Our Lady of Victory Church

(Photo from This Week Community News)

In 1922 Bishop James Hartley of the Diocese of Columbus established Our Lady of Victory Parish. The parish was bounded by the Scioto and Olentangy rivers, McKinley Avenue, and the northern boundary of the diocese, and included 65 families. Bishop Hartley approved the purchase of 4 acres in Marble Cliff at the corner of Roxbury Road and Cardigan Avenue, which was the property owned by Sylvio Casparis and then the Merkle family. The 20-room Casparis house was used to house the parish school, and the convent and chapel of the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth. A second building on the property was used as the rectory for Monsignor Thomas Nolan, the first pastor. Our Lady of Victory Academy opened on September 25, 1922. Fifty-one students were initially enrolled. Three nuns from the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth conducted classes, and tuition was one dollar per month.

By mid-1923 the parish had grown to 108 families, and a chapel designed by George McDonald was built on the site. The current rectory and the building for the Our Lady of Victory Academy were built in 1931. A new addition to the church, also designed by McDonald, was built in 1957, and was an attempt to incorporate the English Gothic architecture that was evident in the rectory.

Our Lady of Victory convent was demolished in 2004 to make way for a 13,000 square foot Parish Life Center. The Parish Life Center contains classrooms, a parish hall, kitchen, and storage areas. 

First 8th grade graduation class of Our Lady of Victory Academy with Monsignor Thomas Nolan (center) in Spring 1929 standing in front of the 1923 chapel.  

The "new" Our Lady of Victory Church built in 1957 and designed by George McDonald, who also designed the original chapel. The original chapel is the section to the front right.

Original Our Lady of Victory chapel built in 1923.

This stone house, Sylvio Casparis’ second home and then home to the Merkle family, was on the property when the Columbus Diocese bought the acreage in 1922; the house was used as Our Lady of Victory convent. Casparis’ first home, built of wood on the same site, was destroyed in a fire. Casparis had renowned architect Frank Packard design this second home with a stone exterior.

Our Lady of Victory School, built in 1930; demolished in 2004 and replaced with OLV’s Parish Life Center.