This picture is from a posting by Ames Library. It’s one of the original pictures of Gulick.
Credit: Ames Library
A photo taken today and trying to be standing in the exact same spot to the photo in
1956.
Credit: Brooke Pacchetti
Gulick Hall was built in 1956 as the Southwest Hall as a residence for female students and was even home – coincidentally enough – to the Home Economics department. The building was renamed after benefactor Anna Gulick in 1964 after the original building named Gulick Hall was sold to the Alpha Omicron Pi Fraternity, who’s chapter at Illinois Wesleyan is now closed.
While the fashion, cars and overall times have changed, Gulick Hall has remained more or less the same. From the furniture in the lounge that looks straight out of the 70’s, to the “muggy hallways and cinder blocks,” as said by Barbara Kuznetsova in her 2021 opinion article for ‘The Argus’ titled ‘More campus building renovations should begin.’
This May, Gulick Hall is being torn down to build the new Petrick Idea Center, which will go into construction this summer and be functional by the 2025 school year. While Gulick, known to many people on campus as “Gross Gu,” gets a bad rap for its outdated appearance and signature tendency toward mishaps and malfunctions, Gulick has been a pretty nice place to spend my first year at IWU.
While I’ll miss the memories I made in Gulick this year, I can’t say I’ll miss the carpenter ant infestation brought in by the tree outside my window, getting locked inside my room because the door had settled unevenly or the way our laundry machines choose to smoke, burn clothes and set off the fire alarm at inconvenient times.