Resurrecting Villa Maria: Landmark Retreat House for Nuns is Rebuilt to Downsize and Modernize
Neither hurricanes nor nor’easters could sweep away Villa Maria by the Sea.
Changing times led to the recent demolition of the grand maroon-roofed, white retreat house that was built in less than five months by a remarkable Depression-era workforce in 1937.
Now, life-size statues of Jesus the Sacred Heart, St. Joseph and the Blessed Mother Mary, and the simple white cross that sat atop the old building overlook the Villa Maria property’s suddenly wide-open space. The Sisters, Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary (IHM) nuns, own the property. Its acreage stretches from Second Avenue to the ocean and from 111th Street to 112th Street in Stone Harbor. This house dedicated to Mary was originally built as a convent to accommodate 250 nuns for 10-day summer breaks from their ministries in education and more. Six of the 10 days were reserved for retreats, with the other four days for vacation and traveling.
During retreats, Villa Maria operated self-sufficiently. Sisters volunteered to work on kitchen, housekeeping, chapel, doorbell and phone or landscaping chores during the summer. Toward the summer’s end, nuns requiring infirmary care spent four or five days at the Villa.
Like “The Little Engine that Could,” Villa Maria’s hands-on property manager Sister James Dolores effectively kept the place well-maintained and financially stable. Since 1993, she worked to ensure that the sisters found refreshment at the Villa after they worked hard all year. Benevolent donors and neighbors in cahoots with Sister James offered lots of support, usually anonymously. Talented craftspeople helped tremendously by volunteering their skills.
Local surfers initiated the first Nuns’ Beach Surf Invitational to benefit Villa Maria when a huge property tax bill, the responsibility of the IHM order, threatened its existence in 1995. Surfers did so in gratitude to the sisters for gladly sharing their beach with them. The Nuns’ Beach surf contest became an annual event through 2017, supporting the sisters for 22 years.
Even with so much sweet charity, changing times made the Villa’s upkeep unsustainable.
Still, hope springs eternally.
While the original Villa Maria building is gone – together with two smaller nearby buildings that will be demolished – the IHM sisters will not be leaving their property in Stone Harbor. Villa Maria by the Sea will rise again in the form of a new, improved, more compact building to better serve today’s sisters. The nuns will be joined on the property by neighbors in a soon-to-be constructed 13-lot residential subdivision. The sisters’ new Villa Maria by the Sea building will be oceanfront. The property will be elevated to meet flood requirements. There will be no development of Villa or private properties in the dune or beach areas.
Revenues raised from the sale of these private properties will cover demolition costs of the old buildings, construction of the new Villa Maria, and fund property maintenance.
“In order to remain in Stone Harbor, it became necessary to demolish and rebuild according to current needs,” Sister James notes. There’s more than one reason why.
“As the community declines in members, finances decline,” Sister James explains. At one time, the IHMs counted 2,000 sisters in their ranks. Today, she says, they count 700. Furthermore, the old building became “too big” for the sisters’ numbers and “too costly” in terms of hefty building and property taxes and general upkeep.
People stopping by the still-operating-for-now “Nuns’ Beach Surf Shop Stuff” store to purchase T-shirts, hats, towels, tote bags, keychains, drinking glasses and more from Sister Andrew Marie consistently lament the Villa’s changing terrain, says Sister James.
“My theme song has been a very bittersweet one,” Sister James says. “Losing the building, especially losing the chapel, broke my heart.” Though, things are looking up.
“Now that the building is down,” she says, “the sweet has begun.”
There are plenty of reasons for optimism.
Villa Maria’s new single structure is not only handsome in its preview sketches, it features major interior improvements for the sisters who retreat and vacation there. Unlike its predecessor, the new Villa will be fit with a heating system for year-round use, not just summer. It will accommodate 52 nuns and be handicap accessible. The new Villa’s chapel will seat 50. Accommodations will be included for retreat masters and chaplains, along with a small section to serve as a convent for sisters who will live at the Villa year-round as its caretakers. There will be approximately 33 parking spots near the building’s circular driveway.
While questions remain in the evolving process of new Villa Maria’s rising, Sister James happily notes some definite planning decisions. Hints of the old building will be present in the new one. The cornerstone from the original Villa Maria by the Sea in Stone Harbor and the new building’s cornerstone will both be incorporated into the new construction.
The new Villa’s chapel to the left of the main entrance will feature a colorful, eye-catching stained-glass image of the IHM order’s Seal of the Congregation for all to see. The symbolic Seal’s focal point is an illustration of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, pierced by a sword and surrounded by three lilies. This Seal, which speaks powerfully to the sisters, previously graced their beloved old chapel’s ceiling.
The bronze Stations of the Cross that once surrounded the Sacred Heart statue centrally on the lawn to the rear of the old Villa will be back. Their future location on the property, as well as the placement of other outdoor statues familiar to visitors, is yet to be determined.
In the meantime, those with mixed feelings about the changes at Villa Maria by the Sea might want to visit the Stone Harbor Museum at 94th Street and Second Avenue to quench their sentimental thirst. The museum currently displays a lovely, large print painting of two nuns in old-fashioned habits looking at the Villa in its heyday, among other items in its “Faith” exhibit. Photographs with aerial views of the old Villa before and during demolition are also on display. A volume full of historical information on Villa Maria is available to museum visitors, as well.
Back at the Villa property, Sister James patiently awaits the release of official news about who will be the developer of the residential properties there. “It’s been a process,” she says of Villa Maria’s transition. “There’s been a whole lot to consider and pray about.”
