UPbeat

News for and about University of Portland faculty and staff.

Christie Hall

From Our Past: Christie Hall Groundbreaking

June 8, 1911 saw the groundbreaking for Christie Hall, at a ceremony attended by Portland archbishop Alexander Christie, the building’s namesake, who turned the first spadeful of earth himself.

When the property on which the University stands was purchased in 1901 from the University Land Company, the terms called for the construction of “a major building” within ten years. The Columbia Colosseum athletic fieldhouse was built in 1903, but Christie Hall is the second-oldest building on campus, since the Colosseum collapsed during a storm in 1927.

The school catalogue described Christie as “a model school dormitory,” designed in Tudor-style brick with three floors and a full basement, with 122 private rooms. “Each room was lighted, ventilated, heated by steam, and contained a washbasin with hot and cold running water,” according to Jim Covert’s A Point of Pride. The University library was moved from West Hall to the Christie basement that year; the “temporary” basis of that move lasted until the Clark Library was built in 1958. The basement also included two bowling alleys, a billiard room, and a smoking room. Christie Hall’s chapel was located where it is today, and has served for the past 107 years as a refuge for quiet prayer and reflection.

Christie Hall has served a number of functions over the decades. Many of the legendary Holy Cross priests and brothers made their homes there, including Frs. John and Con Hooyboer, Fr. John Delaunay, and many others whose open-door policies led students to seek their counsel at all hours. Faculty members kept offices in Christie Hall rooms, especially before the construction of Buckley Center in the late 1960s, and Christie was also home to the University’s credit union, administered faithfully and meticulously by business professor Russell Braden and his wife Kay until the early 1980s.

From Our Past: Christie Hall Groundbreaking

christiehallJune 8, 1911 saw the groundbreaking for Christie Hall, at a ceremony attended by Portland archbishop Alexander Christie, the building’s namesake, who turned the first spadeful of earth himself.

When the property on which the University stands was purchased in 1901 from the University Land Company, the terms called for the construction of “a major building” within ten years. The Columbia Colosseum athletic fieldhouse was built in 1903, but Christie Hall is the second-oldest building on campus, since the Colosseum collapsed during a storm in 1927.

The school catalogue described Christie as “a model school dormitory,” designed in Tudor-style brick with three floors and a full basement, with 122 private rooms. “Each room was lighted, ventilated, heated by steam, and contained a washbasin with hot and cold running water,” according to Jim Covert’s A Point of Pride. The University library was moved from West Hall to the Christie basement that year; the “temporary” basis of that move lasted until the Clark Library was built in 1958. The basement also included two bowling alleys, a billiard room, and a smoking room. Christie Hall’s chapel was located where it is today, and has served for over 100 years as a refuge for quiet prayer and reflection.

Christie Hall has served a number of functions over the decades. Many of the legendary Holy Cross priests and brothers made their homes there, including Frs. John and Con Hooyboer, Fr. John Delaunay, and many others whose open-door policies led many students to seek their counsel at all hours. Faculty members kept offices in Christie Hall rooms, especially before the construction of Buckley Center in the early 1970s, and Christie was also home to the University’s credit union, administered faithfully and meticulously by business professor Russell Braden and his wife Kay until the early 1980s.

For more UP history see the University of Portland Almanac at www.up.edu/almanac.

Christie Alumni Open House, April 5

Christie Hall UPbeatAll faculty or staff members who lived in Christie Hall as a student, or worked as a member of the hall staff are invited to join the current Christie Gentlemen for an afternoon of stories, food, and fellowship on Saturday, April 5, starting with a Mass in Christie Hall Chapel at 3 p.m. The schedule follows:

  • 3 p.m. Mass in the Christie Chapel
  • 4 p.m. Social Hour with Appetizers
  • 4:30 p.m. Light Dinner
  • 5 p.m. Holy Cross Mission Fundraiser Poker Tourney hosted by Fr. Pat Hannon, C.S.C. ’82 ($5 buy-in).

Please RSVP to Christie Hall director Joe Burke by e-mail to burke@up.edu, or call 503-572-8063. The Mass, social, and dinner are free, and spouses and significant others are welcome.

From Our Past

aerialJune 8, 1911 saw the groundbreaking for Christie Hall, named for Archbishop Alexander Christie of the Portland Archdiocese, founder of Columbia University (renamed the University of Portland in 1935). When the campus property purchased in 1901 from the University Land Company, the terms called for the construction within ten years of a major building. A huge athletic field house had been built in 1903, large enough for indoor track meets and even baseball games, but Christie Hall would be the building which officially satisfied the terms of the sale. The archbishop himself turned the first shovelful of earth, and photographs show him, shovel in hand, towering above the gathered boys and faculty. Aerial photographs from the time show West (now Waldschmidt) Hall, Christie Hall, and the Columbia Colosseum huddled together on the mostly blank campus; Christie and West Halls survive, but the colosseum, which was located roughly where Howard Hall and the Pilot House are now, collapsed during a winter storm in 1927.

For more history from this week, see the University of Portland Almanac at www.up.edu/almanac/.