Alverno High School Alverno Heights Academy |
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Address | |
200 North Michillinda Avenue Sierra Madre, California, (Los Angeles County) 91024 United States |
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Coordinates | 34°9′57″N 118°4′0″W / 34.16583°N 118.06667°WCoordinates: 34°9′57″N 118°4′0″W / 34.16583°N 118.06667°W |
Information | |
Type | Private, all-female |
Religious affiliation(s) | Roman Catholic |
Established | 1960 |
Head of school | Julia Fanara |
Grades | 9-12 |
Enrollment | 180 (2014-2015) |
Average class size | 17 |
Student to teacher ratio | 12:1 |
Campus size | 13 acres (53,000 m2) |
Color(s) | Royal blue and White |
Athletics conference | Catholic High School Athletic Association |
Sports | Cross Country, Volleyball, Basketball, Soccer, Softball, and Track and Field |
Mascot | Jaguar |
Team name | Jaguars |
Accreditation | National Catholic Education Association, Western Association of Schools and Colleges |
Publication | Calliope (literary magazine) |
Affiliation | Immaculate Heart Community |
Assistant Head of School | Cam Werley-Gonzales |
Director of Admissions and Public Relations | Sara McCarthy '05 |
Athletic Director | Ken Berry |
Website | http://www.alverno-hs.org |
Alverno High School, also called, Alverno Heights Academy is an independent, Catholic, College-prep high school for girls located in Sierra Madre, California, near Pasadena, California in Los Angeles County, California of southern California. School is on the former Villa del Sol d’Oro estate. Due to Alverno High's unique architecture and grounds the school has been used in many TV shows and moives, also weddings.
The school building and grounds, were part of Villa del Sol d’Oro, owned and built by Dr. Walter Jarvis Barlow and his wife Marion Brooks Barlow in 1924. Dr. Walter had architect Wallace Neff built the Italian Villa, completed in 1928. The Villa is a two-thirds scale replica of the 1534 Villa Collazzi near Florence, Italy.
The couple raise three children at the villa. Dr. Barlow was from New York and opened a tuberculosis sanatorium in Echo Park, Los Angeles in 1902, this later became the Barlow Respiratory Hospital. Dr. Barlow died in 1937 of tuberculosis. Five years after Walter died in 1942, Marion sold Villa del Sol d’Oro and its 13-acres to the Sisters of St. Francis, followers of St. Francis of Assisi. The Sisters hoped to use the Villa, now called "Provincial Center" as a convent. The convent wanted to provide education, childcare, and health care to the Catholic immigrant in and around Sierra Madre. The Sisters seeing a need for education for young women, started an all-girls high school originally called "Alverno Heights Academy". The Sisters started classes in 1960. The school added athletics and community service and other activities over the years. In 1978, the Sisters of St. Francis formally turned the school and property over to another religious order, the Board of the Immaculate Heart Community the current legal sponsors of Alverno.