St Joseph’s Convent, that magnificent Edwardian Gothic edifice built 108 years ago and relinquished by the Church in 1995, is on the market again.
I will quote just a scrap of its history from the Glen Innes Examiner of October 15, 1917, under the heading ‘A Triumph of Architectural Genius’:
“…The first Sisters of the Order of St Joseph came from Adelaide and accompanied by Bishop Torreggiani arrived by coach in Glen Innes on 15th January 1884 … They intended to establish a first-class school straightaway, but owing to insufficient accommodation they were compelled to restrict their operations – however it was not long before a suitable [wooden] convent was erected for them which tended to serve the purpose for the time being.”
Later the building was added to … still the place grew, and further additions had to be made to keep up with the requirements.
The advent of boarders necessitated the need for more teaching accommodation and after the 1909 opening of the new church built by James Lonsdale, the original church became a schoolroom.
At length it was realised this convent building had outlived its usefulness and the time had arrived for the sisters to look to building a new home for themselves and their large number of boarders.
“…The official opening and blessing of the new convent [by Bishop Dr Patrick J O’Connor] took place yesterday afternoon in the presence of over 2,000 people of all denominations preceded by three masses in the course of the morning.”
The bishop said the building, which was an ornament to the town, was to the credit of the mastermind of the architect F J O’Connor.
The design was one thing, but the erection was another, but they were fortunate in securing the master builder of NSW Mr G F Nott of Armidale.
The new building was erected on the site of an old windmill standing in the convent grounds. The main music room today stands where this once was.
The main building had cost £7006/10/6, architectural fees brought this up to £7400, the back portion a further £2417/13/10 and portion of the furniture £459 – a total £10950. This amount included the furnishings except for the boarder’s studies to which the boarders of the time contributed.
At one stage there were 40 girls living in the Convent.
