The Council of Independent Colleges: Historic Campus Architecture Project

Loyola Hall

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Loyola Hall (period photograph of Frederick P. Hays residence, 1902), Saint Joseph's University

Institution Name: Saint Joseph's University
Original/Historic Place Name: Loyola Center
Location on Campus:
Date(s) of Construction:

1893	original construction Johnson, Lindley

Designer: Lindley Johnson
Type of Place: Individual building
Style: Victorian, Beaux-Arts classicism (Glossary)
Significance: education, history, religion
Narrative: see below
References: see below

Materials:

Foundation:

Walls:

Roof:

Function:

1893-1927	private residence
1927-1938	other (official residence of Cardinal Archbishop of Philadelphia)

Narrative:
The Loyola Center (Jesuit Residence) was built in 1893 for Frederick P. Hays. The architect was Lindley Johnson (1854-1937), who worked in the office of Frank Furness after graduation from the Ecole des Beaux-Arts. He is best known for his residential work and the development of Fairmont Park, where he designed a number of structures. He designed at least one--and possibly three--other houses on the campus of St. Joseph's University. He also designed for the University of Pittsburgh.

Loyola Hall was presented to Dennis Cardinal Dougherty as a gift in 1927, and it served as the official residence of the Cardinal Archbishop of Philadelphia until 1938. During Dougherty's time in the house, Dr. Albert C. Barnes, owner of the Barnes Foundation, built a 10 foot high wall along the property line which he shared with the cardinal. Labeled "Dr. Barnes' Spite Fence" in the Philadelphia newspapers, construction of this wall ended in a legal dispute because Barnes had the wall nicely finished on his side and left the wall unfinished and unstable on the cardinal's side. The purpose of the wall was to screen the view of new housing construction on a nearby street, a view that offended Barnes's artistic sensibilities when seen from his arboretum. The wall remains to this day.

References:

Catholic Herald. [n.d.].

Contosta, David R. Saint Joseph's: Philadelphia's Jesuit University, 150 years. Philadelphia, PA: Saint Joseph's University Press, 2001.

Donnelly, Eleanor C. A Memoir of Father Felix Joseph Barbelin, S. J. Philadelphia, PA: Frank A. Fasy, 1866.

Kathrens, Michael C. American Splendor, The Residential Architecture of Horace Trumbauer. New York: Acanthus Press, 2002.

Noll, Ray Robert. "A History of St. Joseph's College, Philadelphia, Pa. Before the Civil War." Manuscript. Archives, Saint Joseph's University, Philadelphia, PA.

Philadelphia Catholic Standard and Times. [n.d.].

Public Ledger. [n.d.].

Talbot, Francis X. Jesuit Education in Philadelphia: St. Joseph's College. 1851-1926. Philadelphia, PA: Saint Joseph's University Press, 1927.

Thomas, George E. William L. Price Arts and Crafts to Modern Design. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2000.