Mt Alvernia Motherhouse
146 Hawthorne Rd
10 am - 4 pm
This location is also a shuttle bus stop.
Wheelchair Accessible Entrance: NO
Wheelchair Accessible Restrooms: NO
Public Restrooms: NO
Photography Allowed: YES
YOUR EXPERIENCE
Be amazed at the sheer size and craftsmanship of the campus and its buildings as you approach along the winding front drive. You'll enter through the main porch and explore a portion of the historic space on the first floor of the Motherhouse, including the dining room, priest's dining room, and former chapel. The original woodwork, pocket doors, built-ins and incredible staircases are a treat to see!
ABOUT THIS BUILDING
The Mt. Alvernia campus of the Sisters of St. Francis in Millvale is eligible for listing in the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district. The Sisters of St. Francis were a teaching and nursing order of nuns who moved to Millvale from the South Side of Pittsburgh in 1900.
The campus served multiple purposes as a convent and a school where they educated teachers to work in the Catholic/parochial schools of Pittsburgh and western PA. The Motherhouse at Mt. Alvernia included a Catholic preparatory school for aspirant sisters aged 13-16 to complete their education before they entered the novitiate. This institution had both day students and residential students who lived in the adjacent St. Clare Hall as a dormitory and grew to become an accredited, comprehensive Catholic girls high school.
The sisters renovated the basement of the Motherhouse as classroom spaces for Mt. Alvernia High School in 1957, and the school remained there until its closure in 2011. The Sisters of St Francis closed the Motherhouse in 2019 and sold the campus.