University of Iowa officials unveil new residence hall

IOWA CITY - University of Iowa officials on Friday dedicated its new 12-story residence hall that will house more than 1,000 students this fall.

Elizabeth Catlett Residence Hall will be the university's largest residence hall with 1,049 beds.

The $95 million dormitory at 350 Madison St. has three towers that overlook the Iowa River.

The residence hall includes fitness and recreation centers, a marketplace, student lounges and community rooms, among other amenities, according to a fact sheet provided by the university.

The building also will host six Living Learning Communities - Arts, Experience Iowa, Hawks Up, Honors, Political Matters, and Journalism and Mass Communication.

Catlett Residence Hall is the second new residence hall to open on Iowa's campus in two years. The Mary Louise Petersen Residence Hall opened in 2015 with space for more than 500 students.

The new dorm is named after Elizabeth Catlett, one of three Iowa students to earn the first master of fine arts degrees in the country in 1940 and the first African-American woman to earn the degree.

A Howard University graduate, Catlett came to Iowa to study with artist Grant Wood, who encouraged her to create what she knew best. That led to her sculptures of black women and children and a long career as a teacher and artist in Mexico. She died in 2012 at the age of 96.

The new residence hall is 303,000 square feet, with 526 student rooms.

It took 620,000 hours to build and has 17,000 cubic yards of concrete and 522,000 bricks, according to the fact sheet.

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