Passionist Fathers Monastery

The Passionist Fathers Monastery, designed by Chicago architect Joseph Molitor and completed in 1910, is an exemplary early twentieth-century monastery with Classical, Baroque, and Romanesque style detailing (popular during the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries). The monastery delivers a commanding presence and remains one of the largest and most renowned religious structures in Chicago's Norwood Park community. 

The Passionist congregation, a Roman Catholic religious order, dates back to the early 1700s, with the nation's first Passionist monastery organized in Pittsburgh. In 1903, Rev. Stephen Keeley, C.P., the provincial of the St. Paul of the Cross Passionist Province in Pittsburgh, petitioned the Archdiocese of Chicago for permission to establish and staff a monastery there. The religious organization viewed Chicago as a crucial component of its westward expansion because of its central location, railroad access, and rapidly increasing population.  

Passionist Father Felix Ward traveled from the Passionist monastery in Louisville, Kentucky, to Chicago and purchased fifty-four acres of a 117-acre horse-breeding farm owned by Solomen Burnhan; the property included a house and orchards from Burnhan's estate. The group built a small frame church on the property and enlarged the house (in 1904) to serve as a Passionist retreat. The church served the newly created Immaculate Conception Parish, which encompassed portions of Norwood Park and several other nearby communities. The Passionists directly assisted in developing many additional parishes throughout Chicago's northwest side. Moreover, the fathers developed plans to build a new monastery on the land to function as a headquarters, making Chicago the base of the organization's westward reaches (its "Holy Cross Province"). Throughout much of the twentieth century, many of the priests in Norwood went on to establish new foundations in such states as California, Texas, and Alabama, as well as international locations as far as Asia, the South Pacific, and the Caribbean. 

The Passionists hired Chicago architect Joseph Molitor to design the new, expansive building to serve as the centerpiece of the Passionists' property in Norwood. Molitor was born in Austrian Bohemia in 1875 and immigrated to the United States in 1884. Like many, he arrived in Chicago during the height of the World's Columbian Exposition in 1894. One year later, he worked in Chicago as a draftsman. He eventually established an independent practice during the early 1900s, specializing in religious architecture, mainly Roman Catholic churches and monasteries. Although many of his buildings arose in Chicago proper, the Passionists project occurred in Norwood, a budding neighborhood well outside the city's central business center.

Europeans first settled the Norwood Park area (and Chicago in general) during the early nineteenth century, notably by the 1830s. Norwood Park began as a rural farmland community separated from Chicago until a rail line in 1853 connected Norwood to the quickly-growing metropolis. Norwood Park was incorporated as a village in 1874, and then Chicago annexed the community in 1893. Norwood Park differs from Chicago in that it does not follow the city's grid layout of streets and structures. The original planners (speculators and investors) chose the winding layout to adhere to the nationwide progressive trend of embracing green space and fresh air instead of the crowded, urban scenes popular in the downtowns of the nation's largest cities. Soon after Norwood Park's 1874 incorporation, the community took measures to protect its "Picturesque model." As a result, even to this day, the community's winding roads, interwoven with mini-subdivisions and abounding in trees, allow the area to enjoy a park-like appearance. 

During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the nation embraced the Classical Revival style of architecture, which took its inspiration from ancient Greece and Rome. The style's popularity was boosted during the 1893 World's Fair (Columbian Exposition) in Chicago because of the massive "White City" of Classical Revival-style exposition buildings and monuments built on the grounds of the Exposition. The Passionist Fathers Monastery's architecture resembled the era's Classical Revival trend. Still, the additional Baroque Revival and Romanesque Revival features also speak to a slow transition into new styles that arrived during the early and middle twentieth century. In addition to the Passionist Fathers Monastery's grand design, it opened in 1910 as one of Norwood Park's largest structures.

The building served many purposes, both for the community and as an educational center. The new facility operated as a seminary for students and theologians planning to become Passionist monks, known as the Passionist Academic Institute. The facility was also the first Passionist monastery designed with rooms reserved for laypeople (non-members) to use as retreats. A brochure published at the time detailed how the new building would be open to men (notably middle-class businessmen) seeking to take a spiritual vacation, noting that "the new building is purposefully located in the northwestern section of Chicago, practically in the country and yet a stone's throw away from the business center." As such, the Passionist Fathers Monastery proved a natural fit for the community. Like the neighborhood's Picturesque model, the Passionist's congregation offered its facility as a place of retreat and an escape from the city's noise and crowdedness in the monastery's peaceful and natural environment."

By the late 1920s, Norwood's Passionist congregation fell into debt and found it challenging to maintain the massive property they purchased in 1903. Even with the structures and expansive gardens, the organization used less than half of the sprawling land they owned. So, the Passonists decided to sell the unused land to pay off the debts. Still, the congregation and Norwood Parish continued to thrive, peaking during the early 1960s when the monastery housed sixty-one Passionists, including twenty-five seminarians. 

However, by 1985, the number of monastery residents fell by half, and the decline continued until less than a dozen priests and brothers resided at the Passionist Fathers Monastery property; the Passionists put the building up for sale in 2007, 104 years after buying the land. By 2013, with help via loans from the City of Chicago, the historic building underwent a lengthy renovation and transitioned into a senior living apartment complex. 

Cherone, Heather. "Northwest Side Monastery to be Transformed into Senior Housing." Block Club Chicago. DNAinfo.com. July 31, 2013. https://www.dnainfo.com/chicago/20130731/norwood-park/northwest-side-monastery-be-transformed-into-senior-housing/.

"Norwood Park. The Chicago Neighborhoods." https://www.thechicagoneighborhoods.com/neighborhoods/2018/10/6/norwood-park.

Ramsey, Emily. "Registration Form: Passionist Fathers Monastery." National Register of Historic Places. nps.gov. 2013. https://npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/faff20f9-9908-414a-9ee0-6a364fe7bbc4/.