University President Morton Schapiro said the new Segal Visitors Center is a “dream come true” during the building’s formal dedication last week.

The center was built with the help of a $10 million gift from Gordon and Carole Segal, Northwestern graduates who co-founded Crate & Barrel, a home furnishings retail chain.

Schapiro and the Segals were joined by Board of Trustees’ chairman Bill Osborn and by Ralph Johnson, global design director of the architecture firm that designed the building, to cut a purple ceremonial ribbon to inaugurate the center. Almost 150 people attended the event, according to a news release.

The center, which features an auditorium with a view of Lake Michigan and a 170,000-square-foot visitors facility, hosts prospective students and their families and provides meeting rooms and offices for admissions staff.

“All of this is leading us to developing a much more vital campus. It’s a new Northwestern,” Gordon Segal said in his remarks at the dedication, according to the release. “When people come here … instead of being enclosed by concrete and stone, they are going to be enclosed by glass — so they can look out at the lake and look out at the gardens and look out at the park-like scenery of this University.”

During the event, Schapiro discussed other buildings being constructed on the campus’ lakefront.

“All you have to do is walk around the campus and in building after building, we see magnificent improvement,” Schapiro said, according to the release.

He also thanked the Segals for their contributions to the University. Gordon Segal, who earned a bachelor’s degree in business, and Carole Segal, who earned a degree in English, met at NU and founded Crate & Barrel in 1962. They both graduated in 1960.

“I am so proud to be associated with the two of you, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart, not just for the Visitors Center,” Schapiro said, according to the release. “But I’m saluting you for 50 other buildings that you have done — and not just your financial generosity, but the incredible time you have given back to your alma mater. We were incredibly lucky when the Segals decided to come to Northwestern University.”

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