Day 120: The Academy

Day 120 of 365…

I love The Academy. You know that beautiful all brick three story building downtown Vancouver right along the I-5 freeway. Did you know that once was the tallest building West of the Mississippi River? It was originally known as Providence Academy (aka House of Providence) and was completed in 1873. It was an orphanage, a school, and the offices for the Sisters of Providence mission. The Academy was designed and built by Mother Joseph and the bricks were all made by our very own Hidden Brick Company.

The Academy has been home to many many things throughout its history. It was a hospital (raise your hand if you know someone who was born here), it’s housed many restaurants (I still miss Spaghetti Warehouse), lots of businesses are run in this building and of course The Chapel. Many a wedding has taken place in this historic building. There are some cool places within The Academy that I’ll be sharing as this “365 Things” project continues. In the mean time, head over there yourself and see if you can’t find some on your own.

If you haven’t wandered around The Academy I would recommend you do it. This is also an extremely popular place for local photographers to do photo shoots. I’m especially fond of the old smoke stack out back. There’s even been a rumor or two about a possible “haunting” of a friendly nature. I’ll let you decide for yourself. :)

The Academy is located at 400 E Evergreen Blvd, Vancouver, WA 98660 and you can reach it at 360-696-4884. Below the video I’ll post a few favorite photos I’ve taken around the campus.