Campus Buildings
College Misericordia started in 1924 with one building--the Administration Building. Philadelphia architects F. Ferdinand Durang and Isaac Hathaway Francis designed the building in the collegiate-Gothic style popular in the 1920s. Now known as Mercy Hall, the Administration Building housed the Chapel, dining halls, classrooms, an art studio, dormitories, living quarters for the Sisters, and electrical facilities.
Ground was broken on June 3, 1921, at a ceremony presided over by Bishop Michael John Hoban (1853-1926). A lockbox was placed in the building’s cornerstone (laid in 1922) to be opened on the school’s centenary in 2024.
The Administration Building was renovated and re-dedicated as Mercy Hall on December 20, 2002. The Geraldine Ruth Daley Anderson Bell Tower was constructed on the rear of Mercy Hall and dedicated on August 22, 2003.
Many of the buildings on campus are dedicated to those women whose names stand out in Misericordia’s history: Mother Catherine McAuley founded the Sisters of Mercy; Marianna Gildea was one of Misericordia’s first graduates in 1928 and served as the Academic Dean from 1957-1967; Mother Mary Teresa Walsh was a prime mover in the efforts to buy and develop the land on which the University sits; Mother Catherine McGann was the first Dean of College Misericordia; Sister Celestine McHale was a community leader and president of Misericordia from 1957 until 1964; Sister Annunciata Merrick served as the Academic Dean from 1945 until 1957.
- McAuley Hall was the first separate dormitory built on campus in 1928.
- Gildea Hall was dedicated in 1994.
- Walsh Hall was added to McAuley Hall in 1951 and dedicated in 1952. Walsh Memorial Auditorium (now Lemmond Theatre) was dedicated that same year.
- McGann Hall served as a dormitory between 1946 and 2000.
- Merrick Hall (now known as Banks Student Life Center) was dedicated in 1963 along with Alumnae Hall.
- McHale Hall (also referred to as North Hall) opened in 1972.
