With the transformation of a historic, downtown building into a dormitory for Columbia students, the college now has over 2,600 students living on campus—about 22 percent of the total student population, and the highest number ever for the school.

Columbia converted The Buckingham, at 59 East Van Buren Street, into dormitories over the summer of 2007. Students moved into the apartment-style units before the academic year started, and construction on a twenty-seventh-floor common space, which offers a 360-degree view of the city, was completed later in the fall. Floors three to 26 have four or five apartments each, which include amenities such as high-speed Internet, basic cable, new appliances, and in-unit washers and dryers.

The building was built in 1930 by the Chicago-based architecture firm Holabird & Root. It became a nationally registered historic building by the National Park Service in 2000.