Collection on the DePaul University Ray Meyer Fitness and Recreation Center

The Ray Meyer Fitness and Recreation Center, also known as The Ray, was completed in 1999 on the 2200 block of N. Sheffield Ave. The facility stands at the former location of the College Theater, also known as The Barn, razed in 1979. Plans for a new Student Recreation and Athletic Center arose during the 1980s as part of a Master Plan for the Lincoln Park Campus to increase amenities in advance of an anticipated rise in residential and commuter student attendance.

Initial plans called for the new recreation center to replace Alumni Hall at the corner of N. Sheffield and Belden Avenues, which had housed student athletics since 1956. Based upon Long Range Plans for the Lincoln Park Campus developed by MPC and Associates, the new recreation center was reimaged east of a new Student Center planned for the Alumni Hall location. Amenities for the recreation center were developed in part using student, staff, and faculty surveys analyzed by program management firm Brailsford & Dunlavey. Antunovich Associates served as the project architects, and W.E. O'Neil served as the construction contractors. The fitness facility was named for Ray Meyer, DePaul basketball coach from 1942-1984.

Portions of this collection were originally housed within Buildings, Series 004: Lincoln Park Campus. Additional materials related to the wider Lincoln Park Campus development can be found in the Buildings collection. Additional floor plans from the final fitness center design and plans from surrounding Lincoln Park Campus structures can be found Buildings, Series 002: Blueprints.