Overview
The school's main building was designed by the Canadian architect Toussaint Menard in the Second Empire style. It is one of the five extant, public buildings in Chicago that predate the Great Fire of 1871. Its construction was begun in 1869, a fact commemorated on the school’s façade. The main edifice is on the National Register of Historic Places and was designated a Chicago Landmark on March 1987. The 19 acre (77,000 m²) campus is located on Chicago's West Side, adjacent to the campus of the University of Illinois at Chicago.
Features of the campus besides the 1869 building, include the Richard H. Driehaus "1895" Building, the Chicago Walsh-Slattery Center, the James and Genevieve McLaughlin Center and its 380 seat McLaughlin Theatre, with an interior modeled after still-extant, late 19th century Chicago theaters. The Grand Gallery on the fourth floor of the 1869 building features a marble plaque commemorating Saint Ignatius alumni who fought in the American wars. The richly paneled Brunswick Room, originally a natural history museum, holds a notable archive of the school’s and city’s history.
Saint Ignatius offers an enriched curriculum in literature, language, math, computer science, art and music, science and religion. The goal is to offer a challenging program educating students for rigorous colleges and universities, which are very frequently preparations for graduate and professional studies. These studies, imbued with a formation in religious and ethical principles, and involving students in prayer and liturgies, are furthered by study and reflection on the major issues of justice in our time. These studies and experiences, focusing on issues in our own country, as well as issue across the world, will, hopefully, ensure the school’s young people’s becoming highly able, thoughtful, compassionate and responsible adults with a strong sense of service to family and especially “those without” in society.
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