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Fate of Pittsfield Convent Building Remains Uncertain
By Joe Durwin, iBerkshires Correspondent
02:12AM / Tuesday, January 19, 2016
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The future of the former St. Joseph's convent on North Street is uncertain. The parish wishes to demolish the structure; the Historical Commission is waiting for more information.

The parish in 2009 said it had exhausted all attempts to find new uses for the Victorian building.

The convent is being used for storage at the moment.

At one point

Stained glass elements are still intact.

Piled blankets indicating someone may have found shelter in the vacant building.

There areas of damage throughout the building.

At one point, at least 30 Sisters of St. Joseph called the convent home.

Oak casings, doors and stairways are throughout the structure.

There had been discussions of using the convent as a parish center, homeless shelter or transitional housing - but it was too expensive to retrofit the 118-year-old structure.


PITTSFIELD, Mass. — It remains unclear what the new year will bring for another longtime downtime landmark, as the application process to demolish the former convent building at St. Joseph's remains on pause pending further information from the applicant.

City Planner Cornelius Hoss confirmed last week that the city has still not received supplemental data requested by the Historical Commission at its Nov. 16 meeting, including a more updated history of the 118-year-old fixture at 350 North St., once the original home of what is now Elms College.

It has been more than six years since St. Joseph's announced it had exhausted all options for reuse of the adjacent former convent building, and the parish says its continued presence has become too great a liability and financial burden.

"I hope it can go through the process," said Historical Commissioner Kathleen Reilly following a recent tour of the vacant former convent, "I think it's not in such horrible shape that it can't be saved."

Initially, St Joseph's had applied to the Historical Commission for a predetermination in April 2009, with an eye toward demolishing the convent building to replace it with a new parish center. This plan was ultimately modified and the new Parish Center constructed immediately behind the empty structure.

The renewed application is identical to the previous, but the Historical Commission says it lacks a valid Form B document on the building, and it cannot review the request without more substantial information about the property.

"We have to hold everyone to the same standard," said Reilly.

Built on the site of what had previously held the skating rink within the old Pittsfield Coliseum, the four-story high Victorian edifice was completed in 1897 and first in use as St. Joseph's Academy, which became the Academy of Our Lady of the Elms, but by the turn of the century this was relocated to land newly acquired in Chicopee by the Springfield Diocese.

As a convent for St. Joseph's, the 69,696 square foot building housed up to 30 residents at its peak, but had dropped to only four by the time of its closing in 1981. Today, the Sisters of St. Joseph number less than 300 nuns statewide, and no longer have any active convents.

After that the building was for a time in use by Hillcrest Educational Center, and was last occupied by the Sisters of the Visitation in the mid-90s.

Unheated and admittedly unmaintained because of lack of funds, the building is now used for some miscellaneous storage by St. Joseph's. Within, petrified remains of long dead squirrels and signs of persons sleeping in the building in recent months speak to the building's current status.

At one time, St. Joseph's had hoped to convert the building into a Parish Center, and conducted substantial fundraising toward that end, according to a representative, attorney Mark Brennan.

"We've always attempted to get a new use for the building," said Brennan, who noted that the original cost to do so at the time was estimated at around $800,000. "With the changes in the building code, that cost tripled into the millions."

Brennan said at one time St. Joseph's had also explored the possibility of converting the building into a homelessness shelter or transitional housing, but had found the costs similarly prohibitive.

Selling the building had also been considered, but the close proximity to the main church as well as the newer Parish Center narrows the range of uses that would be considered acceptable, Brennan said.

"I don't think condos would be acceptable to the church," Brennan told the commissioners.

Brennan has indicated that there are "no objections" to the additional documentation the commission has asked for, and that a temporary delay of demolition from the city is already anticipated.

Under the city's current ordinance on demolitions, any building over 75 years old for which demolition is sought must first be reviewed by the Historical Commission, which can decide whether or not to recommend a six-month pause on the application while additional options are sought. The recommendation must then be approved by the Community Development Board.

Since the ordinance was written in 2007, the Commission has only twice invoked the delay, in the April 2012 for the former Plunkett School, ultimately demolished in June 2014, and in March 2013 for a former Crane & Co building on Dalton Avenue, now currently in the final stages of renovation to open as a medical clinic.

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