Editing this post entirely as I realize that I did a poor job of explaining things as they are, and to reflect a few changes already implemented. 

The issue: I have an app that has a normal front end, which works perfectly when accessed via app\public. I've added a backend and wish to use a different master layout. I have named the backend Crud. I created Crud\UserController and that has the following:

```
public function __construct()
{  $this->middleware('auth'); }

public function getIndex() {
  return view('crud'); }

```

In my routes.php file I have the following: 

```
Route::controller('crud', 'Crud\UserController');

```

I've tried placing that route inside and outside of the middleware group. Neither workds. I do have a file, crud.blade.php, that exists inside resources\views.

The issue is a 404 from apache every time I try to access app/public/crud. Specifically, this error:

```
The requested URL /app/public/crud was not found on this server.

```

I'm at a loss as to why the server is unable to find the route to crud.blade.php

ETA: The apache access log just shows a normal 404 when I attempt to access this page. The apache error log shows no errors.