The Council of Independent Colleges: Historic Campus Architecture Project

Assumption Hall

Click on image titles for larger views.

Assumption Hall (front facade, ca. 1907), Gwynedd-Mercy College

Assumption Hall (front facade, ca. 2004), Gwynedd-Mercy College

Assumption Hall (garden facade, ca. 2003), Gwynedd-Mercy College

Institution Name: Gwynedd-Mercy College
Original/Historic Place Name: Willow Brook (later, Treweryn), at Francis E. Bond
Location on Campus:
Date(s) of Construction:

1907	original construction Trumbauer, Horace

Designer: Horace Trumbauer
Type of Place: Individual building
Style: Beaux-Arts classicism, Colonial revival, Other (Glossary)
Significance: architecture
Narrative: see below
References: see below

Materials:

Foundation: brick

Walls: slate

Roof: white marble

Function:

ca. 1907	other (homes, stables, ice house)
ca. 1947	classrooms
ca. 1947	residence hall
ca. 1947	other (convent)
ca. 2004-present (2006)	administration

Narrative:
The Francis E. Bond family commissioned Horace Trumbauer to build Willow Brook and stables in 1906. The house was sold in 1914 to Roland Taylor, who renamed it "Treweryn."

In 1947 the house and 84 acres were sold to the Sisters of Mercy, and the house was renamed Assumption Hall. It has been used as a convent, student dormitory, and classroom building. Most recently it has served as an administration building.

References:

Kathrens, Michael C. American Splendor: The Residential Architecture of Horace Trumbauer. New York: Acanthus Press, 2002, 128-34.

"A New Influence in the Architecture of Philadelphia." Architectural Record (February 1904).

Ruth, Phil Johnson. Fair Land Gwynedd: A Pictorial History of Southeastern Pennsylvania's Gwynedd Township, Upper Gwynedd Township, and North Wales Borough. Souderton, PA: Merck, Sharp and Dohme, 1991, 111-18, 1160.