Old Ursuline Convent and Archbishop's Palace

Why is it significant?

You have arrived before the dignified, symmetrical facade of the Old Ursuline Convent at the corner of Chartres and Ursulines Streets.

Key Facts

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You have arrived before the dignified, symmetrical facade of the Old Ursuline Convent at the corner of Chartres and Ursulines Streets. Completed in 1752 to designs by French royal military engineer Ignace François Broutin, this monumental building is officially the oldest surviving building in the entire Mississippi River Valley and the sole undisputed architectural survivor from the French colonial era of New Orleans.

The Ursuline sisters arrived from Rouen, France, in July 1727 under the leadership of Mother Marie Tranchepain, having endured a perilous five-month ocean voyage. They came to establish the first school for girls, the first public hospital, and the first orphanage in the Louisiana colony, boldly insisting that their classes educate Native American girls, free girls of color, and enslaved children alongside wealthy French colonists.

The architecture is a superb example of French neoclassical provincial design: stuccoed brick walls over two feet thick, symmetrical rows of twenty-seven multi-pane casement windows with hand-forged iron hardware, and a steep hipped slate roof with dormers imported directly from France. Inside the convent chapel and museum galleries rests the original cypress wood winding staircase, hand-carved in 1734 by colonial ship carpenters without nails. When the convent was secularized in 1824, the building became the official residence of the Catholic archbishops of New Orleans. In 1815, on the eve of the Battle of New Orleans, the Ursuline nuns spent the entire night praying before the statue of Our Lady of Prompt Succor for an American victory; Jackson personally visited the convent following the battle to thank the sisters for their spiritual intercession.

Touching the thick stuccoed walls of this 1752 convent, you connect with nearly three centuries of selfless education, compassion, and resilience. It stands as an enduring monument to the pioneering women who shaped the moral and cultural foundations of Louisiana.

Walk south along Ursulines Avenue toward the historic colonnades of the French Market.