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Panel 1: One of three dorm buildings on the School of the Art Institute campus, the Buckingham has a history largely divorced from that of our school.
Panel 2: The Address of 59 E. Van Buren St. used to belong to a completely different building. Built in 1886, the Athenaeum Building was an educational institution that offered low-cost classes in science and humanities.
It was demolished in May 1929. Architects Holabird and Root had finished their plans for an Art-Deco office building to replace it.
Panel 3: Commissioned in 1927, the plans for this replacement initially called the building the New Athenaeum, but by 1929, it had gained the name the Buckingham. Nobody knows exactly why the building was named The Buckingham, but Chicago Heiress Kate Buckingham definitely had something to do with it.
Kate Buckingham: “It might have been named after me directly! I was friends with the building’s funders, after all. But it’s probably named after The Buckingham Fountain, which I named to memorialize my brother.”)
Panel 4: Estimates made in January 1929 suggested that the building would cost $3 million, but after the stock market crash of October 1929, plans had to be adjusted. The building opened in May 1930, its final cost was $1,735,329.
Panel 5: The building’s first tenants included:
The Vacuum Oil Company, the Panama Refining Company, American Railway Association, National Hardwood Lumber Association, American Terminal Association; and various other transport, coal, and lumber companies.
Panel 6: The Vacuum Oil Company (later called Sucony-Vacuum) would become an important part of the building’s history. Initially, the company only leased the 20th floor, but slowly they expanded, and in 1940, as the company gained suppliers in the Middle East, they saw fit to sign a ten-year lease on the whole building. It was temporarily renamed the Sucony-Vacuum Building.
The 20th floor (which SAIC does not currently lease) retains the wood paneling put in by Socony-Vacuum in 1949 to distinguish its executive offices.
Panel 7: After the end of Sucony-Vacuum’s lease, The Buckingham (subsequently referred to only by its address) would continue to serve as an office building for many decades until it was turned into student housing in 2007.
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Panel 1: There are little marks of history throughout The Buckingham, from the mail chute and Art Deco elevator doors in the lobby, to snatches of original flooring and doors that lead nowhere.
Panel 2: All of SAIC’s dorms have interesting histories, but the Buckingham has other reasons to stand out. It’s the only dorm building not owned by SAIC directly.
Sharada Venkateswaran (BFA 2025) was an RA in the Buckingham for two years, she explained: “162 N. State and Jones Hall are SAIC property. [SAIC] can do whatever maintenance they want, minus stuff that would remove historical significance. It’s a different scale of resources having IRFM on a situation rather than Buckingham Maintenance.”
While this can make the building feel isolated, many people also consider The Buckingham SAIC’s nicest dorm: It’s the only one to have amenities like in-unit dishwashers, washer/dryers, and ovens.
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Perks aside, for a dorm that costs SAIC students at least $12,700 annually, the Buck is certainly no stranger to maintenance problems.
Fae Morgan (BFAW 2026): “Last year, our fridge had a seal problem; it just leaked water forever. In the apartment that we’re currently in, one of the heating/AC units has never worked, and the other one broke four times last semester, and five times this semester.”
“In August, people underneath us were having molding, so I’m very familiar with all the maintenance people because they had to spend a few days in our walls. There’s also the wiring. Five outlets. All on the same breaker. And I used to hear stories of flooding.”
All of that said, Morgan doesn’t blame the staff:
“Sometimes I feel so bad for the maintenance people, because they’re trying. They’re trying.”
Panel 4: SAIC has had a relationship with The Buckingham for over a decade, but our contract with them is up in 2027.
According to Madison Ifft, Director of Residence Life and Student Conduct, Residence Life is “exploring all options surrounding campus to ensure we can provide students with the best experience possible.” So we might lease a different building in the near future.
Perhaps the Buck is ready for another shift in its history, perhaps not. Either way, SAIC students, too, have left their mark on The Buckingham’s walls.
