Springfield, IL (WAND) – For over four years, volunteers with nonprofit Preservation Inc. have worked to restore buildings on the former Benedictine University campus in Springfield.
Tony Libri and his family purchased the 25-acre campus in 2021. Part of the campus was used as Benedictine University until it closed in 2018. Another portion was the Ursuline Academy, which closed in 2007. Libri believes the Ursuline buildings were abandoned from 2007 until he took possession of the space.
“When a building’s empty, never heated, never cooled, the air is not conditioned at all — they dry out, they rot, they mold,” Libri said. “And it was pretty bad.”
Vandalism added to the damage. Libri said thieves broke in and stripped copper from the buildings, causing more than $250,000 in damage.
The nonprofit’s restoration focus centers on three structures: the music Conservatory, completed in 1908; the original Ursuline Academy, which Libri said opened in 1857; and a chapel built in the late 1800s.
Libri said the work so far has focused on structural stabilization rather than cosmetic improvements.
“It’s been kind of a quiet rebirth, if you will,” he said. “We’ve been trying to stabilize these buildings with new roofs, new plumbing and heating, electric wire — things like that. We’re just fixing what is here.”
Libri emphasized that the nonprofit’s mission is to restore the buildings, but not change them. They want the buildings to look like they did when they were created.
That mission is part of what drew Carol Kulek to the board of Preservation Inc. She was happy to volunteer with the group bringing her dormer high school back to life.
“It’s really cool because as a student, you run up and down the steps of three floors and you never notice them until you come back 50-some years later,” Kulek said. “You’re just in shock as the memories come back.”
Kulek has helped reintroduce the campus to the public, with weddings, reunions and other events held in the completed spaces.
“All of these buildings are famous in their own right, and they all deserve to be restored,” Libri said. “It’s hard to believe that people would let buildings like this fall down or even want to tear them down so they can build something new.”
Libri said the long-term vision for the school building includes an artisans’ space with studios for painters, sculptors and other artists, a coffee shop and two additional museum-type spaces.
More details on the nonprofit and its space are online.
