Barbara Farley Hall is Refreshed for Fall

Like a butterfly emerging from a cocoon, the Barbara Farley Hall is reborn after a summer of renovation. The building is now updated to better reflect and inspire the young artists and musicians who walk through its hall.

The foyer was repainted white and the floor was refinished with swirls of purple, gray and white to brighten the area.  Lockers were removed from the hallway and the walls were painted with a colorful mural that reflects the building’s fine arts theme. The art room received a whiteboard for teaching, new paint, and new furniture for students. The music room received similar treatment. The updates were well received from students.

Farley Hall was named in honor of alumn William Farley’s (Class of 1960) mother, Barbara, in 1998. Mr. Farley was the first major donor in the Academy’s first-ever capital campaign in 1986. Some of those funds went toward the construction of the Annex, completed that year.

The building is more informally known today as the Annex, and it is the center of creativity on campus. It is home to the fine arts disciplines, and it is connected to the center of performing arts on campus: the Coutu Theater. In addition to the improvements this summer, the Annex houses the Arts Technology Lab, which was made possible with a grant from the Champlin Foundation in 2020.

Saint Raphael Academy students have been accepted to many colleges specializing in the fine arts, including:

Alumni are pursuing careers in architecture, interior design, game arts, theater, photography, illustration, music composition, and performing arts, to name a few.