page_title: Tenley Campus
section_title: Church use
hierarchical_section_title: Tenley Campus / History / Church use
caption_attribution_description: English: Two Immaculata High School students walk towards Loretta Hall (later named Federal Hall by American University); Immaculata Seminary and its chapel can be seen to the left
context_page_description: The Immaculata Seminary Historic District, commonly known as Tenley Campus, is an 8.2-acre parcel of land, located off of Tenley Circle in the Northwest Washington, D.C. neighborhood of Tenleytown. The site of Dunblane, an early to mid-nineteenth century Federal/Greek Revival-style manor house, it was once part of a large country estate on the outskirts of the capital city, owned by a succession of prominent Georgetown residents. From 1904 to 1906, the land was acquired by the Catholic Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, who, for decades, operated all-girls primary, secondary, and postsecondary schools there under the Immaculata name, before being forced to shutter due to financial issues. Since 1986, it has been a satellite campus of American University, which purchased the site in part because of its proximity to Tenleytown station on the Red Line of the Washington Metro. It currently houses the school's Washington College of Law.
  The district reflects Tenleytown's evolution from a rural Washington County community to a densely-populated streetcar suburb, as well as the Catholic Church's role in education, particularly of women, during the twentieth century.
context_section_description: In 1902, with the support of Father Joseph C. Mallon, pastor of St. Ann Catholic Church in Tenleytown, the Sisters of Providence of Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, an order of religious sisters based in Indiana, announced plans to open a religious school in northwest Washington on land purchased from St. Ann's rectory. Two years later, another plot of land, this one across the street, was bought to spare the rectory from demolition. The plans followed a request by Cardinal James Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, for the establishment of a "select school for girls" in the District. A new building for this purpose was designed by architect Albert Olszewski Von Herbulis, and, on July 2, 1904, the cornerstone was placed atop what the Sisters dubbed "Mount Marian."
  The Seminary of Our Lady Immaculate – or "Immaculata," for short – was completed the following year. It was so named in honor of the golden jubilee of Pope Pius IX's Ineffabilis Deus, which defined the dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary. On September 8, the school hosted Cardinal Gibbons, who blessed the structure and then helped conduct a solemn high mass at St. Ann's; a sermon written for the occasion was given by F. X. McCarthy of Washington's St. Aloysius Church. Additional guests at the ceremonies included Bishop of Indianapolis Silas Chatard, President David H. Buel of Georgetown University, and other representatives of Catholic churches and organizations from around the region. Mother Superior Mary Cleophas Foley, also present, received a congratulatory letter from Cardinal Sebastiano Martinelli in Rome, passing along well-wishes on behalf of Pope Pius X. In 1906, the Sisters purchased the rear portion of the block, consolidating the land that would later comprise the U.S. historic district.
  On December 8, 1955, the day of the Feast of the Immaculate Conception, Amleto Cicognani, Apostolic Delegate to the United States laid the cornerstones for three new buildings at Immaculata: Marian, Loretta, and Regina Halls.
caption: Two Immaculata students walking outside Loretta Hall on Yuma Street, circa 1965. Immaculata Hall and its chapel can be seen on the left.
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