Urschel Administration Building

Frequently referred to as an urban oasis, the Southwest Campus has been a place for learning and growth for 165+ years. The buildings and campus originally comprised the Ursuline Convent and Academy, established in 1851. The campus is an architectural treasure, imbued with the charm of age and the dynamic energy of its location – along a section of river the Irish Nuns poetically dubbed “The Meander” referring to the curvaceous route unique to this section of the river’s journey. Following the Civil War, the Urshel Building (also known as the Dormitory Building) was constructed from locally quarried limestone in 1866. Bishop Claude Dubuis brought the three-faced clock on top of the building from France in 1868. Downstairs were classrooms, the dining room and other common use spaces. The upper story porches, or galleries, were added sometime after the 1870s. On the second floor, along a wide central hallway, were the rooms for boarding students. Each girl slept in a spool bed that featured a tall frame with a white curtain that could be drawn on the side and along the aisle to form a private nook. Beside each bed stood a personal washstand, stool, a clothes hook, area rug and a white chamber pot underneath. In 1910, these rooms became the primary residence for the nuns.