Photography
Poor Clares: An Inside View
September 22, 2011 | by Peter Woodall
The Monastery of St. Clare isn’t completely demolished, at least not yet. Read the latest on its fate
here
Tags: demolition Francisville historic buildings Monastery of St. Clare Poor Clares
About the Author
Peter Woodall Peter Woodall is the Project Director of Hidden City Philadelphia. He is a graduate of the UC Berkeley School of Journalism, and a former newspaper reporter with the Biloxi Sun Herald and the Sacramento Bee. He worked as a producer for Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane and wrote a column about neighborhood bars for PhiladelphiaWeekly.com.
Glad you got some shots before the wrecking ball came. I always wanted a look in there but never made it.
This saddens me to find this old complex of buildings demolished. I remember as a very young boy visiting my aunt here who was a nun. Because they were a cloistered sect, the visitation room where we were allowed to visit with her on a Sunday afternoon only permitted her to be behind a wire screen. It always felt like a prison to me as a young boy.
On a happier note, they had a really big building when they moved to Langhorne, PA. My aunt eventually started a new monastery for the Poor Clares out in Cincinnati, OH where she lives today.