New residence at Concordia University was former home of Grey Nuns

Concordia University new student residence

Several hundred students at Concordia University will be enjoying a new home with a classic look this school year.

The downtown university bought the building from the Grey Nuns in 2007, and after $15 million in renovations the building is about to open as a student residence.

With 355 beds and clean, modern touch, the building also cannot escape its heritage as a religious home for the order officially known as the Sisters of Charity of Montreal.

While the basement crypt remains, the chapel was converted to a study hall.

"It's got the feeling of an Oxford-style reading room," said university President Alan Shephard. "That's deliberate in terms of the geography in the way the tables were laid out, in the type of furniture that was selected, it's got exquisite 19th century art."

In 2013 the remaining 200 nuns belonging to the order moved to Square Angus in Montreal, not far from St. Michel Blvd. and Rachel St.

With no new nuns joining the congregation in the past 14 years, many of the nuns are now retiring from active service.

Concordia University now hopes that where sisters once studied their holy book, students will now be inspired to learn lessons from the books they have chosen.