BC eyes using cardinal's house as alumni club

John Paul II slept there. Cardinal Bernard F. Law endured a scandal there. And next, Boston College's graduates may be able to enjoy foie gras sauté and chilled asparagus soup there.

The Italianate manse that came to symbolize the Archdiocese of Boston over a century as the grand residence of archbishops of Boston is now a candidate for conversion to a new branch of the Boston College club, where alumni and friends of the Jesuit university network, hobnob, dine, and maybe even sleep.

Boston College, which acquired the 40-room house as part of a $107 million purchase of archdiocesan land in 2004, recently sent an e-mail survey to thousands of East Coast alumni, suggesting that ``the development of a new private club" for alumni in the building that the college called ``a highly visible landmark property."

The idea, which college officials insist is just preliminary, provides the first hint of how the university imagines it might use the iconic structure, which has been the subject of much speculation since it was acquired by BC.

Some had, largely in jest, suggested that the theology department, occasionally a target of Law's unhappiness, might move in. The university has said only that, for the time being, it intends to use the building as a conference and meeting space.

Ironically, the building was completed in 1927 for a Boston College alumnus, Cardinal William Henry O'Connell, who graduated from The Heights in 1881. O'Connell's successor -archbishops lived there until Law's resignation in 2002. The next year, Archbishop Sean P. O'Malley, a Capuchin friar, moved out of the building into a shabby cathedral rectory in the South End, and in 2004 he sold the structure.

Not only did the archdiocese agree to sell O'Connell's house, and the nearby hill on which he is buried, but it has also agreed to exhume his body and remove his tomb. Church officials are still trying to find the appropriate place to relocate O'Connell's remains.

The conversion of the house into an alumni club, even for his own alma mater, would not make O'Connell happy, according to his biographer, Boston College history professor James M. O'Toole.

``He would probably be horrified that anybody other than himself or his successors was living there," O'Toole said.

Boston College's university historian, Thomas H. O'Connor, on the other hand, does have an opinion, and it is not favorable.

``I would think they could find a better choice," O'Connor said. ``I would hope they would not trivialize the building. It was the cardinals' residence, and I would like to see it used in the best way possible. What would be a proper use? Something more directly associated with ecclesiastical affairs or academic affairs."

Boston College has 145,000 living alumni, of whom about 60,000 reside within 50 miles of Boston, according to Peter J. McLaughlin, acting executive director of the Boston College Alumni Association.

Since 1998, the college has had a club on the 36th floor of the 100 Federal Street building in downtown Boston, offering sweeping views of the city and serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as well as sponsoring events. The club, which is run by a private company, ClubCorp USA, has nearly 2,500 members and generates about $500,000 a year for the college, McLaughlin said.

McLaughlin said that the existing club attracts mostly alumni who work downtown and that the college has decided to explore the possibility of a club on campus. As for the cardinal's residence, he said, ``it's an attractive site for alumni to go to."

But McLaughlin said that the proposal is ``very preliminary" and that ``there are many constituents [at BC] who would love to be in that building."

McLaughlin said the survey results have not yet been compiled. The archdiocese had no comment.

College spokesman John B. Dunn said the college would consider reaction before deciding what to do with the building. Dunn said an alumni facility there might ``offer dinner and perhaps [accommodate] overnight guests," but he laughed off a question about how much it would cost to stay in the cardinal's room.

``We're always cognizant of its historical significance, but when we purchased it, it was with the understanding that we'd use it in a way that best met the college's needs," he said. ``At the present time those needs call for more conference space, and we're going to explore the possibility of meeting and dining space," he said.

Michael Paulson can be reached at mpaulson@globe.com.