CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa — One year after demolishing its elementary school, St. Ludmila Catholic Church plans to do the same to its 1960’s convent.
The Cedar Rapids Historic Preservation Commission placed a 30-day hold on the demolition permit at its meeting Oct. 24, 2024. That hold expires this month.
Commission members noted that the building was designed by prominent Cedar Rapids architect Leo C. Peiffer. According to a 1961 newspaper article, total bids for the two-story brick convent came in at just over $100,000, which would be worth more than $1 million in today’s dollars.
The City Assessor’s site lists the current condition of the building as “above normal.”
Related: Longtime Czech festival put on hold
McKay-Rowley Construction was the general contractor for the project.
According to the article, the 100-foot-long building provided 16 bedrooms, two dining rooms, a music room, chapel and a community room for the Sisters of Notre Dame who taught at St. Ludmila School. Redwood mullions — vertical bars that divide an entire window in sections — in the convent’s chapel were designed to match the two-story glass and redwood mullion stairwells at each end of the building.
The new St. Ludmila parish center is shown next to the church in October 2024. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
The nuns had previously lived in a farmhouse they purchased in 1914, when they moved to Iowa from what was then Czechoslovakia.
At the time the article was written, 500 elementary students were enrolled in the 1958-built school on 21st Avenue SW — also designed by Peiffer — near where the convent was constructed.
After the elementary school closed, classrooms continued to be used for other purposes, but the school was demolished in February 2023 to make way for a new parish center with offices, classrooms for religious education, Youth Ministry, Adult Faith Formation, a designated space for Bingo, and an industrial kitchen that can be used for baking kolaches, catering and providing community meals.
Cedar Rapids Historian Mark Stoffer Hunter noted that the 1926 St. Ludmila’s Church was demolished in the summer of 2000. The new church was erected in 2001.
The Rev. Kenneth Glaser of St. Ludmila’s parish said a committee examined the properties four years ago and determined it would be too costly to make the convent accessible under Americans with Disabilities Act standards and to add air conditioning.
St. Ludmila Elementary School is shown as it was readied for demolition in February 2023. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
Glaser said the convent had been used for offices until the new building was constructed. The nuns had stopped living there about 25 years ago, he said, “so it hasn’t been used as a convent since then.”
The site will be used as “green space” for the parish.
“We looked at a variety of alternatives,” Glaser said. “A lot of tough decisions had to be made.”
St. Ludmila’s website notes that parishioners can ask to receive their end-of-the-year contribution statements electronically to “help us save the planet, one sheet at a time.”
The St. Ludmila convent is located along J Street SW in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. (photo/Cindy Hadish)
As part of their sustainability measures, Glaser said the parish had salvaged as much as possible from the convent and held an online auction of items in August.
In preparing for demolition, a time capsule was discovered when the cornerstone was removed, which will be opened Nov. 18 in Omaha, Nebraska.
Glaser said he decided to take the 10-inch-tall, 5-inch-wide copper box to Omaha, so the nuns who retired to the Notre Dame headquarters there could see it opened.
St. Ludmila is known for its annual Kolach Festival, which dates back to 1938. Kolaches, a favorite Czech pastry, are the main attraction at the annual event.
See photos from the 2019 kolache bake.
The forthcoming demolition of St. Ludmila’s convent follows the demolition of the Immaculate Conception convent, built in the same era in southeast Cedar Rapids. See photos, below:
Does Father Glaser live at the convent? Where will he be moving to when the convent is destroyed?
No, he lives elsewhere. The convent is vacant.
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Nothing is mentioned about the large brick building that was used as the school before they built the one that was started in the late 1950s to early 1960s. The old farmhouse or as I called it, “the house where the sisters lived” was nearest to J Street. I served mass once inside that house, it had a tiny chapel. Going back to the old brick school building, its library was on the top floor. I hope others might remember this.
Thank you for your note, Steven. You’re correct! There was a brick school that was built in 1915, later replaced by the brick school that was demolished last year and replaced by the new parish center. As mentioned, the first church was built in 1926. What year did you serve Mass in the old farmhouse? Was it located where the current convent is?
Cindy,
I started school at All Saints. My parents Bob and Lillian Alt lived at 707- 32nd Street SE. I know I went to kindergarten, because I remember my mom, against my will walking or dragging me to school. My older sister and I started at Saint Luds in the late 50s. Monsignor Hruby was running the church at this time. I became an altar boy in 7th grade and served until leaving after 8th grade. Went up the street to Wilson Junior High for 9th grade. There was a push to get those in 8th grade to go to Regis, since it was the new Catholic High School built on the East side of town. After 9th grade it was off to Jefferson, graduating in 1965. Going back to your question about serving Mass, not sure on exact year, early 60s, and only once. The chapel was so small, the nuns could have reached out and touched us. But they were very much into their praying. I would say the farmhouse stood a little to the North of where the new convent was built. I would always enter from the rear of the farmhouse. There was a sidewalk leading away from the back door towards where the old brick school building stood. Very near where the Father Frana building stood. Also, a lot of bushes and trees around the old farmhouse. I never remembered anything about how it looked from the front going down J Street. Well, I think that will help you some. Reach out if you have any other questions. I do remember Hruby was the one who handed out the report cards. And I also recall we had one girl in our 8th grade class, (can’t recall name) who went on to become a nun. She wrote me when I was in Vietnam, 1966.
Thank you so much, Steven! Great to hear how it was back then.