On October 11, alumnae and alumni from City House and Barat Hall schools, Religious of the Sacred Heart and members of the Villa Duchesne community gathered at Villa for a blessing of a pedestal, the last surviving remnant of the City House and Barat Hall schools in St. Louis, Missouri.
City House was a boarding school founded by Saint Rose Philippine Duchesne in 1827 in downtown St. Louis. It moved to the Central West End neighborhood in 1893, where it remained until 1968 when the school was closed. In addition to educating girls, City House educated boys at Barat Hall, which opened in 1893.
Originally, a statue of the Sacred Heart stood atop the pedestal, but after City House's closing and later demolishment, the statue was eventually relocated to the Academy of the Sacred Heart in nearby St. Charles. The pedestal remained in the parking lot of an apartment building that was built on the former City House grounds and was never moved or demolished because of its size and the expense involved.
This past year, however, Villa Duchesne worked with the Villa Duchesne - City House Alumnae Association as well as a group of generous alums from Villa Duchesne, City House, and Barat Hall to have the pedestal moved to Villa’s campus.
“This had been a dream for so many for so long,” said Deborah Schlattman, director of advancement at Villa Duchesne. She said the process began in the fall of 2023 and the pedestal was moved on June 27, 2024. It now sits just outside the school’s portry door.
The Pedestal's move was fully donor funded, and the campaign was led by Bob Ciapciak, BH '66, and Mary Niemann Ciapciak, '75, and Jim and Molly McKeon Hyde, '75. City House and Barat Hall have had exceptionally dedicated alumnae and alumni and are a rich part of the Society of the Sacred Heart’s history in the United States.
As Abbot Gregoy Mohrman, OSB, himself a “Barat Hall boy,” blessed the statue with so many friends in attendance, many memories were stirred, and gratitude was renewed for past and future.
