St. Dominic Priory

St. Dominic Priory was built in 1908. Designed by Barnett, Haynes and Barnett, who also designed the St. Louis Cathedral Basilica, it is closely based on the design of Osterley Park, a country house located outside of London. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992. The building was originally home to the Loretto Academy, an all-girls Catholic high school operated by the Sisters of Loretto that opened in 1909. In 1952, Loretto Academy closed and consolidated with Nerinx Hall in Webster Groves, MO. Since 1952, the building served as a day-care center and then a convent for retired Loretto sisters until 1988. Most recently, an association of religious congregations administered an apartment community for impoverished women and children in the building. In 2009, changes in federal rent subsidies forced the closure of the association. The building was purchased in 2010 by the Dominicans of the Provinces of St. Martin de Porres and St. Albert the Great to provide a permanent home for the community of men in formation for the priesthood and brotherhood. The friars moved in on December 15, 2011.