Mary Manse College / Collingwood Arts Center

The former Mary Manse College of the Ursuline Sisters, now the Collingwood Arts Center.  More posts on its history HERE.

 

Mary Manse College

"Of all the words of tongue and pen, the saddest are these; it might have been."
This is Edward O. Fallis' design for the Ursuline Academy ( later Mary Manse College, and now the Collingwood Arts Center ), in the Old West End. There were to be fifteen buildings, interconnected and arranged around three courtyards. He even included a power plant. That's it, with the stack, at the lower left. The chapel's to the right, flanked by two smaller courtyards. The most interesting feature is the gatehouse tower, at the upper right. Oh, my goodness, I'd have liked to have seen that built.
Construction was started in 1903, but obviously it was never finished. Only the music building, academy, and auditorium were built. Take a good look at them sometime. They have a definite air of isolation about them, as if something's missing.

Mary Manse College, Old West End

I attended the Old West End festival and one of the houses I toured was the Gerber home. It was part of the Mary Manse College at one point and the 3 windows on the bottom right used to be a kindergarten room.

 

Mary Manse Documentary

WGTE has produced a documentary about Mary Manse College, the Catholic women's college formerly in Toledo's Old West End.  You can watch it HERE.

Mary Manse College, Old West End

Mary Manse College, Old West End

I won't go so far as to, like the swallows, call it the house of the perfect eaves, but they're certainly among the most interesting I've seen.

Mary Manse College, Toledo

The auditorium, from a 1944 post card.

The college is now the Collingwood Arts Center.

Mary Manse College, Old West End

You can see how that wall looks as if it's been cut off. The house in the front was built by Christian Gerber in 1872.

Photos: Toledo-Lucas County Public Library