The cost of construction, however; was covered by Material Service Corporation CEO and philanthropist, Henry Crown.

Under the direction of architects Holabird & Root, the field house was built as a replacement for Bartlett Gymnasium to be the home of the Chicago Maroons men's basketball team, as well as an indoor practice facility with a dirt infield that was utilized for football and baseball practices.

In 2003, the team moved into the newly built Gerald Ratner Athletics Center, and the building was remodeled to become a full-time intramural facility.

The building also contains a fitness center with resistance and weight training equipment, a cardio hallway with 34 cardio machines (treadmills, ellipticals, rowers, steppers, step mills), a 200-meter indoor track, four multi-purpose courts for basketball, volleyball, indoor soccer, and tennis, an Astro-turfed multi-purpose room, five squash courts, and four racquetball/handball courts.

The height from the clay floor to the centerline of the trusses was fifty feet.