Madonna Manor

Madonna Manor, Catholic home for troubled youth in Marrero

On the east side of Barataria Boulevard, Madonna Manor was established in 1932 for boys and girls under the age of 12 including students from the Chinchuba Institute for the Deaf. Madonna Manor was overseen by the Sisters of Notre Dame. It is the largest ensemble of Spanish Colonial Revival buildings in Louisiana. Hope Haven was owned and operated by the Archdiocese of New Orleans and staffed by nuns, priests, and volunteers from the Catholic church.

Madonna Manor was built to the highest standards of construction and in the same architectural style as the other buildings on campus. The grand building included dorms, an infirmary, a swimming pool, dining and recreation halls, and more. The Saint John Bosco Chapel was built next to it in 1940 and completed the campus. The exterior was designed by Jack Kessels to match the Spanish look of the other buildings on campus, but much of the interior woodwork, including the pews and confessional, were crafted by Hope Haven boys in their own shop. The stained glass windows depict the life of Saint John Bosco and were created by Dutch craftsman Joep Nicholas, who fled to New Orleans to escape the Nazis. Many of the children were sent to live at the orphanage by court order as wards of the state. Some children were placed there because their parents were unable to raise them for reasons including mental and emotional instability.

Behind its beautiful facade, Hope Haven holds a much darker past. In the early 2000s, the institution was tarnished by revelations of abuse. Beginning in the spring of 2005, adults who lived at Hope Haven and Madonna Manor in the 1950s and 1960s began to surface with accounts of mistreatment and sexual abuse at the hands of staff members. Collectively, the lawsuits described a harsh psychological and physical environment in which disobidient children as young as 4 were sometimes told they were worthless and unloved. They alleged the environment included harsh beatings at the hands of nuns, including one who favored a collapsible military shovel. Some plaintiffs said they were sexually humiliated or abused by priests, nuns, or staff members at the two Marrero institutions.