ROCHESTER — The Sisters of St. Francis hoped to see Assisi Heights as a welcoming place. People can drive onto the peaceful campus, attend mass services and notice the details of the convent buildings in northwest Rochester.
Assisi Heights Spirituality Center program coordinator Sister Marlys Jax said the architectural aspects like the statues of St. Francis and St. Clare of Assisi can become hidden in plain view.
“We kind of miss (the statues) because if you’re really looking for them you find them but if you don’t know they’re there and you don’t look up you don’t notice them,” Jax said while speaking to a recent architecture tour group of about 15 people. “Those are all little architectural features that are around the building and, I dare say, sometimes sisters don’t even know they’re there because we’re so used to coming in and out.” While looking up to the hills over the city, the tiled roofs and stone buildings raise curiosities about the buildings’ function.
The "wow" factor, as local author and architectural historian Ken Allsen described, comes with the Italian and Romanesque style. The style is modeled after the Umbria region of Italy, which includes the city of Assisi where St. Francis was born.
Allsen said the exterior stone, which exudes an “air of age,” was cut in six different shapes and three different colors. Allsen studied the building’s original drawings over seven years researching the history of Assisi Heights, Mayo Clin.