I’ve written about the oldest buildings remaining on the historic University of Dayton campus, but that article focused primarily on the more well-known structures.
There are a few others dating to the late 19th and early 20th century that don’t typically get as much attention, so we’ll look at them in this article.
Rike Center (1874)
First up we have a really interesting building, the Rike Center, which you would most likely not guess is actually the fifth oldest structure on campus if you look at it today.
But it looked totally different when it was built in 1874 as Convention Hall, also known as “The Play House.”
The Play House was described as a “a barn-like wooden building” and it’s housed a wide variety of activities over the years, including university commencement ceremonies, plays and performances, and sporting events, including some while the chemistry department was also located on the second floor.
A new stage was built in 1911 which made the gym too small for intercollegiate athletics, so it became used for intramurals and physical education while continuing its role as an auditorium and playhouse. Eventually it became known as the women’s gym.
Susan Finke Schiller, the first woman inducted in the UD Athletic Hall of Fame, recalled that in the 50s, most women’s athletics were located here.
She played varsity field hockey, basketball, and softball, and intramural volleyball and tennis, but in those days women’s sports didn’t get much attention or any funding, and the female athletes even pooled their money for gas when they had to travel to play another school.
By the 1970s the building had become outdated, but demolishing and replacing it would have cost millions, so instead the top floor was removed in 1977 and the interior was redesigned to become a visual arts center known as the Rike Center for Performing Arts, so named because the Rike family of department store fame donated funds.
By 2012, it again changed roles and today it houses multiple offices for international students and global and intercultural programming.
Powerhouse (1898)
Another structure dating to the late 19th century also doesn’t typically get too much attention: the 1898 Powerhouse.
The structure was built by Reverend Charles Eichner who served as chaplain as well as president of the school from 1896-1902.
It originally supplied heat and electric light to campus and had tunnels to other buildings. One source shares that the digging “was done by scholastics, novices, and postulants during vacations.”
Another building whose role has changed over the years, the Powerhouse today houses campus print and copy services as well as dining services.
Heritage Center (1903)
The first building built on campus in the 20th century is the 1903 Heritage Center, which also had a variety of former lives including as the Men’s Lavatory, Carpentry Shop (1935-1959), and then as the UD Post Office from 1959-2004.
It was built as a lavatory because in those years “indoor plumbing wasn’t seen as practical, so bathrooms were omitted from many of the original structures.” The building became known as the “Crystal Palace” due to the “crystal-like glass used in the windows that line the structure.”
It 2007 it was transformed into the Heritage Center to showcase UD’s Marianist heritage, and a decade later its role shifted again into the Heritage Coffeehouse which it remains today.
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