The Aquinas 1972-02-24

              Inside the' Jesuit Estate
- Completed in 1871 at a cost of over
$1-50,000, the Scranton family home has
served as the main campus Jesuit residence
since 1942, when the Jesuit Community
assumed control of the University
of Scranton from the Christian
Brothers. In a recent tour of the residence,
Aquinas Photo Editor Glenn
Houston captured on film some of the
Victorian elegance which is as much a
. part of the house today as it was when
William Scranton's family moved into
THE AQUINAS
the home at 4 Ridge Rowan Thanksgiving
of 1871.
The twenty-five-room house, which
took four years to build, was designed
by New York architect Russell Sturgis,
who also designed the Yale University
chapel and the Flower Hospital in New
York City. The project was contracted
by Joseph Hand Scranton, great-grandfather
of Pennsylvania Governor William
W. Scranton.
The original account book for build-
The double oak doors within the main
entrance, each over ten feet tall, open into
a spacious foyer. The tile floor was designed
by the same artist who designed the floor
of the Capitol Rotunda in Washington.
ing the house shows that blasting of the
rock knoll which marked the site of the
home was begun on April 27, 1867.
Stone for the exterior walls was apparently
cut on the site during the year,
and 45,000 bricks and three railroad cars
of lumber were delivered in the spring
of 1868. Orders for roofing materials and
window trim placed in 1870 indicate
that the walls and roof of the building
were reaching completion by that dat~.
During the latter part of 1870 and the
the first half uf 1871, interior work was
progressing, following the delivery of
large amounts of various woods as well
as orders of tile and Italian marble. Furniture
was in place in the house by N0vember
of 1871.
The house and the estate grounds, exclusive
of the property now occupied by
the President's office building, the
greenhouse, and the University Print
Shop, were deeded to the Diocese of
Scranton in trust for the University of
Scranton on December 17, 1941 by
Worthington Scranton, father of the former
Pennsylvania Governor. Although
Scranton originally intended that the
house be used as a museum or library
rather than as a .residence, he was later
openly pleased with the way in which
the Jesuit residents preserved the home.
Today the house is filled to capacity
with 16 Jesuits in residence; other
priests live in the dormitories and in
off-campus apartments.
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