Saint Raymond’s Convent & Dominican Sisters

About this Property

#Redevelopment

This building is a lovely Gothic Revival with brick and cast concrete exterior details. It looks more like a stately home than a former religious building. It was converted into 11 apartments in late 2020 and into 2021.

According to the architect’s website, the grade at the south and west sides of the building was lowered to create garden level entries to the former basement. Two large shed dormers on the hipped roof replace two smaller individual dormers and increase the ceiling height of the third floor units.¹

The original first floor included a chapel, kitchen, and dining hall. The original second floor included many small and narrow sleeping cells for the nuns (7’-8” wide and equipped with a sink and small closet) and the Mother Superior’s room with a private porch. The original third floor had three small sleeping rooms with small dormers and low ceilings under the hipped roof. […] Preserved details include wood trim and paneling, flared plaster window openings with ornate rounded wood trim, exterior covered porches, arched plaster openings, and original fir wood floors. Where walls were removed, […] original wood floors were patched to show where the original walls were located.²

Developer Ghassan Daou is the Lebanese-Canadian proprietor of Café l’Artisan in Wayland Square.³ This building was the second project in a three-project development of this portion of the 8th, Highland Ave, 9th Street, and North Main.

Reception

The development did not get much press attention. It was mentioned as part of an article by William Morgan that talked positively about the developments next door at the former St. Raymond’s Rectory.

#Current Events

The eleven studio or one-bedroom apartments seem to be all rented up. Photos of the units are available online through rental sites like Zillow and Trulia.

#History

No formal history captured in any of the usual reports. Not part of a designated historic district. Though the convent is the oldest of the buildings commissioned by Saint Raymond’s church, they share similar design elements with the brick and stonework.

This structure first appears on a Sanborn Map from 1951. It was not present on the 1920 map, and the 1951 map labels the building outline as “St. Raymond’s Convent 1925”. Source: “1951 Sanborn Insurance Map, Volume 2, Plate 91” accessed 26 April 2025 from http://hdl.loc.gov/loc.gmd/g3774pm.g3774pm_g08099195102 (page 102).

In 1985, nearby Miriam Hospital purchased the convent building from Saint Raymond’s to relocate their finance department offices. The hospital paid $137,500 for the large home and the last two nuns in residence moved to a nearby apartment. The purchase represented a northern expansion and rankled some of the Summit neighbors who were wary of additional encroachment.⁴

In a Providence Journal article, The Rev. James D. Keating, was quoted saying the convent closing was in line with “the story of the Catholic Church all over the country” as religious vocations have decreased. He said the home once housed more than a dozen nuns who taught at the parish school (up the street to the east). It was more economical to house the two remaining nuns in an apartment than to maintain the convent.⁵

By 1993, the convent building was for sale again. It was listed for $250,000 at the time.⁶