This article is about an establishment in Alabama. For the Convent and Academy of the Visitation located in Washington, D.C., see Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School

Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School

Georgetown Visitation Preparatory School was founded in Washington, DC in 1799 as the Georgetown Academy for Young Ladies. It was also formally referred to as the Convent and Academy of the Visitation. Since 1799, the school has continued for over 200 years as a college preparatory school for women...

.

The Convent and Academy of the Visitation, properly known today as the Visitation Monastery, is a historic complex of Roman Catholic

Roman Catholic Church

The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...

 religious buildings and a small cemetery in Mobile

Mobile, Alabama

Mobile is the third most populous city in the Southern US state of Alabama and is the county seat of Mobile County. It is located on the Mobile River and the central Gulf Coast of the United States. The population within the city limits was 195,111 during the 2010 census. It is the largest...

, Alabama

Alabama

Alabama is a state located in the southeastern region of the United States. It is bordered by Tennessee to the north, Georgia to the east, Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to the south, and Mississippi to the west. Alabama ranks 30th in total land area and ranks second in the size of its inland...

, United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The buildings and grounds were documented by the Historic American Buildings Survey

Historic American Buildings Survey

The Historic American Buildings Survey , Historic American Engineering Record , and Historic American Landscapes Survey are programs of the National Park Service established for the purpose of documenting historic places. Records consists of measured drawings, archival photographs, and written...

 in 1937. They were added to the National Register of Historic Places

National Register of Historic Places

The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...

 on April 24, 1992 as a part of Historic Roman Catholic Properties in Mobile Multiple Property Submission

Historic Roman Catholic Properties in Mobile Multiple Property Submission

The Historic Roman Catholic Properties in Mobile Multiple Property Submission is a multiple property submission of Roman Catholic properties in Mobile, Alabama that were listed together on the National Register of Historic Places...

. It, along with the Convent of Mercy

Convent of Mercy (Mobile, Alabama)

The Convent of Mercy, known today as the St. Francis Place Condominiums, is a small complex of historic Roman Catholic religious buildings in Mobile, Alabama, United States. It consists of two buildings, the former convent and the former school...

, is one of two surviving historic convent complexes in Mobile.

History

The Convent of the Visitation was founded by Bishop Michael Portier

Michael Portier

Bishop Michael Portier was a Roman Catholic bishop and the firstBishop of Mobile. He immigrated to the United States in 1817....

, the first bishop of Mobile

Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Mobile

The Archdiocese of Mobile is a Roman Catholic archdiocese comprising the lower 28 counties of Alabama. It is the metropolitan seat of the Province of Mobile, which includes the suffragan bishopric sees of the Diocese of Biloxi, the Diocese of Jackson, and the Diocese of Birmingham in Alabama...

. Portier wished to found a convent

Convent

A convent is either a community of priests, religious brothers, religious sisters, or nuns, or the building used by the community, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church and in the Anglican Communion...

 for the Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary

Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary

The Order of the Visitation of Holy Mary or the Visitation Order is a Roman Catholic religious order for women. Members of the order are also known as Filles de Sainte-Marie, Visitandines, Salesian Sisters and, more commonly, Visitationists.- History of the order :The Order was founded in 1610 by...

 so that they could provide education to girls in his diocese, due to a lack of schools. He obtained permission from Pope Gregory XVI

Pope Gregory XVI

Pope Gregory XVI , born Bartolomeo Alberto Cappellari, named Mauro as a member of the religious order of the Camaldolese, was Pope of the Catholic Church from 1831 to 1846...

 for that purpose and in 1832 the first five sisters arrived from Georgetown

Georgetown, Washington, D.C.

Georgetown is a neighborhood located in northwest Washington, D.C., situated along the Potomac River. Founded in 1751, the port of Georgetown predated the establishment of the federal district and the City of Washington by 40 years...

.

The academy taught 40 students the first year and enrollment continued to increase up until a fire in May 1854 destroyed the buildings. Rebuilding of the convent commenced one month after the fire with a new quadrangle

Quadrangle (architecture)

In architecture, a quadrangle is a space or courtyard, usually rectangular in plan, the sides of which are entirely or mainly occupied by parts of a large building. The word is probably most closely associated with college or university campus architecture, but quadrangles may be found in other...

 of buildings that form the core of the convent to the present day. Architect James Henry Hutchisson designed these buildings in a French Renaissance

French Renaissance architecture

French Renaissance architecture is the style of architecture which was imported to France from Italy during the early 16th century and developed in the light of local architectural traditions....

 style. They were completed in 1855.

The academy had grown to include a high school

High school

High school is a term used in parts of the English speaking world to describe institutions which provide all or part of secondary education. The term is often incorporated into the name of such institutions....

 and grammar school

Grammar school

A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...

 by the early 1900s. They were housed in a three story school building on the west side of the quadrangle, built in 1900. Both had closed by 1952 and the former school building was demolished in 1953. The sisters then began a retreat house. The retreat continues into the present, hosting retreat groups for men, women, and adolescents, as well as a variety of other events. Numerous major restoration efforts were undertaken from 1985 to 1991. The interiors of Sacred Heart Chapel were completely restored beginning 1998 with rededication late in 1999.

Description

The major buildings include the quadrangle of French Renaissance

French Renaissance architecture

French Renaissance architecture is the style of architecture which was imported to France from Italy during the early 16th century and developed in the light of local architectural traditions....

 Revival style buildings completed in 1855, in addition to several later structures. The Romanesque Revival

Romanesque Revival architecture

Romanesque Revival is a style of building employed beginning in the mid 19th century inspired by the 11th and 12th century Romanesque architecture...

 Sacred Heart Chapel was completed on the grounds in 1895. A priest's house for visiting clerics was completed in 1899, in a stylistic blending of the Romanesque Revival and Gothic Revival

Gothic Revival architecture

The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...

styles. The grounds of the convent are enclosed with high brick walls, dating to the 1850s. In addition to the outer wall, inner walls separate the public and private areas of the main complex and also enclose a private cemetery for the Order of the Visitation. The graves are marked by simple white crosses.