Northwestern Architecture

James L. Allen at construction site, 1986.

The James L. Allen Center was constructed in 1979 to house the Kellogg School of Management’s Executive Education Program. The center was named for James L. Allen (WCAS 1929), University Trustee and longtime member of Kellogg’s Business Advisory Council. Allen, a pioneer in the field of management consulting, was a founder of the Booz, Allen and Hamilton consulting firm. During his tenure on the Advisory Council he emphasized the importance of management education and of programs that offered continuing education for executives and future executives. The Allen Center was planned to accommodate two of the Management School’s most rapidly growing programs in executive education, the Institute for Management and the Institute for International Business. It also provided new facilities for the Executive MBA Program and much-needed room for the month-long management programs and weeklong and weekend seminars offered by the Kellogg.

Plans for the center included classroom and office space as well as housing so that executive students and faculty members could meet both formally in the classroom and informally in the lounges, dining and living areas. The goal was to foster an exchange of ideas among executives and between executives and the Kellogg faculty.

Built on the J. Roscoe Miller Lakefill Campus, the Allen Center overlooks the lagoon and Lake Michigan. The two-story building was designed by the architectural firm of Vikrey, Ovresat, Awsumb Associates. The cornerstone for the Allen Center was laid on October 16, 1978, and formal dedication of the building took place on October 31, 1979. The total cost of the building was 5.5 million dollars. A substantial portion of the funding came from James L. Allen; the S.C. Johnson and Son Company donated $500,000.