Paradise House: The Advancement Office Moves to a New Location
 

By Rich Beebe P'10

For Westover’s Advancement Office, the story of its recent relocation from Hillard House to the building next door might aptly be called Paradise Regained.

When its staff moved to Paradise House in November 2023, it was actually a return to the office’s former home. According to notes assembled by the late Randall Maria Allen ’42, Westover’s founding Archivist, “From 1952 until the early 1970’s, Paradise was used as the Alumnae and Development office, and then once again became a faculty residence” for a series of staff members and their families.

Since it was first built in the 1800s, however, Paradise also has served a number of other uses.

In Maria’s research documenting the history of Paradise, she cited an article from the November 1953 edition of the student newspaper, The Wick, headlined: “Faculty in Paradise: Methodist Vintage.”

The article noted that “before the school was built, when the library [Hillard House] was a Methodist church, Paradise was the parsonage where the minister and his family lived. After it became a part of the school, Paradise was used to house the cooking and sewing classes which were conducted for the children of the neighboring villages under Mrs. Ella Love.”

The Archives’ records include copies of several photographs from the 1920s of young children taking the classes offered at Paradise — an early example of Westover’s long commitment to community service that continues today through its Service Learning program.

It was during one of the classes at Paradise, The Wick article noted, “that it was supposed to have gained its name from a child who pronounced it to be ‘like Paradise.’”

“When the public schools became consolidated, the classes were discontinued,” the article continued. “The building was [then] used to house the maids until it was taken over as the home of Mrs. Flint, assistant headmistress.”

The Alumnae & Development Office first moved to its previous home in Hillard House in 1984, after the School’s Library relocated from Hillard after the completion of the Science/Library addition on the west side of campus.

In an article that appeared in an alumnae edition of the May 1957 Wick, the Alumnae and Development Office extended an invitation to graduates visiting Westover to stop by Paradise:

“Such a location is most inviting and we trust that any and all alumnae who come to visit Westover will surely pay us a call. We are prepared to offer the best in hospitality — coffee and tea are served at all hours — and to do our best to catch you up with the various and sundry Westover activities. As the Alumnae Secretary lives in the building, calls at any hour of day and/or night are in order (within reason).

“Thus,” the article added, “whatever your cause for visiting Westover — to enter your daughter, to register a complaint, to just look around — be sure that you find your way to Paradise.”

The article concluded with an encouraging P.S.:

“If the sight of the imposing front façade of the School strikes terror in your heart after umpteen years away (as it has done to some) we recommend that you come here first to get acclimated.”