This Philly Catholic school lost everything in a fire. Here’s how Our Mother of Consolation rebuilt.

A three-alarm fire rendered Our Mother of Consolation’s venerable stone school building unusable in 2023.

Two-plus years of hard work, fundraising, student and staff resilience, and love will see it formally reopen for the first day of school this week after a $17.5 million renovation.

Outside, the stone structure remains unchanged. But inside, Our Mother of Consolation, which has operated a school in some form since 1862, is completely new: technologically cutting-edge, with an “innovation lab” and an “information commons.”

» READ MORE: This Philly Catholic school, which lost everything in a fire, is already planning its future

There’s a music and art room, and, for the first time, a cafeteria and kitchen so food can be prepared on site.

“Sort of like the phoenix rising from the flames, we built something totally different,” said the Rev. John Fisher, pastor of Our Mother of Consolation. “The blessing of this is reimagining a whole new school.”

Before the fire, which started in wiring above a classroom, the nurse’s office was really a desk, and the ministry center was a former janitor’s closet. Now, those rooms are spacious, colorful, and modern, with every amenity.

Principal Jessica Stack, who was a teacher at the school when the fire happened, is based in an administrative suite.

“It used to be an administrative closet, really,” said Stack.

Classrooms are transformed, with modular desks, collaborative spaces between rooms for small-group work, and bells and whistles not possible in the old school — a built-in reading nook in the kindergarten classroom, lockers for kids in the upper grades.

And though everything inside had to be scrapped, there are nods to the old building — the metal from the old main staircase formed the new one, topped with new wood. When you walk in the main entrance, a collage of 66 historical photos culled from school families and old yearbooks decorates the wall, arranged to look like a stained-glass window.

Insurance covered some of the costs, but the community decided to dream bigger since they had to start from scratch, and the old building had significant needs.

Several foundations made sizable gifts, and the school community itself has raised more than $3.3 million in a capital campaign whose goal is $3.5 million.

Local schools and community groups came through in a major way, too — raising resources through dress-down days and coin drives, restaurant fundraisers and school supply drop-offs. Some of that help was key when unexpected expenses cropped up, like removing an old oil tank, or filing paperwork with the city.

On Friday, workers put the finishing touches on the outdoor classroom, where students will have space to absorb lessons when the weather permits. Rising eighth graders Grace Sprandio and JJ Cosgrove trailed Fisher — a celebration is planned for next weekend, and the students will give Philadelphia Archbishop Nelson Pérez a tour, so they wanted to practice.

Standing in the innovation lab, where they’ll have classes in robotics, coding and sustainability twice a week, Grace and JJ said returning to the building they hadn’t entered since they were fifth graders — OMC relocated to the campus of nearby Chestnut Hill College after the fire — was joyful.

“It’s kind of crazy,” said Cosgrove.

“Everything looks different — in a good way,” said Sprandio.

Then and now, Fisher was grateful that no lives were lost in the fire — one firefighter suffered minor injuries, and the children who typically would have been inside the building during an after-school program were playing outside on an unusually warm March afternoon.

Those memories still make Fisher emotional. He vividly remembers walking through the building post-fire.

“We looked up and all we saw were the blue skies” because the roof was destroyed, Fisher said. Seeing the school now feels miraculous, he said.

“This is such a blessing,” said Fisher.

Parents or retired nuns who used to work in the school toured it in the last week; many grew emotional.

“That was 15 years of my life,” said Stack. “But walking in here, I had chills. I was teary-eyed.”

Mary Sprandio, mother of Grace and another child at the school, had a similar reaction, she said.

“At some moments, we didn’t know if this would happen, if we would be able to be back in this school,” said Sprandio. “We love this place, and we’re so grateful that the building now matches what we’ve known it to be all along.”

Surviving the fire was the first stage of the process, said Jim Cosgrove, JJ’s dad, who has three children at the school. But next was the rebuilding.

“Because of the public nature of the fire, it inspired a lot of people to think about what this place meant to them — not just parishioners and parents, but also near neighbors,” said Cosgrove. “We raised hundreds of thousands of dollars within the first month or so, just from the community. We stayed strong, and we were able to create this great new school.”