“With zeal have I been zealous for the Lord God of Hosts.”
That is the motto of the Order of the Discalced Carmelites, widely believed to be the strictest Catholic female order with its roots reaching all the way back to the 12th Century in Palestine. The order then spread throughout the world, including in Wheeling in 1917. The Mount Carmel Monastery located at 102 Carmel Road in Woodsdale was designed by Frederick Farris, an architect who also created the blueprints for the former Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel headquarters, Madison School, and the Wheeling YWCA.
Farris noted his Spanish-style design for the monastery was in honor of St. Teresa of Spain, according to the Ohio County Public Library’s archives.
For the Carmelite nuns, each day began at 5:30 a.m., included several periods of prayer, the celebration of Mass at 7:30 a.m., two meals, and an 11 p.m. bedtime. They were to be silent in solitude while living a life of prayer and poverty while experiencing no interaction with anyone from outside the monastery’s ivy-covered walls.
It was a cloistered life lived by the sisters out of love for God.
Preservation of History
The Mount Carmel Monastery was vacated and sold in 1975, and the Carmelite nuns were related to another religious community in Danville, Pa. Since, the monastery has had several owners who have utilized the historic structure as a lawyer’s office and as an apartment building for college students in the area. During the past 46 years, dropped ceiling and walls have been added the maximize space, but the alterations to Farris’ design now are being removed.
Roxby Development purchased the Mount Carmel Monastery in February 2020 with plans to renovate the structure into a 17-room boutique hotel. Although the coronavirus pandemic slowed progress and has delayed its opening, many interior and exterior improvements continue to take place. Events such as luncheons, dinners, birthday parties, baby showers, and marriage proposals have taken place in the courtyard, and many more already are scheduled throughout 2021.
Once the renovation and preservation are complete, “The Monastery Hotel” will open as the seventh hotel in the city of Wheeling.
Roxby Creative Director Timothy O’Malley photographed the monastery’s courtyard area and also used a drone to create a perspective of the size of the historic structure.
