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About Us

DESCRIPTION AND HISTORY:
Toledo's largest and oldest structure, The Collingwood Arts Center, is an immense and ominous, 6 floored, high pitched tile roofed brick building, with an attic and huge basement, made complete with elaborately carved window frames and a mansard roofed tower. Its architecture is described as being a "Flemish Gothic" design, blending Gothic and Romanesque styles.
Tom and I visited this grand, imposing building, and it does have an aura and feeling about it of being the home of restless spirits; an unmistakable sense that both Tom and I recognized immediately. It would fit in nicely as the main building in a spooky ghost yarn or an Adams Family movie.
Designed by Architect E. O. Fallis, this large, 113,000 square ft., rectangular building, which sits sideways on its lot, opened in 1905 as the new teaching convent for nuns in the the Ursuline Order of the Sacred Heart, St. Ursula Academy. In 1922, the Mary Manse College was established here, and finally became a retirement home for nuns.
When the retirement home closed, the building stood vacant for a few years until 1985, when a man with a dream, Pat Tansey, rented the woe be gone building and Gerber House, in hopes of creating a community art center. The Collingwood Arts Center was started, while rescuing these classic buildings from decay, and saving them from a wrecking ball in their future. At some time, the property was bought outright from the Ursuline Order. A third Victorian, next to the Gerber House was also bought. It is currently being restored.
The Collingwood Arts Center is divided into 4 sections: Gerber House, a Theater Wing, a Dorm Wing for artists, and Studio Wing. The basement is used for storage and laundry facilities. The Attic was the place where the work rooms of the convent were located and was built to be light and airy.
Gerber House — This 1872, three storied Victorian mansion, plus attic and basement, is located right in front of the main building of The Collingwood Arts Center, connected via a passageway from the basement to the towering Arts Center building just behind it. There is a staircase from the second floor of the main building which leads to the second floor of the Gerber House as well.
This lovely, white painted-brick mansion was the dream child of a local merchant, Christian Gerber, who spared no expense in building this showcase of 19th century craftsmanship. Featuring elegant parlors with 15 foot high ceilings, solid walnut doors, ornate carvings, the white marble rococo revival fireplace mantels, and walnut staircases are just a few of the bells and whistles that Gerber had built into the decor and design of this house. Unfortunately, He had construction nightmares in that the mansion wound up costing twice as much than the original estimate.
Three years later, in 1875, Gerber found himself to be "financially over-extended", from not only overspending way above his means, but also because Toledo was suffering from a economic slow-down. Gerber wound up declaring bankruptcy.
Throughout the decades, this lovely Victorian was the family home of The Ketcham and Laskey families, before it was bought by the the Ursuline Order of the Sacred Heart, and then the Collingwood Arts Center, who restored this mansion to its former glory.
Today, the parlors remain open to the public for art exhibitions, small conferences and meetings, and other functions. The second and third floor rooms are rented to artist residents of the Collingwood Arts Center.
The Theater — The Collingwood Arts Center has a glorious, 600 seat theater auditorium with a balcony, created in the Flemish Gothic and Romanesques styles with Neo-Baroque embellishments in two crowns over the box seats at stage left and right. The Theater is covered with a stained-glass dome. The acoustics are stunning, making it a favorite place for orchestras, ensembles, recitals, chamber music, theater arts productions and other small-group performances in the arts.
The studio wings are located in the old classrooms and the rooms for rent are found throughout the spacious, rectangular Gothic structure.
Main Collinwood Arts Center Building –
Some nuns became really attached to their convent work here. They refuse to let go from this world to go to the other side.
The Basement Area –
In the 1950s, a distraught nun hung herself in the basement.
When the building was vacant for awhile, an occult group broke in and had ceremonies in the basement area.
The Gerber House –
From the 1870s through 1900, people would dump their sewage into The Maumee River. The untreated water was used as a water supply. The people of Toledo suffered and died from Typhoid and other water-borne diseases, until the city of Toledo built a treatment plant and opened it on February 2, 1910.
Main Collinwood Arts Center Building –
Some nuns became really attached to their convent work here. They refuse to let go from this world to go to the other side.
The Basement Area –
In the 1950s, a distraught nun hung herself in the basement.
When the building was vacant for awhile, an occult group broke in and had ceremonies in the basement area.
The Gerber House –
From the 1870s through 1900, people would dump their sewage into The Maumee River. The untreated water was used as a water supply. The people of Toledo suffered and died from Typhoid and other water-borne diseases, until the city of Toledo built a treatment plant and opened it on February 2, 1910.
STILL HAUNTED?
Yes indeed!
Pictures taken at the Collingwood Arts Center & Gerber House reveal an orb in the attic, an orb in the balcony, an orb at the foot of the stairs in the basement leading up to the main building, and an orb has been captured on film in the front parlor near the big bay window.
The entity of the bride in the Gerber House, still waits in hopeful excitement to either become married to her beloved, or to take her vows as a full fledged sister — a dream she can't let go of.
The entities of the children are still happily playing on the upper floors of the Gerber House, perhaps unaware that they are dead, or not ready to go to the other side.
The mean and hateful entity is trapped in this world, unable to let go of her anger enough to go to the other side. The nun in the attic isn't finished yet with her sewing projects, and loves serving in this world so much she doesn't want to retire and go to the other side.
The distraught entity of the nun who killed herself in the basement is still anxious and unhappy, and still leaving her anxious energy near the bottom of the stairs.
A sinister presence is also wandering around the basement, amusing itself at the expense of the living, though not hurting anyone.

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Schedule

Collingwood Art Center PHOTOS

Ticket Information

Ghost Hunting the CAC
These events will run from 8:00pm – 1:00am.
Check-in will be from 7:30pm – 8:00pm. At check-in you will be asked for your driver's license/state ID, be given a list of rules and regulations, and asked to sign a participant agreement. (Click here to see sample participant agreement)
Doors will be locked at 8pm.
From 8:00pm – 9:00pm, Chris Bores will give a guided tour of the facilities. You'll learn to navigate the CAC and where most of the rumored "activity" is.
From 9:00pm - 1:00am will be unguided independent investigation.
Your ghost hunt ends when you exit the premises. There will be no reentry.
Tickets purchased at least one day before the event will be $35. We only sell a limited number of tickets per hunt. If available, the door price for tickets will be $45.
All participants must be at least 18 years old.
Private Ghost Hunting Rental
Rent the CAC for your ghost hunting group.
$350 for first 5 hours.
$50 per hour after the first 6 hours.
For more information, please call 419-244-2787. - The Collingwood Arts Center is situated on the west side of Collingwood Boulevard directly across from Scott High School. It is 200 feet north of the Ashland Avenue intersection, and 500 feet south of the Delaware Avenue intersection.
The main entrance is the double-glass doors in the two story frame building attached to the brick four story building that is the Collingwood Arts Center.
Administrative office: Enter the building, pass through large wood door and proceed to dead-end, turn left through the brown metal doors, office is the first door on the left.
Theatre: inside the building turn left through the brown doors, proceed down hallway through double wooden doors, turn left to main theatre doors.
Gerber House Galleries: inside the building turn left through the brown doors, proceed down hallway through the double wooden doors, turn left, walk around the lobby and enter Gerber House through the single wooden door next to the second staircase.
Executive Director: Sarah Kurfis, skurfis@collingwoodartscenter.org
Office Manager: Lexi Staples, lstaples@collingwoodartscenter.org

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