By JTNews Staff, other
Seattle was too wicked, so the nuns chose a spot at the top of the Olmsted brothers-designed Interlaken Park, on the outskirts of the city, to build their convent. The Forest Ridge Convent operated in the large brick building — now smack dab in the middle of Seattle — until 1971, when it moved to Bellevue, according to the Washington State History site historylink.org. Seattle Country Day School took up residence for a couple years, then, in 1973, Seattle Hebrew Academy moved in. They’ve been there ever since.
On Wednesday, SHA celebrated the 100th anniversary of the old convent building with a focus on the old and the new. Much of the new comes thanks to the three-year renovation following extensive damage from the 2001 Nisqually earthquake.
SHA received Federal Emergency Management Act funds for part of the renovation and seismic retrofit.
The grand columns that once served as an entrance are now secondary to a less conspicuous but more functional front door a short distance back from the balustrades and porticos. That entrance, opened in 1956, also houses what is now known as the Ari Grashin Gym, where teams from SHA and the Northwest Yeshiva High School play various league sports. The hymns and prayers, which still take place on a daily basis, happen in Hebrew rather than Latin.
But the building, which received landmark status in 1979, has a much more modern feel once you walk inside.
“It’s important to know that you can take a historical building and make it work for you while still preserving the integrity of the place,” said Larry Kreisman, program director for Historic Seattle, who spoke at a ceremony on Wednesday in honor of the building’s anniversary. “That’s what Seattle Hebrew Academy has done here.”
Rivy Poupko Kletenik, SHA’s head of school, noted the history and learning that has taken place over the past century.
“A birthday is a day to notice and to appreciate,” she said. “Look around, this is truly a grand and inspiring structure.”
