the nine founders of Northwestern. A marble bust of Evans, currently displayed in the center’s living room, was presented to the University in 1893.
Newell C. Knight purchased the house in 1900. After being vacant for a time early in the 1900s, the house was purchased by Rufus C. Dawes, brother of 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 side of the house was an adaptation of the original Victorian cone-shaped turret to the Tudor style. Dawes moved the front entrance, originally opening to a porch facing Sheridan Road, to Clark Street and rebuilt the porch as a sunroom. Nonetheless, the building’s official address remains 1800 Sheridan Road. Northwestern University acquired the property in 1943 and opened a student religious center. In 1958 it officially became a center for alumni.