Top of page

Photo, Print, Drawing St. Catherine's Academy, St. Thomas Hall, 1520 Grand Avenue, San Rafael, Marin County, CA

[ Drawings from Survey HABS CA-2354-A  ]

More Resources

[ Data Pages from Survey HABS CA-2354-A  ]

About this Item

Title

  • St. Catherine's Academy, St. Thomas Hall, 1520 Grand Avenue, San Rafael, Marin County, CA

Names

  • Historic American Buildings Survey, creator
  • Pissis, Albert
  • Maul, David, transmitter

Created / Published

  • Documentation compiled after 1933

Headings

  • -  dormitories
  • -  offices
  • -  church schools
  • -  California -- Marin County -- San Rafael

Notes

  • -  Significance: St. Thomas Hall was the second significant building built by the Sisters of St. Dominic at their San Rafael Convent/Campus. It was built in 1912 as a Secondary School and Boarding facility. At least two later buildings built on the Campus were patterned after it, and reflect a similarity of design. Many generations of young women were educated here, and resided in the quarters upstairs. In spite of what now appears to be rudimentary sleeping and bathing facilities, the building is recalled with fondness by former students who have returned to visit as adults. It was designed by prominent Beaux Art-trained San Francisco architect Albert Pissis, and is typical of his designs for institutional uses, although he is better known for an earlier series of office and banking buildings built in San Francisco at the turn of the century. The site is currently a small portion of a larger acreage that includes the campus of the Dominican College of San Rafael, which was once owned and operated by the Sisters of St. Dominic. The college has been controlled by an independent Board since 1971. The area has been associated with religious and educational uses since the founding of the Dominican Convent of San Rafael in 1889. Following the 1990 fire in the Motherhouse, St. Thomas Hall has served as home and administrative facility for the Sisters; new facilities are now nearing completion, on the site of the Motherhouse. These events have combined to render St. Thomas Hall, an unreinforced masonry building, obsolete. Following the move to the new center, St. Thomas Hall will be demolished. Its significance derives largely from its historical role as a parochial educational facility, but it is also acknowledged to have architectural value, for its association with Albert Pissis. It is not a particularly well-known structure in the general community, because of the semi-cloistered context created by the original site plan. It has remained relatively unaltered throughout its eighty-plus years, but the costs associated with State-mandated structural upgrades, when combined with the building's obsolescence, have brought about the conditions leading to its proposed demolition later this year.
  • -  Survey number: HABS CA-2354-A
  • -  Building/structure dates: 1913 Initial Construction

Medium

  • Measured Drawing(s): 7
  • Data Page(s): 12

Call Number/Physical Location

  • HABS CAL,21-SANRA,3A-

Source Collection

  • Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress)

Repository

Control Number

  • ca2069

Rights Advisory

Online Format

  • image
  • pdf

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress does not own rights to material in its collections. Therefore, it does not license or charge permission fees for use of such material and cannot grant or deny permission to publish or otherwise distribute the material.

Ultimately, it is the researcher's obligation to assess copyright or other use restrictions and obtain permission from third parties when necessary before publishing or otherwise distributing materials found in the Library's collections.

For information about reproducing, publishing, and citing material from this collection, as well as access to the original items, see: Historic American Buildings Survey/Historic American Engineering Record/Historic American Landscape Survey (HABS/HAER/HALS) Collection - Rights and Restrictions Information

  • Rights Advisory: No known restrictions on images made by the U.S. Government; images copied from other sources may be restricted. https://aj.sunback.homes/rr/print/res/114_habs.html
  • Reproduction Number: ---
  • Call Number: HABS CAL,21-SANRA,3A-
  • Access Advisory: ---

Obtaining Copies

If Digital Images Are Displaying

You can download online images yourself. Alternatively, you can purchase copies of various types through Library of Congress Duplication Services.

HABS/HAER/HALS materials have generally been scanned at high resolution that is suitable for most publication purposes (see Digitizing the Collection for further details about the digital images).

  • Photographs--All photographs are printed from digital files to preserve the fragile originals.
    • Make note of the Call Number and Item Number that appear under the photograph in the multiple-image display (e.g., HAER, NY,52-BRIG,4-2).
    • If possible, include a printout of the photograph.
  • Drawings--All drawings are printed from digital files to preserve the fragile originals.
    • Make note of the Survey Number (e.g., HAER NY - 143) and Sheet Number (e.g., "Sheet 1 of 4"), which appear on the edge of the drawing. (NOTE: These numbers are visible in the Tiff "Reference Image" display.)
    • If possible, include a printout of the drawing.
  • Data Pages
    • Make note of the Call Number in the catalog record.

If Digital Images Are Not Displaying

In the rare case that a digital image for HABS/HAER/HALS documentation is not displaying online, select images for reproduction through one of these methods:

  • Visit the Prints & Photographs Reading Room and request to view the group (general information about service in the reading room is available at: https://aj.sunback.homes/rr/print/info/001_ref.html). It is best to contact reference staff in advance (see: https://aj.sunback.homes/rr/print/address.html) to make sure the material is on site. OR
  • P&P reading room staff can provide up to 15 quick copies of items per calendar year (many original items in the holdings are too old or fragile to make such copies, but generally HABS/HAER/HALS materials are in good enough condition to be placed on photocopy machines). For assistance, see our Ask a Librarian page OR
  • Hire a freelance researcher to do further selection for you (a list of researchers in available at: https://aj.sunback.homes/rr/print/resource/013_pic.html).
  • You can purchase copies of various types, including quick copies, through Library of Congress Duplication Services (price lists, contact information, and order forms for Library of Congress Duplication Services are available on the Duplication Services Web site):
    • Make note of the Call Number listed above.
    • Look at the Medium field above. If it lists more than one item:
      • The entire group can be ordered as photocopies or high-quality copies.
      • All the items in a particular medium (e.g., all drawings, all photographs) can be ordered as photocopies or high-quality copies.

Access to Originals

Please use the following steps to determine whether you need to fill out a call slip in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room to view the original item(s). In some cases, a surrogate (substitute image) is available, often in the form of a digital image, a copy print, or microfilm.

  1. Is the item digitized? (A thumbnail (small) image will be visible on the left.)

    • Yes, the item is digitized. Please use the digital image in preference to requesting the original. All images can be viewed at a large size when you are in any reading room at the Library of Congress. In some cases, only thumbnail (small) images are available when you are outside the Library of Congress because the item is rights restricted or has not been evaluated for rights restrictions.
      As a preservation measure, we generally do not serve an original item when a digital image is available. If you have a compelling reason to see the original, consult with a reference librarian. (Sometimes, the original is simply too fragile to serve. For example, glass and film photographic negatives are particularly subject to damage. They are also easier to see online where they are presented as positive images.)
    • No, the item is not digitized. Please go to #2.
  2. Do the Access Advisory or Call Number fields above indicate that a non-digital surrogate exists, such as microfilm or copy prints?

    • Yes, another surrogate exists. Reference staff can direct you to this surrogate.
    • No, another surrogate does not exist. Please go to #3.
  3. If you do not see a thumbnail image or a reference to another surrogate, please fill out a call slip in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room. In many cases, the originals can be served in a few minutes. Other materials require appointments for later the same day or in the future. Reference staff can advise you in both how to fill out a call slip and when the item can be served.

To contact Reference staff in the Prints and Photographs Reading Room, please use our Ask A Librarian service or call the reading room between 8:30 and 5:00 at 202-707-6394, and Press 3.

Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator, and Albert Pissis. St. Catherine's Academy, St. Thomas Hall,Grand Avenue, San Rafael, Marin County, CA. Marin County San Rafael California, 1933. translateds by Maul, Davidmitter Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/ca2069/.

APA citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, C. & Pissis, A. (1933) St. Catherine's Academy, St. Thomas Hall,Grand Avenue, San Rafael, Marin County, CA. Marin County San Rafael California, 1933. Maul, D., trans Documentation Compiled After. [Photograph] Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/ca2069/.

MLA citation style:

Historic American Buildings Survey, Creator, and Albert Pissis. St. Catherine's Academy, St. Thomas Hall,Grand Avenue, San Rafael, Marin County, CA. trans by Maul, Davidmitter Documentation Compiled After. Photograph. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, <aj.sunback.homes/item/ca2069/>.