A New Beginning for a Beloved Landmark
Sister Dietrich spent a lot of time inside, exploring its halls, the chapel, and the expansive grounds.
But St. Michael’s hasn’t always been St. Michael’s. The building has been many things to many people in the surrounding communities. Built in 1852, the same year “Uncle Tom’s Cabin” was published and Franklin Pierce was elected president, it was a beautiful summer retreat during the Gilded Age, passing through the hands of some notable industrial magnates.
Metals merchant William Henry Trotter had the house built for his lovely new bride, Maria Louisa. In 1868, it was owned by steam locomotive pioneer Henry Latimer Norris, and later, in 1884, sugar baron Alfred Craven Harrison became the owner.
In 1924, real estate developer Judson Zane divided the estate, selling five acres for residential development. The remaining house and land found a new purpose when the Sisters of Saint Joseph, a kind and dedicated French religious group active in Philadelphia since 1847, acquired it. They lovingly renamed the property St. Michael’s Hall.
The exterior of the original Gothic revival mansion has remained intact, as the interior evolved to meet the needs of the space, changing it from a school to a dormitory. “There were a lot of jerry-built little rooms,” Dietrich says. “With plywood walls going up to accommodate college students.” But the beautiful original woodwork and stonework were preserved.
The final iteration of St. Michael’s as a convent was a home to faculty sisters who taught at Chestnut Hill College. When the sisters moved into St. Michael’s after its time as a student dorm, Dietrich remembers, “there was a joy that it was becoming a true convent again.”
Sister Mary Jo Larkin, a volunteer archivist now at Mt. Saint Joseph Convent, remembers some of the building’s fascinating details, such as hidden storage nooks behind the decorative carvings. “When you hit them, they opened,” Larkin says, speculating that the nooks might have stored hunting rifles or booze during Prohibition.
Being a ‘dear neighbor’
Time began to wear on the grand old building and its aging occupants. The sisters were getting older. “The number of sisters living at St. Michael’s was dwindling,” Dietrich explains. The building’s “very uneven” layout, including steps up, corners, and a kitchen in the basement accessed by a dumbwaiter, presented safety concerns for those with limited mobility.
The decision to relocate the remaining sisters was made with great care. By autumn 2019, St. Michael’s stood empty. “And we know it’s not good to have an empty building because it knows it’s empty and it starts to deteriorate,” Dietrich says.
The question then became, what next? The Sisters of St. Joseph, as its owners, had complete discretion over the building’s destiny. They were determined to avoid turning to a generic developer. Their land ethic, a core tenet of their order, guided their thinking. “We had talks about caring for the earth, the watershed, green space, and the old trees,” explained Dietrich, who was on the leadership team overseeing the sale of St. Michael’s.
Another guiding principle for the Sisters of St. Joseph is the concept of always trying to be a “dear neighbor.” This philosophy informed their approach to the sale. The sisters asked the neighbors, “What do you think we should do?” This question led to some lively discussions among neighbors about pooling resources to purchase the property, perhaps converting it into two luxury apartments while preserving the exterior and as much of the interior as possible. However, the costs and challenges of such a conversion quickly became apparent, making it untenable.
The sisters were acutely aware of the impact on their neighbors. The sale of a large plot of land could be upsetting. “We were very concerned about their well being,” Larkin said. The motive was not simply to sell off the site, but to place it in the hands of “another trusted owner, someone who would care for it for a period of time as we did.” The goal was a stewardship model, not a quick transaction.