@sysdawg, please refer to my post #18.
NU is concerned foremost with being a global academic powerhouse, not with being a country club. So the student union is dated, some of the dorms are old and dated too (though there is a push to upgrade there and there are some nice new dorms), and some of the buildings were built in the '70’s with frankly ugly Brutalist design (quite an unfortunate mistake). Now, there are Ivy-equivalents that are pretty too, but there are other privates that prefer to spend money on looks so that they are charming rather than getting their academics and alumni achievements to an Ivy level. NU would always rather spend money on academic and career development rather than aesthetics.