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Brother Nilus and his architect friend designed and constructed a graceful building
housing study and dining facilities for the student brothers on the site of the present
Cannavino Library. The work was done by teaching brothers on their vacation time and
by student brothers during the school year. The semester was lengthened from fifteen
to sixteen weeks, and every week there were about a dozen students available for
construction work. During this time, Nilus became suspicious of some of the working
drawings being sent from Lawrence. So he went to New York City to find a mechanical
engineer to review them. He looked in the phone book, and called Arbak A. Abdalian as
he was the first name listed. An Armenian, Abdalian was stunned to find calluses when
he shook hands with this person in a Roman collar and became a devotee of the college.
(It turned out that the Lawrence architect was dying of a brain tumor, but his wife
wanted to hide this fact from his clients.) This project was completed in 1956. Abdalian
also did the engineering for the Donnelly, Leo, and Champagnat buildings.
There were still no sleeping quarters for the brothers, so Nilus turned to a faster
method of construction: steel. An inelegant cube was constructed next to the above
study and dining building and went up within months in 1957. This became the student
brothers' dormitory until the construction of Benoit and Gregory houses, when the
entire complex became the college library.
Almost as an afterthought, the crews built a 40' x 80' building called the Adrian
Building, which served as a reception room and lay student lounge. Initially it included a
small residence and office suite for Brother Nilus, as well as a high fidelity lounge and a
small kitchen area. By 1965, it became the computer center, business and registrar
offices; later it served as the college advancement office and the Marist Institute for
Public Opinion.
At the dedication of the student housing complex in 1957, Cardinal Spellman blessed
the site of the future Donnelly building which was the last major project to be
constructed using brothers' labor. The construction, which took five years, emanated
from Brother Paul Ambrose's dream of opening the college to lay students in the
Hudson Valley.
The do-it-yourself era phased out when the college applied for government and bank
funding for future building, the first of which were the Sheehan and Leo dormitories.
Brother Nilus continued to supervise the construction, and did much of the site work for
the bulwark at the boathouse, Leonidoff field, water lines, parking lots. His bulldozer,
crane and backhoe were common sights on campus. By the mid 1970's, the era had
ended.
By Richard Foy, August 22, 2001




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Project Directors
Dr. Brian Henry Desilets
Dr. Linus Richard Foy
John Patrick Noone
From the beginning, Marist Heritage has been a collaborative effort.
We appreciate the contributions of the Marist Brothers and the Marists All
community, who by supplying information and personal memories, have given vitality,
scope and depth to this project
Under the guidance and direction of Dr. Brian Henry Desilets, the initial web pages
were designed and created by the following Marist College students: Michele van
Brero (Hermitage, St. Peter's, Kieran Gate House, Greystone, Marist Brothers
Builders, Our Lady Seat of Wisdom Chapel) ..... Tage Haun (Bech Homestead, Marian,
Donnelly) ..... Fang Fang Xu (Boat House, Byrne House, Kirk House) ..... Courtney Gutt
(Bech Family History) ..... Vij lyer (Cemetery) ..... Rahkee Chopra (Fontaine Hall).
All the final Marist Heritage web pages were either created, revised, rewritten
and/or reshaped by John Patrick Noone, who is solely responsible for any errors
contained therein.
We thank Richard Branigan for proofreading the Marist Heritage web pages.
We recognize the contributions of our consultants: John Ansley for his input on the
format and contents of the various web pages. Also Victor VanCarpels for his
frequent consultations and guidance in the graphics included in this CD. His
patience and dedication while working with us made the overall results more
professional.
We are grateful to Barbara McMullen for the use of the Ecommerce facility at Marist
College.
We are indebted to the Mccann Foundation which provided the funds necessary to make
this project a reality.
John Patrick Noone, editor
November 15, 2002
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