LaFortune Student Center
building in Indiana, United States
The LaFortune Student Center serves as one of two student centers at the University of Notre Dame (the other being Duncan Student Center). Commonly known as "LaFortune" or "LaFun," it is a 4-story building of 83,000 square feet that provides the Notre Dame community with a meeting place for social, recreational, cultural, and educational activities. The building also houses restaurants from national restaurant chains. As of 2008, LaFortune employs 35 part-time student staff and 29 full-time non-student staff and has an annual budget of $1.2 million. Many businesses, services, and divisions of The Office of Student Affairs are found within.
History
Science Hall (1883-1952)
Built as the Science Hall in 1883 under the direction of Fr. John Zahm, the head of the college of science, and architect Willoughby J. Edbrooke. The cornerstone, which was laid on June 20, 1883, by Rev. John Ambrose Watterson, was donated by Dr. John Cassidy, Notre Dame's first science graduate in 1865, and contained “lucid and colored quartz pebbles, and was procured in northern Michigan”.
The public source identifies “LaFortune Student Center” as building in Indiana, United States. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around LaFortune, Student and Center.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “LaFortune Student Center”, the useful work is to connect “building in Indiana, United States” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 16, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q29640452. Authority coordinates are 41.702, -86.238. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2008, 1883, 1952 and 1865.
Architectural summaries often privilege surviving fabric and can understate demolished phases, contested use or displaced communities. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “LaFortune Student Center”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow LaFortune Student Center primary sources, LaFortune Student Center archive and LaFortune research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “LaFortune Student Center”?
- Which earlier names or jurisdictions may reveal additional records?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “LaFortune Student Center” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.