Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy

FSHA’s 41-acre campus was originally the site of the Flintridge Hotel, which was designed and built by architect Myron Hunt in 1926 atop the San Rafael Hills, at the direction of Frank Putnam Flint, a United States senator from what was then called La Cañada.[2] Flint owned the land on which the hotel was built and commissioned Hunt, due to his expertise in designing in the Mediterranean Revival and Spanish Colonial Revival architecture styles. The Flintridge Hotel, soon acquired by Bowman-Biltmore Hotels, was then renamed the Flintridge Biltmore Hotel. It included a large main building with a dining room, lounge and patio, in addition to six smaller cottages meant to house whole families. The grounds also included a pool, tennis courts, golf course, archery range and several large lawn areas.[3] The business failed as the Great Depression continued, and the hotel was closed and sold in 1931.

After the Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose took over the property in 1931, the hotel was converted into a school exclusively for boarding students in grades 1-12. The billiards and game room became a chapel, the hotel's beauty salon became the head administrator's office, the bridal suite became a community room for the Sisters, and the Green Room (formerly a ballroom) was converted into a recreational room for students. The main dining room, with wood paneling and chandeliers, is virtually unchanged from 1927 and still used by both boarding students and the Sisters. Senator Flint originally owned many of the furnishings and decorations that remain in the original hotel building.

In the school's early days, all students were boarders and classes were taught in the hotel building; the cottages were used as dorms. Beginning in 1945, a decision was made to begin saving money to build a new structure for classrooms. In 1950, the decision was made to build a new high school building, which cost $210,000 and was completed in 1951. The Class of 1952 became the first senior class to occupy the new high school building. The building had three state-of-the-art science laboratories, a new library and spacious classrooms.

In November 1955, the Sisters voted to borrow $100,000 to build an auditorium. The academic year of 1956-57 marked the first year the student body was able to utilize this new auditorium. This new building allowed for expanded performances of plays on a stage instead of the lounge. The old elementary school building on Palmerstone Drive, formerly servants' quarters for hotel employees, was later sold as a private residence.

The area known as the Octagon, which was located between the pool and pedestrian bridge, once served as a music conservatory. A fire in 1971 damaged the building so severely that it was torn down.

Today, the only parts of the old Flintridge Biltmore hotel in use for student instruction are an art studio in the Annex of the old hotel and the upper part of Cottage 4, which houses music instruction. Due to the greater needs of the school, Flintridge Sacred Heart was able to expand its science and athletics facilities in 1998. A new 26,000-square-foot (2,400 m2) Student Activities Center opened on campus, which houses three state-of-the-art science classrooms with labs, a gymnasium, aerobics room, exercise room, training room, multipurpose athletic field and amphitheater. With the completion of the Student Activities Center in 1998, the science laboratories in the high school building were transformed into regular classrooms.[4] The cottages now house school services such as admissions, technology and development.

The campus of Flintridge Sacred Heart is transected by the Pasadena—La Cañada Flintridge border, with the Glendale border less than a mile away. The school’s street and mailing address remain in La Cañada Flintridge. The area is commonly known within the FSHA community as “the Hill” – the campus sits atop the crest of the San Rafael Hills.