The Council of Independent Colleges: Historic Campus Architecture Project

Neumann Hall

Click on image titles for larger views.

Neumann Hall (three-quarter view), Mercyhurst College

Neumann Hall (front facade), Mercyhurst College

Institution Name: Mercyhurst College
Original/Historic Place Name: Father's House
Location on Campus: 16 W. Division St.
Date(s) of Construction:

1893-1894

original construction

Designer: unknown
Type of Place: Individual building
Style: Gothic revival, Romanesque revival, Victorian, Other (Glossary)
Significance: architecture, education, religion
Narrative: see below
References: see below

Materials:

Foundation: stone

Walls: stone

Roof: slate

Function:

1894-1991	residence hall (for Redemptorist fathers at St. Mary's Seminary)
ca. 2004-present (2006)	administration (admissions, financial aid, and board room on 1st floor)
ca. 2004-present (2006)	residence hall

Narrative:
Neumann Hall has for the past 12 years been used primarily as a residential hall for Mercyhurst College, North East. It remains in excellent condition. Until 1991, the building was knows as the Fathers' House and was part of St. Mary's Seminary, affiliated with the Society of the Holy Redeemer (Redemptorists.) The entire seminary was sold to Mercyhurst College that year.
The grey stone building was a landmark structure in northeast Pennsylvania from the time it was built in 1893-1894 to the present. A major fire on campus gutted the adjacent student building (know as Old Main), but fire doors prevented the flames from damaging the Fathers' House. The building was repaired and renovated in 1978.

St. Mary's Seminary was a central part of the Redemptorist Fathers' organization in the Untied States. Over the 111 years it was open, hundreds of future priests in that order were educated in Neumann's walls. Students received not only an academic education, they were also made familiar with the world of agriculture. The seminary grounds included a vineyard and other agricultural plots. An astronomical observatory was also constructed on the grounds and remains there today.

Prior to the Redemptorists' arrival in 1881, the first building was knows as Lake Shore Seminary, a Methodist institution. It opened in 1858.

References: