Old Ursuline Convent
New Orleans
The Old Ursuline Convent is the former home of the Ursuline nuns, at 1100 Chartres Street. It is considered the oldest example of French colonial public architecture in the United States.
Nuns from Europe
In 1727 a group of Ursuline nuns arrived from Europe after a long sea voyage. They were to open a school, care for the sick and help those who had no family. First they lived in a rented house, then in a first convent near the river.
A sturdier convent
The first convent was poorly built for this damp climate. So a new one was built, the one you see, in the mid-1700s. The nuns lived here until 1824, then moved farther downriver.
Many different uses
After the nuns left, the building changed its purpose many times. It was also a boys' school and the city's first public school. It had many different uses over the centuries. The church next door, dedicated to Saint Mary, was built in 1845.
The gardens
The nuns had a botanical garden, where they tested whether French plants would grow here. Today in front of the convent there is a garden with low, geometric hedges. Another garden, behind it, has citrus trees, palms and old roses.
