For over a century, St. Ann's Academy played an important role in the educational life of Western Canada. It served as the regional motherhouse for the Sisters of St. Ann, the major female Roman Catholic teaching and nursing order in British Columbia, which opened its first school on the site in 1858. Inspired by convent designs in the Sisters' native Quebec, the Academy was built in three stages between 1871 and 1910. Among its notable features is the chapel, built as Victoria's first Roman Catholic church in 1858 and later attached to the rear of the convent. St. Ann's and its gardens are among Victoria's most venerable landmarks.