The Murphy Memorial Auditorium (The Murphy) was designed by Chicago architects B. Marshall and C.E. Fox, and was built by the American College of Surgeons in 1923 - 1926, as a memorial to a founding member John B. Murphy, MD, FACS, who was a renowned clinical educator.The Murphy was originally used to host meetings and serve as a center for education in surgery. The Murphy was built in French Renaissance style, with plaster ornamentation, a two-story stained glass window with backlight, an impressive dome, and had 15 original gothic chairs. The spacious auditorium was acoustically designed to help project voices without the use of microphones.Nowadays, after the 2023 restoration, The Murphy building is used as an important venue for music, exhibits, weddings and other social events and programs. The Murphy Memorial Auditorium is part of the Driehaus Museum, both buildings are located at the same address -- 50 East Erie St, not far from N Michigan Avenue. The John B. Murphy Memorial Auditorium became a designated Chicago Landmark in September 2024. I enjoyed visiting this beautiful historic venue.

The Murphy building is a beautiful structure that the stone work is immaculately clean and very striking. See attached photos.

Originally built in 1923 for the College of Surgeons and connected to the Driehaus Museum which use to house the College of Surgeons, the grand meeting room has been painstakingly restored to its originally classical opulence. A high domes meeting space used today for meetings, banquets and other venues has all the original or restored classical embellishments. Some accessibility problems from the street level but an elevator inside makes it easy to get to the second floor meeting room.