Alverno Heights Academy, formerly Alverno High School, is an independent,

Catholic The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...

, College-prep

high school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

for girls located in

Sierra Madre, California Sierra Madre ( Spanish for "mother range") is a city in Los Angeles County, California, whose population was 10,917 at the 2010 U.S. Census, up from 10,580 at the time of the 2000 U.S. Census. The city is in the foothills of the San Gabriel V ...

, near Pasadena. The school is on the former Villa del Sol d’Oro estate. Due to Alverno High's unique

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing buildings ...

and grounds the school has been used in many TV shows and movies, also weddings. On February 21, 2023, Alverno's trustees announced that its high school ("Upper School") will close on June 2, 2023. The K-8 "Lower School" will remain open.

History

The school building and grounds, were part of Villa del Sol d’Oro, owned and built by Dr. Walter Jarvis Barlow and his wife Marion Brooks Barlow in 1924. Dr. Walter had architect

Wallace Neff Edwin Wallace Neff (January 28, 1895 – June 8, 1982) was an architect based in Southern California and was largely responsible for developing the region's distinct architectural style referred to as "California" style. Neff was a student of ...

build the Italian

Villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the fall of the Roman Republic, villas became ...

, completed in 1928. The Villa is a two-thirds scale replica of the 1534 Villa Collazzi near

Florence Florence ( ; it, Firenze ) is a city in Central Italy and the capital city of the Tuscany region. It is the most populated city in Tuscany, with 383,083 inhabitants in 2016, and over 1,520,000 in its metropolitan area.Bilancio demografico ...

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

The couple raise three children at the villa. Dr. Barlow was from New York and opened a

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious disease usually caused by '' Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can also affect other parts of the body. Most infections show no symptoms, ...

sanatorium in

Echo Park, Los Angeles Echo Park is a neighborhood in the east-central region of Los Angeles, California. Located to the northwest of Downtown, it is bordered by Silver Lake to the west and Chinatown to the east. The culturally diverse neighborhood has become known f ...

in 1902, this later became the

Barlow Respiratory Hospital The Barlow Respiratory Hospital is a hospital located in the Elysian Park neighborhood of Echo Park, near Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, California. The hospital operates satellite sites in Van Nuys, California and in Whittier, California. Origin ...

. Dr. Barlow died in 1937 of tuberculosis. Five years after Walter died in 1942, Marion sold Villa del Sol d’Oro and its 13-acres to the Sisters of St. Francis, followers of

St. Francis of Assisi Giovanni di Pietro di Bernardone, better known as Saint Francis of Assisi ( it, Francesco d'Assisi; – 3 October 1226), was a mystic Italian Catholic friar, founder of the Franciscans, and one of the most venerated figures in Christianit ...

. The Sisters hoped to use the Villa, now called "Provincial Center," as a

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Angl ...

, from which to provide education, childcare, and health care to Catholic immigrants in and around Sierra Madre. The Sisters, seeing a need for education for young women, started an all-girls high school originally called "Alverno Heights Academy," with classes beginning in 1960. The school added athletics and community service and other activities over the years. In 1978, the Sisters of St. Francis formally turned the school and property over to another religious order, the Board of the Immaculate Heart Community, the current legal sponsors of Alverno. In 1982–83, the exterior shots for the NBC TV mini series "V" made use of the school and Villa for the Alien headquarters. In the Summer of 2016

Lady Bird (film) ''Lady Bird'' is a 2017 American coming-of-age comedy-drama film written and directed by Greta Gerwig in her solo directorial debut. Set in Sacramento, California from fall 2002 to fall 2003, the film tells the story of a high school senior an ...

was filmed at Alverno Heights Academy as a stand in for the Sacramento all girls Catholic high school St. Francis High School (Sacramento, California). In 2016 Alverno High School changed its name back to its original name ''Alverno Heights Academy''. alvernoheightsacademy.org, History
/ref> Citing a 50% decrease in enrollment over the prior decade, the school plans to close its "Upper School" (high school) on June 2, 2023. The

coed Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

K-8 "Lower School" will remain open.

References

External links

Alverno Heights Academy
* {{authority control Roman Catholic secondary schools in Los Angeles County, California Educational institutions established in 1960 Girls' schools in California High schools in Los Angeles County, California 1960 establishments in California Sierra Madre, California Catholic secondary schools in California

History

See also

References

External links