Historic Sisters of St. Francis Convent in NY was Destroyed by Fire in March 2025

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Throughout its history, the Syracuse motherhouse remained the home base for the Sisters of St. Francis of the Third Order, meaning that any woman wanting to join the community would spend the first two years of novitiate training in Syracuse at the motherhouse. Sisters received training in Syracuse before being sent out as nurses and teachers. As the community grew, missions were established beyond the confines of Court Street, and all missions, regardless of location, regarded the Syracuse motherhouse as their spiritual home. As the number of missions increased, so did the motherhouse with new buildings and additions. The campus and its growth was a reflection of the sisters and their focus on improving education for all, especially girls which led them to use their buildings as a two-year women's college.

In 1896 the extant motherhouse was built on the Sisters of St. Francis property on Court Street. In 1962 the completion of the library addition to the convent school, the last to be constructed on the site and was incorporated into Maria Regina College, the final successor of the convent School.

The St. Anthony Convent & Convent School provided female college preparatory education in the greater Syracuse area in the early-to-mid-twentieth century and prepared young women novitiates as they entered the Sisters of the Third Franciscan Order, which had strong connections to the fields of education and medicine. The heart of the order was the motherhouse, located on Court Street, that was continually expanded to meet growing needs for the religious and educational campus. As one of its primary missions, the sisters provided quality education for girls and young women in the fields of nursing and education for its related hospitals and missions. The convent was one of the founders of St. Joseph's Hospital in Syracuse and was known for its connection to the Hawaii mission of Saint Marianne Cope. For most of its history, the convent ran a teacher training institute and nursing school and, eventually, a junior college known as Maria Regina College from its Court Street property.

The campus contains three buildings, two with large additions, designed by local architects, among them Archimedes Russell, who designed the motherhouse (1896) in the Beaux-Arts tradition. Syracuse architect Napoleon LaVaute designed a chapel in 1949 in the ecclesiastic Gothic Revival style with an interior clad in Guastavino tile and connected it to the motherhouse for the sisters' convenience. The 1927 convent school, designed by Albany architect H.P. Weber, is also noteworthy as a style of academic architecture that conforms to public school standards established by New York State, even though the building was a private school. The building followed guidelines for health and safety by being fireproof, with wide corridors and groups of windows for light and ventilation. As the campus strengthened its educational function, the Syracuse architectural firm of Pederson, Hueber, Hares and Glavin added contrasting modern residential wings to the motherhouse for the novitiates and the sisters, adding a four-to-five story L-shaped structure with decoration limited to windows and a roof balustrade. The firm also designed the Franciscan Academy (ca. 1958), a modern building with a large classroom wing defined by long bands of colored panels and glass windows. A fan-shaped auditorium was at one end of the building, set at an angle and clad in light colored stucco. The newer, more modern buildings allowed the sisters to keep relevant with designs of the period, and provide up-to-date facilities, important to attracting students for their newly established Maria Regina College.

The campus no longer hosts the Sisters of St. Francis, nor the school/college.

History of the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis (Syracuse)

Officially known as the Congregation of the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis in the United States, the order began in 1855 when it was established by Bishop John Neumann of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Philadelphia. Its mission was to teach, establish schools, and provide healthcare to the largely German immigrant population in Philadelphia. Bishop Neuman started the order at the request of a group eight German immigrant women, conferring habits to three of them: Anna Bachman, who received the name Sister Mary Francis; Anna Dorn took the name Sister Mary Bernadine; and Barbara Boll, who received the name Sister Mary Margaret. Sister Mary Francis was appointed the first mother superior. The sisters were called to Syracuse in 1860 at the request of the Franciscan Friars Minor Conventual of Assumption Parish. They needed the sisters to teach at its rapidly growing school, which had a large number of German-speaking students.

Upon arrival, the sisters resided at the parish, which consisted of a rectory, small school building and a small frame church. By 1864, the sisters realized that they needed a central house for their own community, which had grown to eighteen members, and looked for a suitable site to establish a motherhouse and novitiate. They found a property at Alvord and Foot Roads (now Court Street and Grant Boulevard) in Ward 1 of the city. It was "a retired and fit enough place, and not too distant from the Church" that they purchased from Elijah and Elizabeth Clarke for $7,500. Originally farm property, it included a cobblestone house, a white framed building, and a barn. The sisters used the cobblestone house as a residence and for teacher training and the frame building as a chapel. In the ensuing years, the sisters added small, ornamental gardens to the grounds, with manicured shrubbery and a stone and cement grotto. Although the sisters' primary mission was education, they expanded it to include medicine for the betterment of the larger Syracuse community and beyond. According to one news account:

Saint Marianne Cope (1838-1918)

Sister Marianne Cope became the spiritual leader of the order's mission in Syracuse who took their mission to Hawaii. Born in Germany in 1838, she emigrated with her family to Utica, New York, around 1840. In 1861, she entered as a novitiate of the Sisters of the Third Order of St. Francis and took her vows one year later, taking the name Sister Mary Anna. In 1865, the sisters elected her as assistant to the superior at St. Anthony's Convent to serve as administrator. Under her leadership, the sisters established schools in Syracuse and assumed the operations of schools in Rome (New York), Utica, Schenectady, Oswego, and Louisville, Kentucky. In 1869, the sisters received 5,000 francs in gold from Pope Pius IX in recognition of their services in improving and expanding education, which aided in the purchase of the Clarke property for their motherhouse.

In 1869, Sister Marianne Cope, along with four others, transformed an old Syracuse dance hall and saloon into a hospital to provide medical care. This was the beginning of St. Joseph's Hospital, one of two hospitals established by the order in Central New York. By 1871, Sister Marianne was appointed by the superior general to be the administrator of the hospital and, that same year, she was elected provincial secretary-general and directress of the novices at St. Anthony's Convent. She displayed her abilities as a natural leader, guiding the order at providing better healthcare while advocating for patients' rights. She was also instrumental in raising the standards of cleanliness and sanitation in hospitals operated by the Franciscan sisters during a period when such standards were lacking in general in hospital care. She insisted that all staff, physicians included, wash their hands between patient visits and provide care for the underprivileged. They also provided health care training at the convent. In 1872, she invited Syracuse University medical students into the hospital for clinical instruction, turning St. Joseph's into the first teaching hospital in Syracuse.

The sisters eventually elected Sister Marianne as provincial mother in 1877 and again in 1881. In 1883, Mother Marianne received a plea for help to assist in the leper colonies in Hawaii, which desperately needed medical assistance for women and girls. Leprosy was considered to be highly contagious and over 50 appeals to other religious sisterhoods were ignored or refused. After much debate, the sisters decided to help, but with all the current demands of teaching and nursing, only six sisters could be spared to be sent to Hawaii. As mother superior, Mother Marianne felt it was her duty to travel with the sisters to see them settled, intending to return to the Syracuse motherhouse. Three of the sisters began working in a leprosy hospital in Honolulu and the rest at a hospital in Maui. With the need being so great, Mother Marianne remained in Hawaii, working with the lepers at Kalaupapa (Molokai) and becoming the superintendent of the Bishop Home for Girls. She also ministered to the ailing Father Damian de Veuster and continued the work with his Boy's Home at Kalawao, devoting the rest of her life to the Kalaupapa community, dying of natural causes in 1918 at the age of 80. For her lifetime of work to the neglected and outcast, she was canonized as a saint in 2012 by Pope Benedict XVI.

Growth of St. Anthony's Convent and School

By the late nineteenth century, the little cobblestone house that served as the original motherhouse for 32 years was too small to accommodate the growing number of sisters and novitiates. With Mother Marianne remaining in Hawaii, Mother Delphine took charge to move the convent forward by raising funds through a capital campaign. A new chapel was constructed in 1879, followed by a new, much larger motherhouse in 1896. The 1879 chapel was a brick Gothic style building that cost $20,000 and remained in use until it was replaced by a new Gothic style chapel in 1950. Construction of the new motherhouse began in 1896 and was completed in August 1897. With the guidance of the bishop, the sisters selected prominent Syracuse architect Archimedes Russell for the project. Upon its completion, the west wing of the new motherhouse became the novitiate. Originally a three-story building, a fourth floor was added in 1918 for classroom and additional dormitory space, along with two brick stair towers.

In 1913, the sisters elected Sister M. Margaret Hasken as superior general of the community following the death of Mother M. Johanna Kaiser. Previously, the sisters founded and taught at diocesan schools and the nursing school at St. Joseph Hospital. It was under her administration that the sisters focused on teacher training and nursing education at the motherhouse, which led to the need for improvements. The sisters had older and obsolete buildings demolished, which included the barn, and added a wing to the cobblestone house for use at the novitiate. This provided new space for better educational facilities in the motherhouse allowing them to offer a private day and boarding school for elementary through high school age girls. The sisters' new school was known as the Convent School, with classes held on the second and third floors of the motherhouse.

Over time, the school was recognized for its excellence in female education. A 1943 news article stated that it was "the only private girl's grade and high school for day and resident students under Catholic auspices in Syracuse." The article also reported that the school was state accredited and maintained an affiliation with the Catholic University in Washington DC. It also mentioned that the curriculum included drama, speech, chorus, physical education and that the girls had access to extra-curricular activities (dances, teas, receptions, etc.). The school also boasted a library of over 10,000 volumes, well-equipped science laboratories, and spacious grounds.

As enrollment at the convent school steadily increased, it needed more room and in 1918, the upper floors of the motherhouse were remodeled to accommodate more students. The motherhouse attic roof was raised and dormers were added to create a fourth floor that gave the convent school needed space for classrooms, laboratories, and student dormitories. By 1927, enrollment outgrew the motherhouse facilities completely and a new convent school building was built. The new school was designed by Albany Architect H.P. Weber, who later supervised the 1935 reconstruction of the Church of the Assumption in Syracuse after a devastating fire. An article in the Oswego Palladium Times stated that the new school would cost $250,000, contain new classrooms, auditorium, gymnasium, a music room and that it was to be "brick and stone with terrazzo marble floors and wainscoting and is to be built of modern fireproof construction throughout."

Under the guidance of Mother Margaret Hasken, the education mission expanded to found schools in nearby communities, but only the convent school remained a resident and day school for girls. More schools required more teachers, so Mother Margaret had the cobblestone house expanded into a U-shape building to serve as the novitiate, which it did until it was demolished in 1959 for a much larger novitiate and sisters' wing attached to the motherhouse. The larger cobblestone novitiate allowed more class and dormitory space in the motherhouse, which in turn allowed the convent and school to grow. In 1914, Mother Margaret also had a stone wall constructed that surrounded the convent grounds (no longer extant). When the Reverend Mother M. Carmela Prandoni assumed leadership as superior general of the community in 1934, the sisters' service area spanned two oceans, with twenty-four schools and institutions located in six dioceses, two archdioceses, and in Rome, Italy. The Sisters of St. Francis oversaw six parochial schools in the Syracuse Diocese.

By 1949, the old 1879 chapel was too small for the worship needs of the sisters and novitiates. When first built, the chapel accommodated the community's 79 members which expanded to over 441. The sisters recognized the need to build a larger chapel and broke ground for a new building on May 31^st, 1949. Architect Napoleon H. LaVaute used the same Gothic Revival style for the new convent chapel as was used for the first building, but the new building was much larger and featured terracotta covered walls and a Guastavino tiled sanctuary ceiling. On April 3^rd, 1950, Bishop Foery of Syracuse dedicated the chapel, which could accommodate 500 worshippers. The chapel also had a new organ, made by the Kilgen Organ Company, which cost $10,750 when it was installed. The new chapel could now contain all the sisters, novitiates, convent school students and outside worshippers and attested to the continued growth of the campus.

The 1950s marked the final period of growth for the campus with the last and largest expansions. By this time, the resident student program was discontinued to focus on the growing day school enrollment, which numbered 648 girls in 1958. With support from both the community and the bishop, three new construction projects added a new novitiate and sisters wing to the motherhouse and a larger convent school, known as the Franciscan Academy. These were all part of a postwar plan, first reported in the local newspaper when Bishop Foery announced the plans for building a new, larger high school and women's college at the 1945 convent school commencement. With costs estimated at $750,000, it took the sisters until 1958 to raise enough funds to begin construction, which was completed by 1961.

This expansion also brought the convent into the modern age, not only in state-of-the-art classrooms and laboratories, but also in terms of the appearance of the campus. The novitiate, sisters' wing and Franciscan Academy were designed by the Syracuse architectural firm of Pederson, Hueber, Hares and Glavin that had the task of creating something new that represented the modern educational mission of the campus. The result was two, large, attached wings to the motherhouse that were of similar scale, but restrained with a minimum of decoration to reflect the religious community. It was a visual link between the richly detailed Archimedes Russell motherhouse and the more functional Weber designed school. The novitiate wing also had an attached automobile garage for the sisters' use. In contrast, the Franciscan Academy reflected the requirements of modern education, with a large three-story classroom wing with large bands of windows. It also had a larger auditorium and a separate wing for administration. Placing it on the other side of the campus meant that portions of the grounds could easily be converted into parking areas for lay teachers, students and parents. The Franciscan Academy was accredited by the New York State Board of Regents and offered the girls college preparatory courses, along with art, music, and home economics.

Maria Regina College

For most of its history, the Sisters of St. Francis campus hosted two schools, one for general and college preparatory education for young girls and the other for training novitiates as teachers, referred to as the St. Francis Normal School. It operated out of the motherhouse and was renamed Maria Regina College around 1927. Maria Regina College's enrollment was restricted to religious women until 1961, when the sisters decided to extend the training to the lay community. The college enrolled its first class of lay women in 1962 and moved into the c.1927 convent school, which was expanded with a large library addition on the north side of the building to better equip the college. In 1963, the sisters took the additional step of officially opening Maria Regina College as a two-year liberal arts junior college for women.

Based within the Franciscan community, the governing body of Maria Regina College included both lay ecumenical members and a lay chairperson. In 1964 a cooperative relationship was established with a nursing school in Utica, and a similar affiliation was established in 1980 with the St. Joseph's Hospital School of Nursing in Syracuse. Over the years, the college emphasized training for the fields of education, business management, and medicine, with the objective moving the students on to a four-year college or university. Between 1965 and 1985, it added occupational and pre-professional programs, as well as a weekend college. In 1967, Maria Regina College was accredited as a two-year educational institution by the New York State Board of Regents, with both full and part-time students.

At first, the novitiate's wing provided dormitory space for students, but by 1967, the number of residential non-religious Maria Regina College students exceeded the capacity for on-campus living. This coincided with the last expansions of educational facilities on the Court Street campus that left little to no room for additional dormitory space. As a result, the sisters looked into purchasing and renting out houses near or along edges of the campus property and close to St. Joseph's Hospital. In spite of its lower tuition rates and appeal of small classroom sizes, enrollment began to decline and Maria Regina College closed at the end of the 1988-1989 academic year, which affected roughly 250 full and part-time students and 30 full-time faculty, most of them nuns.

The Sisters Leave Court Street

By 1970, fewer novitiates joined the Sisters of St. Francis, due to a number of factors, one being more employment opportunities in general for women. To encourage more novitiates, the Vatican changed some policies regarding nuns that included keeping one's birthname and relaxing the rules regarding the wearing of habits. At St. Anthony's Convent, the mother superior was slow to adopt the new policies, which led to tensions between some of the postulates and the sisters. This increased the number of sisters leaving the St. Anthony Convent from an average of one per year during the years 1955 and 1960 to three-to-nine between 1962 and 1968. With the decline in numbers the sisters made the deliberate decision to focus their mission in 1977 on the canonization of their former mother superior, Marianne Cope. Nearly all of the functions of the first floor the motherhouse were dedicated to the "Office for the Cause of Mother Marianne." In 2005, the sisters dedicated a shrine to Mother Marianne in the St. Anthony motherhouse chapel where they kept her remains until they were returned to Hawaii in 2011. The sister's efforts succeeded in 2012 when Mother Marianne was beatified by Pope Benedict XVI.

By 1985, the St. Anthony Convent increasingly shifted its overall mission from education to caring for aged sisters. During this time, the motherhouse became the main residence for about thirty semi-retired sisters and for the sisters working and teaching at the Franciscan Academy/Maria Regina College. Sisters in community service were also housed in the motherhouse. The west porch became a bookshop and the library and a solarium was added to the southwest wing in 1983 for those with increasing mobility issues. In 1993, a senior care facility was built on the south end of the novitiate wing to better provide for the medical needs of the sisters.

By 2004, the sisters were faced with difficult decision, prompted by a further decline in numbers. Three New York State based congregations of the Franciscan sisters from Hastings-on-Hudson, Buffalo, and Syracuse formally joined to form one, larger congregation officially known as the Sisters of St. Francis of the Neumann Community, with its base in Syracuse. In November 2013, the sisters announced their decision to close the campus at Court Street and Grant Boulevard, again due to the declining number of sisters and the high costs of maintenance. The Court Street facilities, including the infirmary, only housed only 75 members and the estimated cost of maintenance on the buildings was $12 million, well beyond the sisters' means. They moved the Saint Marianne Shrine into a new facility on North Townsend Street near St. Joseph's Hospital and in 2014, they sold the St. Anthony's property, moving into new quarters on Buckley Road in North Syracuse.

Architecture

When the sisters left for their new home, they left behind an impressive array of buildings that covered nearly a century (1896-1993) of design and construction. Despite the different ages and styles, the buildings displayed a unity in terms of scale, proportion and materials, along with a shared history. The buildings reflected popular styles of their time and construction materials and methods, along with the educational, residential and religious functions contained within each building, addition and wing. The buildings also represented the support by the bishop and diocesan community, as the sisters mounted several capital campaigns that resulted in the extant appearance of the St. Anthony Convent campus. All buildings epitomized the sisters' devotion to female education, beginning with the motherhouse and ending with the buildings that became the new high school and Maria Regina College.

With the guidance of the bishop, the sisters found architects sensitive to their needs for the campus. The result was a campus that essentially contained three major buildings, two with additions, one minor building (a freestanding garage) and a gate and fence delineating the entire property. The dominant building was the motherhouse, designed by prominent Syracuse architect, Archimedes Russell. Its attached chapel was the work of Napoleon LaVaute, and a novitiate wing is a design of the firm of Pederson, Hueber, Hares and Glavin, both from Syracuse. Pederson, Hueber, Hares and Glavin also designed the Franciscan Academy that became the principal public education building, strengthening the sisters' commitment to education. A previous, separate school building, was the work of Albany (New York) architect Hanns P. Weber, identified in a news article as "the architect to the Franciscan Order."

With its cornerstone laid in 1896, the motherhouse is the building most closely identified with the Sisters of St. Francis. Its architect, Archimedes Russell, was known to the sisters, having designed St. Joseph's Hospital, which they founded in 1869. Although the motherhouse was later expanded from three to four floors, it displays features that are characteristic of Russell's work, such the richly detailed exterior, use of masonry, round arched openings (windows and doors), stone banding and accented corners. These details appeared in other Russell buildings, including the Crouse College Building (1889) at Syracuse University, the Onondaga County Courthouse (1907), and the First Universalist Church (1905-no longer extant). The Sisters of St. Francis Motherhouse displays characteristic features of Russell's architecture in the use of pressed red brick with corbelling, a large stone foundation, rounded corner buttresses with towers, and Romanesque arches.

Residing in Syracuse, Archimedes Russell (1840-1915) was most active in central New York, designing over 700 buildings during his 43-year career that included hotels, churches, private homes, and buildings for Cornell and Syracuse Universities. Born in Andover, Massachusetts, he received his first training in the building trades from his carpenter-builder father and, after arriving in Syracuse in 1862, he continued his training under Horatio Nelson White, Syracuse's leading architect in the mid-nineteenth century. Russell opened his own office in 1868 and later became professor of architecture at Syracuse University from 1873 to 1881. He was also one of the architects appointed in 1895 to the New York State Capitol Commission charged with completing the New York State Capitol Building in Albany. After Archimedes Russell suffered a stroke in 1910, his partner Melvin King became lead architect, although Russell continued to work for the firm in an advisory role until his death in 1915.

Napoleon LaVaute (1879-1963) was a native of Syracuse who began his own practice in the city at the time when Russell was near the end of his design career. LaVaute received his initial architectural training at the Pratt Institute in New York City. He worked briefly as a draftsman for Syracuse architect Charles E. Colton before joining the New York State Department of Architecture. He returned to Syracuse in 1911, beginning his own practice and retiring in 1955. His major works include the New York State Armory in Syracuse (1906), Eastwood High School, Syracuse (1922, now Eastwood Housing Apartments) and the Syracuse Moose Lodge (1918) across from the Syracuse City Hall, and of course, the St. Anthony Convent Chapel (1950).

Perhaps sensitive to the sisters' fondness for the old Gothic Chapel, Napoleon H. LaVaute gave the sisters a new Gothic style chapel that was much larger and could be used for public worship ceremonies. In keeping with the sisters' privacy, he connected the building to the motherhouse by enclosed brick walkways, allowing the novitiates and sisters to enter via the organ balcony and to remain separate from the main congregation. St. Anthony's Convent Chapel used the older Gothic form, but with steel and concrete construction to open the interior. Stained glass windows were made by the Keck Company (designed by Stanley Worden) of Syracuse and placed in Gothic arched recesses in the interior. The exterior was clad in brick and terracotta, and the interior walls were lined with wood wainscoting and tile while the ceiling featured Guastavino tile. The chapel was one of several religious buildings designed by LaVaute in his career, which included St. Mary of the Assumption Church (1941) in Minoa, New York, another Gothic Revival building, but with Romanesque windows and doors.

Shortly after the completion of LaVaute's chapel, final additions were made to the motherhouse that were quite a contrast to the architecture of both the chapel and 1896 motherhouse. By the mid-twentieth century, the large number of sisters and novitiates resident in the motherhouse required that a new wing be added, built on land between the motherhouse and the convent school. The four-to-five-story wing was designed in a simpler, modern box-like form with exterior decoration limited to a large cross on the Court Street end and a two-story section with rows of small, alternating windows. The addition was designed by the Syracuse firm of Pederson, Hueber, Hares and Glavin, which also designed the Franciscan Academy at the same time (1958-1959) as a new girl's high school for day students. A news article described the design as "a far cry from the one-room school-house" with "the latest in modern design." Features of the new school were a new auditorium and music room "equipped to satisfy the needs of students of the piano, harp or organ," presumably constructed with acoustics in mind. The article continued:

The design for the Franciscan Academy was characterized by a long, rectangular, three-story classroom wing with an auditorium radiating from a center core. The education wing featured horizontal bands of glass and aluminum windows with a broad double-loaded interior corridor with terrazzo floors.

Pederson, Hueber, Hares and Glavin was founded in 1915 by architect Thorvald Pederson and re-established as Hueber, Hares, Glavin after Pederson's death in 1968. The firm reached national recognition after working with I.M. Pei on the design of the Everson Art Gallery in Syracuse (1968), a building often described as a sculptural box or "an abstract sculpture." The firm was prolific, involved in projects ranging from residences, churches, parks and schools to offices and historic restorations. The firm's Franciscan Academy was the one of three projects for the Sisters of St. Francis following a successful fundraising campaign that was launched by the bishop in 1957. Ground was broken in 1958 with a construction budget of just over $1,000,000. In choosing Pederson, Hueber, Hares and Glavin, the sisters embraced modernity and recognized the need to make a statement about their longevity and identity in the greater community.

In 1972, the name "convent school" was determined as no longer relevant by the sisters in that it implied only educating girls to be nuns. The name was changed to the Franciscan Academy and was limited to grades seven through twelve. In the fall of 1985, only 120 girls were enrolled at the academy and it closed two years later. The building was renamed the Franciscan Center for use as college administrative offices, a pre-school and childcare center known as the Gingerbread House and Alzheimer's Care Center. The school and library continued in use until Maria Regina College closed in 1989, and was subsequently used to house offices for Hospice of Central New York.

When the new Franciscan Academy was built, the old convent school was used exclusively for college level instruction for novitiates. Designed by H.P. Weber (1890-1946), the old convent school was dedicated by Bishop Curley in February 1927. It was a three-story steel and concrete building clad in brick with large openings for groups of windows. Decoration was limited to the facade and consisted of buttressed piers separating the facade windows, a stone course separating the floors and a crenelated parapet. Entrances were highlighted with single bay projections and indicated at the roof by triangular pediments. The school also contained an auditorium, gymnasium and double-loaded corridors with classrooms.

Weber was originally from Essen, Germany where he studied architecture before immigrating to the United States in 1912. After settling in Albany, New York, he worked for the State of New York and was involved with the design and construction of the Alfred E. Smith State Office Building (1926). He also served as coordinator of exhibits for the New York State Building at the 1939 World's Fair. This required that he travel the state looking for regional art, crafts, and historic artifacts to display along with the main exhibits of murals portraying New York State history. One of the exhibits was a relief map of the state depicting all counties and major cities in the state along with roads, rivers, bridges and parks. Most of Weber's architectural work was done in the Albany area, along with occasional work for the Roman Catholic Diocese in Syracuse and the Sisters of St. Francis.

To improve collegiate-level education, a new library building wing was added in 1962 to the north end of the 1927 school building, giving it a new face toward Court Street. Known as the Maria Regina College Library, it was originally two stories, designed by Nicholas Goffredo (1911-1975), an architect with Ferentino and Associates, Architects, with a third floor added in 1963, designed by Fisher & Nadel Architects. Very little is known about the architects/designers other than they were based out of Syracuse and designed a modern building for the sisters that complemented the 1927 school in its use of brick and simple stone accents.

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Site Description

The former St. Anthony Convent and Convent School property is located on a nearly eight-acre parcel at 1024 Court Street in the city of Syracuse, Onondaga County, New York. The property is a former religious and academic complex, bounded by Court and Kirkpatrick Streets, Grant Boulevard, and adjacent properties along Michaels Avenue. The complex consists of an 1896 Motherhouse with three later attached/internally connected portions: a compatible 1950 chapel, a Novitiate and Sisters' wing (1959) and a garage (1952). Other buildings in the complex are a 1927 school with a 1962 library addition and a 1959 Franciscan Academy (education center). The property also has a ca. 1914 fence and gate associated with the Motherhouse and a ten-bay garage (1972) east of the Franciscan Academy. A steam plant (1950) is adjacent to the sister's wing on the south side of the building. In 1993, the Novitiate Wing was expanded to the south with a health care facility (Wilson Care Center). The complex was built by the Sisters of Saint Francis, who over the course of nearly a century, expanded or replaced earlier structures to provide the necessary buildings for ministry and education. The property's architecture reflects this long period beginning with the four-story c.1896 Motherhouse, designed by Syracuse architect Archimedes Russell. It is built of pressed red brick featuring Romanesque Revival details (rounded windows, rusticated stone lintels and sills, round arch entrance, and rounded corner buttresses). The attached c. 1950 Chapel is also red brick but features Gothic-arched windows and a tiled roof. The attached Novitiate & Sisters' Wings are modern, brick multi-bay four and five-story additions with little exterior decoration and evenly spaced windows. The Wilson Center addition is a modern glass and metal block design. The ca. 1927 Convent School is a four-story pressed yellow brick building with center peaked pediments over the entrances, windows in groups of three separated by brick piers with stone caps and stone courses between stories. The 1962 library addition is also light brick, three stories with evenly spaced tripartite windows. The library entrance has a brick surround with square corners. Two-story brick piers are between windows and at the corners. The last major building is the 1959 three-story brick Franciscan Academy, again a modern design featuring elements such as long bands of glazed openings and minimal detail. The Franciscan Academy, school and library became Maria Regina College in the 1963, which closed in 1990. The Sisters of St. Francis sold the convent and college properties in 2015, which have been vacant since that time.

Detailed Description

The former St. Anthony Convent and Convent School is situated in a largely residential area, located in the north side of the city of Syracuse, Onondaga County, New York. Syracuse is a major city located in the Central New York Region. The property consists of approximately eight acres, currently bounded by Grant Boulevard on the south, Court Street on the northwest, and Kirkpatrick Street to the east. Grant Boulevard runs relatively east-west, and Court Street runs northeast-southwest. The St. Anthony Convent campus was originally characterized by large lawn areas, historic landscape plantings, woodland clusters, and gardens. The Sisters were gardeners, establishing multiple memorial gardens with statuary and plaques; however, as part of a major building campaign in 1958 much of the landscaped areas were removed for new construction and parking lots. A few of the gardens are partially extant, though abandoned and overgrown since the Sisters of St. Francis moved from the site in 2015.

A large parking lot is located at the center of the campus, along the north and east sides of the Franciscan Academy. An additional parking lot is on the north side of the Novitiate wing and a separate smaller lot is on the north side of the Library Addition. A small parking lot is on the west side of the Motherhouse. A c.1914 gated entry with stone piers and a wood-framed roof leads to the Motherhouse's primary entrance path from Court Street. All parking lots are asphalt paved and marked for individual parking spots. The Motherhouse and Franciscan Academy parking lots are accessible from Grant Boulevard.

The area immediately surrounding the campus supports a mix of uses, including community services, schools and residential with buildings from the late nineteenth to the early twentieth centuries. Court Street and Grant Boulevard are primarily occupied by one to two-family residences, giving it more of a suburban feel, generally characterized by shady, tree-lined streets. A middle school is immediately to the east of the property. Buildings bordering the northeast side of the property (Michaels Avenue) include private residences built between 1914 and 1945 (according to property records) and a large property known as Francis House, an end-of-life medical facility. It was constructed in 1991 and purposely designed to match the residential architecture and appearance of the surrounding houses.

Due to the street pattern, the property takes on a triangular shape with the three major buildings and their additions in each of the points of the triangle. The buildings are indicated on the accompanying diagram. The motherhouse is a large U-shaped building in the northwest end of the property. The chapel is to the southeast and connected by a corridor bisecting the center of the motherhouse courtyard. The sisters' wing extends east from the motherhouse and the novitiates' wing extends perpendicular to the north, forming the easternmost end of the building. Attached to the south end of the novitiates wing is the Wilson Care Center, and just to its west is the steam plant. West of the steam plant is the attached garage.

The convent school and library addition occupy the north point of the triangle. The convent school is immediately east of the Wilson Care Center and the library is connected via a hyphen on the north elevation of the building. Paved walkways are along a grass lawn between the convent school, library, novitiate's wing and Wilson Care Center.

A large L-shaped parking lot is between the convent school and the Franciscan Academy, which occupies the east point of the triangle. East of the former academy is a large ten-bay garage. Large lawns with mature trees are between the buildings and the street along Grant Boulevard and Court Street. A historic gate at the end of a walk leads to the main entrance of the motherhouse.

Motherhouse, 1896. Archimedes Russell, architect.

The motherhouse is sited facing Court Street at the westernmost portion of the site. It is a large, four-story, multi-bay masonry building with a rusticated stone foundation and pressed red brick walls. The dominant axis of the building is oriented northwest-southeast in plan. Windows are paired with some single windows in the first and second stories. All windows have heavy stone sills connected to limestone string-coursing. The exterior features painted wood trim (cornice, dormers, cupola), and a hipped asphalt shingle roof with evenly spaced dormers. The roof and dormers date from c. 1918. A centrally placed roof-top cupola has flanking ventilation cupolas. Character-defining features include tall sash windows with transoms; third-story windows are smaller and have brick arched lintels. The cornice is painted wood with some corbel detailing on the side elevations. A flower symbol motif decorates the top of the walls beneath the cornice. Corners of the building are marked by rounded corner piers capped with pinnacles.

The motherhouse forms a U-plan (facade and perpendicular wings). Its primary facade is the base of the U with the wings of the U extending slightly farther than the main mass. These projections each have six bays of windows. Tunnel hallways between the two wings connect the motherhouse to the chapel. The footprint is relatively symmetrical, being aligned with the main axis of the chapel. It has an above-ground enclosed corridor in addition to the tunnels. The motherhouse is also directly connected to the current novitiate, to the northeast. The motherhouse is visible from both Grant Boulevard and Court Street. The grounds surrounding it have a number of mature trees and remnants of gardens and pathways. A parking lot and site access are located to the north and directly west of the motherhouse.

The facade is nearly symmetrical in elevation. A central projection has five bays of windows flanked by two additional bays of windows on either side. The intersection of these masses creates the hipped roof. The rounded arched entrance to the building is slightly off-center. The building functioned as a motherhouse and the novitiate until the novitiate wing was added. Throughout its existence, the building has been well-maintained and is in excellent condition.

The southwest (side) elevation has a c.1983 one-story brick solarium addition that obscures the original elevation; however, three bays of windows are visible to either side. A central projecting section has six bays of windows; stone and brickwork are the same as in the main facade. The northeast elevation is also obscured since c.1959 novitiate directly connects to it. What is visible consists of three and one-half stories of seven bays of similarly articulated stone, windows, and brickwork as seen in the facade.

Stairs and an elevator tower were added at the end of the wings that were constructed of concrete and clad with brick. Each floor has a centrally placed window. Subsequently, rooms were constructed alongside these stair towers and are internally connected to the main building. The elevator was fabricated by the Houser Elevator Co. of Syracuse. Although added later, the towers and solarium are compatible with the rest of the building.

The interior of the motherhouse is divided into four floors and a finished basement. The fourth-floor interior was created with the c. 1914 roof. The division of interior spaces is described as follows and is limited to the current footprint of the motherhouse.

The first-floor plan is the most elegantly appointed interior of all four floors. Typical interior rooms feature hardwood floors, wood wall bases, plaster walls, picture rails, beadboard wainscot and ceilings. There are decorative casings, chair rails, and transoms in many of the interior first-floor spaces. Select rooms have fireplaces, decorative pendant light fixtures, and exposed original pressed metal ceilings and friezes.

Typical doors are solid wood and windows are double-hung, solid wood. Other less decorative, non-original spaces have commercial carpet, faux wood paneling, acoustic ceiling tiles, homasote wall and ceiling paneling with batten strips, vinyl tile floor and wall baseboards.

The decorative front stone entry features a stone floor with a stone base, wood walls and ceiling. A second stone entry was enclosed by the 1983 addition. This entry has similar stone and solid wood features. Both entries have pairs of solid wood doors. The more decorative of two solid wood interior stairs run alongside the main corridor; it appears to be older than the second stair. Two later steel fire stairs are enclosed in brick masonry walls. Being later additions, the fire stairs have industrial steel windows at each landing. A dumbwaiter is in the service rooms just beyond the main dining area.

Over the course of the history of the motherhouse, the first floor almost always served as space for public functions. On original architectural drawings, the rooms are indicated as refectory, drawing room, kitchen, laundry, parlor, study, music room, etc. For many years, the superior general was located on this floor. Beginning in 1974, nearly the entire first floor was dedicated to the "Office for the Cause of Mother Marianne." This included canonization research and writing processes; this continued for 37 years until Marianne Cope was successfully canonized as a saint in 2012.

The second floor features solid wood doors with transoms and double hung windows, wood casings and trim, beadboard wainscoting, gypsum walls, beadboard ceilings, interior French doors, historic pendant light fixtures, and several decorative fireplaces. Less decorative and non-original spaces have commercial carpet, homasote panels with batten stripes, acoustic tile ceilings, vinyl floor tiles, and faux wood veneer board walls and ceilings. On the original architectural drawings, the intended uses of the second-floor spaces included a large recreation room, an office and study, novitiates' room, multiple bed and toilet rooms, and a couple of classrooms. The superior general's room was also originally located on this floor. Functions of each floor evolved over time reflecting changes in the sisters' community; however, outside of some areas being used for the convent school from 1918-1927, most of the second floor always contained spaces for novitiates' quarters and study.

The third floor has modest decorative features that include solid wood beadboard wainscoting, door and window casings in the main hallway and some limited spaces. All features are similar but not quite as elaborate as the first and second floors. Third-floor rooms are primarily carpeted. Some rooms feature built-in cabinetry. The southwest wing of the third floor has very basic interior features, including acoustic composite tile ceilings, basic door and windows moldings, gypsum wallboard partitions, faux wood wainscot, homasote panels and battens, and vinyl floors and windows. On the original architectural drawings, the intended uses of the third-floor rooms and spaces were primarily dedicated as dormitories and cells. The third floor originally functioned as housing quarters for the sisters when the motherhouse was first built. The southwest wing has small cell-like bedrooms. The northeast wing has broader, more open space, which accommodated public or shared spaces including the area that functioned as the convent school from 1918 to 1927.

Much of the fourth-floor dates from 1918, when the attic space "was remodeled for postulants' and novitiates' use as classrooms, library, and a laboratory." It has the most modestly appointed interior of any other floor in the motherhouse. Much of the fourth floor is constructed beneath original and extended dormers. In some locations, the pitched roof was lifted to provide additional space beneath. The fourth floor features solid wood double-hung windows in dormers, hardwood and mosaic tile floors, wood wall base and chair rails, tile wall base, painted brick wall, plaster walls and ceilings. The decorative wood stair ascends through all floors to the fourth floor, as do the added steel fire stairs at the end of the wings. This floor features several rooms with solid wood lockers, exposed wood trusses, and five-panel wood doors with historic hardware.

Non-original and more modest details include vinyl windows, commercial carpet flooring, vinyl sheet floor, vinyl wall base, homasote board and batten on walls and ceilings, faux wood paneling veneer walls, and acoustic tile ceilings.

Basement: Foundation walls are constructed of fieldstone and concrete. Interior bearing walls are constructed of brick. Interior partition walls are terra cotta or brick. Two rooms have hardwood floors over concrete. Other rooms have exposed concrete or brick floors. Ceilings are exposed wood joists, plaster, or decorative tin. Basement doors are wood and have five panels and windows have six lights, with an upper hung awning and steel exterior bars. There are rooms with wood wainscoting, and others have exposed cast-iron columns. In at least one location, there's an exposed diagonal "V" support column. The hydraulic elevator machine room is located in the basement.

Motherhouse Chapel, 1949-1950. Napoleon LaVaute, Architect; Paolini Construction Co., builders.

The chapel is southwest of the motherhouse, surrounded by several mature trees and landscaping and is most visible from Grant Boulevard due to its location. The chapel was completed in 1950 and is compatible with the earlier buildings due to its use of Gothic Revival architecture. It is constructed with a poured concrete foundation, a steel frame, and walls of concrete block. Steel framing supports the poured concrete floor deck and roof above, allowing the sanctuary space to be free of interior columns. Exterior walls are clad in red brick with brick and cast stone details that include flat buttresses, corbelled cornices, and Gothic arched door and window openings. Brick walls have limestone sills, window and door moldings, buttress caps, string coursing, and cornice moldings. The roof is clad in red terracotta Spanish tile and has copper flashing and gutters. The northwest elevation features a centrally placed rose window directly over a two-story brick walkway that enters into the balcony and the narthex. The walkway was reserved for the use of the sisters and its end is flanked by Gothic arched windows on both stories of the chapel. Two public entrances are located on the northeast side of the building in single-height Gothic arched projections and have wood doors set into a limestone surround.

The chapel aligns with the dominant axis of the motherhouse. It is a relatively traditional basilica plan, with a nave oriented to its prominent axis and a perpendicular narthex. An apse terminates at the end of the nave just past the crossing. The apse has a two-part tile roof and the crossing is marked by prominent full height gable ends. The chapel was designed in 1949 by Napoleon H. LaVaute and completed in 1950 by James Paolini Construction Company of Syracuse. The original drawings for the chapel are in the Guastavino Fireproof Company Architectural Drawing Collection at Columbia University.

The public entrances on the northeast feature vestibules with yellow and tan ceramic floor tiles. Stairs have green terrazzo treads with painted steel risers and brass handrails. A half flight of stairs ascends to the space at the front of the church. The sanctuary is a large, open space with a high ribbed Gothic arched ceiling supported by curved piers that form arched openings with stained glass windows set into the recessed wall openings. The ceiling features Guastavino tile. Walls have black stone base moldings; red terracotta wainscoting and tile, with matching window sills and cap moldings. Walls are plastered. Interior doors are a mix of solid wood and wood with glass Gothic arches. Interior floors are carpeted and cathedral style metal and glass lights are suspended from the ceiling. An organ loft is in the north end of the sanctuary, accessible from the rear stair. The organ was designed and built by the Kilgen Organ Company of St. Louis, Missouri.

Ten stained glass windows are set into aluminum frames that were installed when the chapel was constructed, designed by Stanley Worden of the Henry Keck Company of Syracuse. Wood pews are arranged in two rows. Spaces behind the apse include a sacristy/robing room with a large chest of solid wood drawers and matching built-in closet, c.1950s plumbing and hardware fixtures, and a kitchen with solid wood built-in cabinets and a stainless-steel counter.

The connector between the chapel and motherhouse has an interior with carpeting and a vinyl wall base in the first floor. There are three typical windows with original radiator covers beneath. A cove molding separates the ceiling from the wall. Two fluorescent, two-foot by four-foot ceiling fixtures provide illumination. A gothic arched doorway provides access to the church. The wood-paneled door has decorative moldings and hardware. The second-floor connector is similar to the first floor but enters into the organ loft balcony.

Novitiate & Sisters' Wing, c.1959. Pedersen, Hueber & Hares, Architects.

The novitiate building and sisters' wing are two additions made to the northeast side of the motherhouse around 1959 designed by Pederson, Hueber and Hares Architects, with the general contractor being the R.A. Culotti Construction Company of Nedrow (Onondaga County), New York. The additions form an ell, with the sisters' wing having a southwest-to-northeast orientation; the novitiate building has a northwest-to-southeast orientation. Landscape features include decorative gardens and a parking lot on the northwest side. These additions are most visible from Court Street.

The novitiate and sisters' wing feature concrete foundations, concrete deck and piers, steel framing, exterior pressed yellow brick cladding, and original single aluminum framed awning windows. Basement perimeter walls are poured concrete. Floors share a common plan layout of single rooms and toilet rooms. Interior treatments and finishes are also typical of the period and consistent throughout both buildings. The sisters' wing is a four-story structure with a basement. The basement has large storage rooms. The main floor features a general kitchen and serving pantry. Bedrooms are located on the upper floors of the sisters' wing, each with its own sink and closet. Showers and linen storage are also on each level. The novitiate wing is five stories; the ground level features a storage area and laundry. The main floor has a chapel and sacristy west of the corridor. The chapel extension off the west elevation is characterized by an exterior stucco wall finish and various window openings. A large community space is on the east side of the corridor. Each of the upper floors has private bedrooms and an infirmary. Fire stairs are at the front and rear ends of the building, with a centrally located elevator.

Other interior features include double-loaded corridors with rooms lining each side; interior partitions of painted gypsum wallboard or concrete block. Ceilings are acoustic tiles and floors are vinyl composite tile with vinyl wall bases. Doors are wood with painted hollow metal trim. Handrails with metal hardware line the hallways. Each room typically has a single pedestal sink with two chrome bars. Each room also has a wood wardrobe. Windows are typically a single pane awning with a black stone sill. Shower rooms have marble shower surrounds with ceramic tile floors. Stairs are painted steel risers with poured concrete treads. Interior walls are of painted concrete block. The first-floor deck above has an exposed waffle slab. The basement has interior partitions of painted concrete block. The basement levels of the novitiate building and sisters' wings was originally connected. The location where the two wings still intersect has a stair that descends several steps down to access the campus steam tunnel.

The novitiate building has a ground-level entrance on the northwest side of the building of an aluminum-framed double door with steps. A decorative metal grate frames the window opening. In general, window sills are dark gray or black stone. The entrance features brick walls and commercial carpeting, with a quarry tile base and a rounded painted gypsum wallboard niche. Adjacent basement toilet rooms have quarry tile floor and baseboard moldings. A nearby laundry room has vinyl composite tile with a vinyl wall baseboards. The first-floor hallway has painted concrete block with a vinyl wall baseboard. Typical stairs have steel risers with poured concrete treads.

The first floor also features devotional spaces and a commercial kitchen with floors of quarry tile and walls of ceramic tile. The two devotional spaces have painted concrete block, acoustic ceiling tiles, and variegated rectangular stained glass windows along the exterior perimeter walls. One has vinyl composite tile floors and the other has hardwood floors.

These additions were designed by the same architect as the Franciscan Academy, which create a modernist architectural identity to the St. Anthony Convent and Campus. The buildings feature clean lines, simple geometries, limited detail, reduced form and materiality.

Wilson Care Center, c.1993. Charles Adams, Architect.

The Wilson Care Center addition, c.1993, is located at the southeast end of the novitiate building and the sisters' wing. The addition is inconspicuous and barely discernible due to its location. The care center permitted the connected buildings to provide better nursing care for the aging sisters' community. This glass box addition provided ample space for additional reception and circulation. Composed of two intersecting glass boxes, the wing is supported by concrete columns that extend the full height of this building addition. The box itself is fully clad in reflective glazing panels on its southwest, southeast, and northeast-facing exposures. The remaining surfaces of these volumes are clad in pressed yellow brick. The interior of the box is characterized by concrete columns, acoustic ceiling tile with fluorescent lighting and fin tube radiators beneath glazing. There are reception desks at multiple levels and enclosed gypsum wallboard partitions.

Steam Plant, c1950.

The steam plant was constructed around 1950, after addition and renovations to the original 1872 motherhouse were completed in 1949. It is a one-story concrete building with a large smoke stack in the southeast corner. The plant is located behind the southeast elevation of the convent school and adjacent to the Wilson Care Center. Its purpose was to pump steam to other campus buildings via underground steam tunnels. Pipes supply all buildings from this central plant. Tunnels below are typically at basement levels. The steam plant has an additional level beneath the basement tunnels.

The steam plant is composed of poured concrete floor and reinforced concrete walls and ceiling. Concrete beams support the concrete deck and roofing. At least three large steam boilers are housed in the plant, along with an array of other mechanical and plumbing equipment. The plant has a balcony which possibly served an engineer's work space. The roof of the plant is at grade level with a smoke stack that ascends a to be taller than the adjacent sisters' wing and novitiate buildings. At grade level, the steam plan has access hatches, which are now securely closed. The roof is rubber with an at-grade parapet.

Garage, c. 1959.

This is a two-bay, one-story garage on the southeast side of the sister's wing. It is constructed of similar yellow brick as seen in the novitiate and sisters' wing. It has a flat black membrane roof. There is an electrical room with a separate door and an exhaust louver on the southeast side of the garage. The northeast side faces the steam plant roof. The back of the garage has no windows or openings.

St. Anthony's Convent School (later Maria Regina College): School Building and Library, c.1927- 1963.

Convent School, c. 1927, H.P. Weber, Architect.

Built around 1927, the convent school is oriented northwest-southeast. It is a three-story building constructed of pressed brick with a hipped roof. The bays are separated by buttresses with stone washes, stringcourses, crenelated parapets, and parapet caps composed of sandstone. Large window openings contain replacement glass block above a series of aluminum-framed awning windows. The attic roof is clad in green terra cotta and has one dormer on each side. There is one additional window beneath the forward-facing gable at the attic level.

When built, its main entrance was on the northwest side of the building before the library addition was constructed that now obscures the original main entrance. Even with the loss of the original entrance, the northwest elevation remains the dominant facade with seven bays and a front-facing gable. It is composed of a central block following the required state standards for an early twentieth-century school building with an auditorium/gym extension. Two three-and-one-half story wings extend from the rear of the building that consist of double-loaded classroom corridors with two secondary entrances at each end on the ground floor. The wings mirror each other and are composed of eight bays, with three smaller bays on either side of the entrance. The current main entrance is slightly offset to the northwest. There are larger window openings in the stair above the entrance. Typical window openings on these secondary elevations are smaller and are non-historic glass block. Buttresses separate the three dominant bays and the elevations feature sandstone string-coursing, stone wash, and a crenelated parapet and cap. A forward-facing gable projects above the center entrance bay. A hipped roof consists of greenish-blue terracotta above the main block.

The southeast auditorium/gym is also clad in pressed yellow brick. Across its southeast elevation are three window bays, defined by buttresses. Three windows are in each ground-level bay, each opening filled with non-historic glass block over aluminum awning windows. The two upper floors have one window in each bay, infilled with non-historic glass block over aluminum awning windows. The exterior also features sandstone stone washes and string-coursing. The parapet appears to be composed of newer pressed brick with an aluminum cap.

The secondary elevations of the auditorium/gym block face northeast and southwest and each consists of four bays. The two bays closest to the center have very large windows extending almost the full height of the upper levels. The third bay from the main building has two slightly smaller offset windows. The fourth bay from the main building has no windows. All windows on these elevations have been partially infilled with glass block, similar to the rest of the building. The walls and parapet are constructed of pressed yellow brick and have the same buttress, stringcourse, and parapet detailing as in the rest of the exterior.

The c.1927 convent school was most recently used for Maria Regina College (no longer active). It has circulation corridors with typical configurations on most floors (classrooms and common areas off of a central corridor). Its dominant axis extends northeast-southwest and another extends northwest-southeast. One extends to the main entrance, to the northwest. Other hallways flank the gym and the auditorium block. Stairs at the northeast and southwest entrances ascend all four levels, including the basement and attic. Typical corridors have painted plaster walls and ceilings, wood chair rails and wood door frames. Doors are either solid, partially glazed, or fully glazed solid wood, with original hardware throughout. The floors are terrazzo with terrazzo baseboards. The stairs have painted black metal decorative banisters with solid wood handrails. Newels are painted black metal. The treads are terrazzo, and risers are painted black metal. Typical toilet rooms have painted plaster ceilings and walls, and terrazzo floors.

Classrooms are primarily on the northwest side of the building with approximately six classrooms per floor. Typical classrooms have either a non-original acoustic tile ceiling or an exposed original plaster ceiling. The walls are painted plaster. Floors have a terrazzo perimeter around a hardwood center. Original chalkboards are extant in almost all classrooms and are framed with hardwood. Most classrooms have wood chair rails, built-in wood cabinetry and original steam radiators. Wall bases are terracotta, and select rooms have semi-translucent framed transom windows.

The c.1927 convent school also features a highly decorative auditorium that is directly over a gymnasium at the basement level. The auditorium extends through to the second floor. Corridors line the perimeter of the gym and auditorium with classrooms, toilet rooms, meeting rooms, libraries, and offices. Classrooms are on one side of the corridor on each floor, directly opposite of the auditorium and gym.

As stated, the volume of the auditorium extends from the first floor up through the second. It has plaster walls and a coffered plaster ceiling. Pilasters and cornices define walls that have inlaid decorative panels. The floor is raked toward the stage and is composed of oak hardwood with a stained oak wall base and trim. Auditorium seats are fixed and constructed of wood and steel. Windows have non-historic aluminum framed awnings with glass block. The auditorium entrance features decorative paired solid wood French doors with original hardware. An upper balcony level features six pairs of French doors with transoms, across the full room width, providing access to the balcony. Lay-lights are above the balcony for additional, filtered lighting but are now painted. Five brass chandeliers are suspended from the ceiling; each has two concentric rings of exposed lamps and decorative scrollwork.

Library Addition c.1962-1963. Nicholas Goffredo/Fisher & Nadel Architects.

The library addition is connected to the original facade of the St. Anthony Convent School and extends north toward Court St. It is three stories with three-bays on the northwest elevation and four or five-bays along the sides. The first two floors were designed by Nicholas Goffredo and built in 1962. The third-floor, nearly identical in style, was added a year later, designed by Fisher & Nadel Architects. The building is concrete block with the exterior clad in pressed yellow brick to match the convent school and adjacent novitiate building. Bays are defined by two story-buttresses that are capped with stone. Windows are identical on all three floors and are paired aluminum casement windows with a transom. Windows sills are stone. The library addition is oriented to the same dominant northwest-southeast axis of the convent school. There is an enclosed breezeway connecting the c.1927 school at ground level to the second floor of the library.

The library addition interior is characterized by open spaces with terrazzo floors and suspended acoustic tile ceilings. Some interior walls are concrete block but most interior partitions are gypsum wallboard. Stairs are risers with quarry tile treads, steel rails and terrazzo landings. Baseboard radiators line the perimeter beneath broad windows. The library's third floor interior has exposed concrete flooring, wood paneling on interior partition walls and wood paneled doors. Toilet rooms have ceramic walls, trim and flooring. Steel trusses above the drop ceiling support a metal deck above.

The enclosed walkway between the library addition and the c.1927 convent school is at the location of the original main stair and entrance to the school. The interior hallway has exposed concrete masonry unit walls, acoustic ceiling tile grid, linear fluorescent lighting, and terrazzo floor. Windows on either side are three aluminum framed panes over awning windows.

The Franciscan Academy, 1958. Pederson, Hueber and Hares, Architects

The Franciscan Academy (later known as the Franciscan Center) was originally called the new convent school when it was completed in 1959. It was designed by Pederson, Hueber and Hares, Architects, and built at a cost of approximately $1,500,000. The Franciscan Academy is a mid-century modern school building located in the southeast part of the campus. It is essentially an L-shaped three-story concrete and steel building with multiple geometric sections radiating from one common axis. The predominant two-story classroom mass is oriented in roughly an east-west direction with a gymnasium extending north, creating the ell. This end of the building features a large fan-shaped auditorium that is slightly higher than the classroom section.

The gymnasium, stair towers, and other solid walls are clad in pressed yellow brick. The exterior of the auditorium is clad in stucco panels and has a pressed-brick enclosed mass at the east end of the auditorium. The south front entry has four aluminum framed, glass entry doors. The gymnasium to the north is clad in pressed brick. The main classroom wing consists of glass curtain walls composed of bands of aluminum-framed windows and blue spandrel panels. Windows have operable awnings at their base. A stair tower to the west ascends all three levels of the building. It is clad in pressed brick and has south-facing windows at each landing and a door at grade. The north-exposed sides of the gym are clad in pressed brick.

The interior of the Franciscan Academy is composed of a double-loaded corridor extending the length of the interior of all three floors of the main classroom wing. Its east-west axis intersects the primary north-south axis of the lobby and entry hall. The gym to the north and auditorium to the east are connected to the classroom wing through open circulation consisting of stairs that are located at the west and east ends. Typical classrooms feature acoustic composite tile ceilings, linear fluorescent fixtures, steam radiators, and painted gypsum wallboard partitions. Some rooms have one or more structural columns exposed in the room. Floors are clad in a combination of composite vinyl tile and commercial carpet. Typical toilet rooms have painted textured gypsum wallboard ceilings, ceramic tile walls, terrazzo floor tiles, fin tube radiators, and c.1959 plumbing fixtures.

Typical entryways have large aluminum windows and paired doors. Framing is minimal, and openings are nearly fully glazed, permitting natural light into stairs and corridors. The main entry vestibule (from the south) features two sets of double doors. Two pairs of exterior doors are glazed and two pairs of interior doors are wood clad, all flanked by windows. Interior corridor doorways have paired doors with original hardware. Classroom doors are solid wood.

The north-south oriented entrance hallway has painted textured ceilings. West walls are clad with wood paneling. Lobby-side auditorium walls are clad in marble panels. The curved interior of the auditorium is also partially clad in the same wood panel as the lobby. The auditorium ceiling is composed of painted gypsum wallboard. Metal and blue velour are fixed on a composite vinyl tile floor. The stage has hardwood flooring.

The gymnasium is constructed with a steel truss roof supporting an exposed roof deck above and painted concrete masonry block walls. The floor is currently covered in commercial carpeting. Walls are painted. The locker room is situated to the east and has exposed painted concrete masonry block walls and exposed concrete flooring. Shower stalls have ceramic tile walls, marble shower stalls, and ceramic tile floors and wall bases.

Garage, ca. 1972

A ten-bay garage is in the southeast end of the property. It is constructed of pressed yellow brick on the north side and has wood bay doors on the west side. It has a flat black membrane roof. The date for the building is based on its absence from a 1965 site survey and news accounts indicating that a construction permit was issued in 1972.

Court Street Gated Entry, c.1914. Merrick & Randall, architects

Located directly in front of the motherhouse, the 1914 Court Street iron gated entry has stone piers, a side gabled, slate clad roof and decorative wood bracket supports. The gate opening frames the path leading to the motherhouse's primary entrance. It is the only one of three gates to survive from this period. Structural problems with portions of the wall prompted a complete replacement in the 1990s on the Grant Avenue side. Repairs required that the stone be removed from the wall on the Court Street side and replaced with wrought iron.

Northwest elevations of Motherhouse & Solarium (2018)

Motherhouse on left and chapel on right, view looking north from Grant Blvd (2018)

Motherhouse showing solarium and stair/elevator additions (2018)

Main motherhouse door (2018)

First floor room of motherhouse (2018)

Common area, first floor of motherhouse (2018)

Second floor corridor of motherhouse (2018)

Staircase in brick rear stair/elevator addition of motherhouse (2018)

East elevation of chapel (2018)

Interior view of chapel looking toward chancel (2018)

Interior view of chapel looking toward organ balcony (2018)

Sisters and Novitiates Wing, view looking southeast from Court Street side (2018)

Basement corridor of sisters and novitiates wing (2018)

Chapel of sisters and novitiates wing (2018)