A public dedication was held on Saturday for Frick Chemistry Laboratory, the new campus chemistry facility whose construction began in the fall of 2007 and ended last summer.
The dedication was held in Taylor Commons, the atrium that runs through the heart of the building.
Frick inherits its name from the original Frick building, which served as a center for chemistry at Princeton for more than 80 years. The building was named after industrialist Henry Clay Frick, a benefactor of the arts and the University.
Both the new building’s atrium and one of its auditoriums are named after the Barton Hepburn Professor of Organic Chemistry Emeritus, Edward C. Taylor.
Taylor’s research, in collaboration with the pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly and Company, led to the development of the anti-cancer drug Alimta. The royalties of the drug’s patent helped support construction of the new Frick.
Chemistry department chairman David MacMillan delivered the welcoming remarks.
“This is awesome,” MacMillan said. “We’re both incredibly proud and incredibly inspired by this building. It is not only highly functional, but it also has the beauty of a cathedral ... One of the things I’d like you to think about for a moment are all the new discoveries and inventions that are going to flow through this building over the next few decades.”
“As we sit here, all on this beautiful day, watching this beautiful light seeping in through this atrium from every direction, it seems that this light really is the best metaphor for the faculty, the researchers and staff — it’s shining, bright, cohesive, fresh and simply unstoppable,” he said.
Michael Hopkins, the founding partner of Hopkins Architects, the firm behind the construction, discussed the role of the structure as one of the first buildings visible to visitors driving towards campus from the southern side.
“Frick needs to represent the University’s hopes and present ambitions in the modern world at the beginning of the 21st century,” Hopkins said.
Hopkins was preceded by John Lechleiter, the chairman, president and chief executive of Eli Lilly and Company. Lechleiter discussed the history of the development of Alimta, and what its development portends.
“Alimta allows a parent to make it to their child’s graduation,” Lechleiter said. “Alimta enables a new grandmother to hold her first grandchild. We at Eli Lilly are honored and privileged to know that Alimta has made these and tens of thousands of other stories possible, and it’s helped make this building possible.”
President Shirley Tilghman — a former molecular biology professor — spoke of the fundamental value of the study of chemistry for all scientific disciplines. “The chemists in this beautiful building will advance not only the frontiers of our knowledge but also our collective quality of life,” Tilghman said.
She also gave special thanks to Robert Cava, chair of the chemistry department from 2004 to 2010, who “spearheaded this renewal.”
“It is not for nothing that we now refer to him as St. Bob,” she added.
Taylor delivered the final remarks. “Needless to say, this is a tremendous personal thrill,” he said.
He also thanked the University for continuing Frick’s construction despite the financial crisis.
After the ribbon cutting, a private dinner was held on the floor of the atrium for the invited guests.
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