Newfoundland & Labrador's Registered Heritage Structures

Alphabetical Listing by Place Listing: A-B Listing: C-F Listing: G-K Listing: L-Q Listing: R-S Listing: T-Z Heritage Tours Supplementary Articles Gazetteer Applet

Visit Roman Catholic Religious Orders and Education for more information on the Presentation sisters.

The Congregation of the Presentation of the Blessed Virgin Mary was founded in Cork in 1776, by Nano Nagle. Four members of the Congregation came to Newfoundland in 1833 at the urging of Bishop Michael Anthony Fleming to establish schools, first in St. John's, and then elsewhere in the colony.

© 2004 Heritage Foundation of Newfoundland and Labrador (35 Kb)

The Congregation's first permanent headquarters was a convent-school on Long's Hill, completed in 1844, but destroyed in the fire of 1846. The nuns lived with the Mercy Sisters until the completion of their new Mother House and school. The corner stone was laid by Bishop John Thomas Mullock in 1850, and the Congregation formally took possession three years later. The building remains an active Presentation convent, and is a testament to the growth of institutional Roman Catholicism in the 19th century.

The Presentation Convent is a good example of an institutional building influenced by the Classical Revival style of architecture. It has a plain symmetrical façade, a large tetra style portico with ionic columns, and quoining. Presentation School, designed by the Hamburg architect C. Schmidt, who designed the Basilica, is also architecturally valuable for its Classical revival elements including a pediment, quoining and rounded arch windows.

Presentation Convent and School were designated as Registered Heritage Structures on September 25th, 1999.