Begun in 1889 by Sisters of the Good Shepherd from St. Paul, Minnesota, the convent was built to house troubled girls and young women. In all, the convent consisted of three brick buildings and a wood framed building. By 1890 demand was such that the dormitory was built to house the growing number of girls in the sisters' care. The dormitory also served as the school and, later, a commercial laundry was established in the basement, both to provide income for the convent and to provide job training for the girls. By 1900 nine sisters of the convent were caring for 27 girls and women aged 8 to 36.
This convent remained in operation only until 1909, at which time the sisters moved to a larger operation on the west side of the city. That continued in operation until its closure in 1967, by which time the sisters had cared for 2,700 girls during their 78 year tenure in Helena.
While the church, St. Helena's Catholic Church, was begun in 1889 and completed in 1891, the chapel was built later, in 1895. As there was a church on the property, the purpose of the chapel was to be a private house of worship for the sisters and their charges.
This convent was sold when the sisters vacated it, being turned into apartments and the dormitory initially a furniture warehouse, later an artist's studio. Most of the history of the chapel after the closing of the convent seems to have been lost, but in later years it was used for storage, which could be the case to this day.
The chapel is a 1½-story Gothic Revival building and was adjoined on the northwest corner of the convent in 1895. The chapel is constructed of common bonded brick and sits on a coarse, rough-cut stone foundation. The building is of rectangular massing with a gabled roof and buttresses along the side and the corner ridge.
The symmetrical design features a projecting gabled entry under a gothic arch, and paired paneled wooden doors. Quatrefoil windows are set above the gothic arch, and leaded stained glass fills the top of the arch. The stained glass windows that flank the door, and a round window set in the upper gable appear to have the same quatrefoil motif.
On the north elevation, a series of four gothic windows are placed along the wall. The glass is edged with rectangular panes of blue and red, and the central panels are gold. Only one central panel of yellow glass remains. The brick work projects above the window heads forming a continuous shouldered molding which ties the design together.
The daylight basement is illuminated by four windows with fixed two-pane units in the wooden window frames, and they sit directly below those on the first story. Wooden lintels span these openings on the west elevation. On the north side, a large circular window opening, once accentuated by points, is placed in the upper portion of this wall and framed with brick; the original window is missing. Four square, brick engaged posts travel halfway up the sides of the
chapel. The triangular caps that once crowned the posts are missing.
The decorative brick work and buttressing repeats on the south side of the building. An original south entrance to the convent opens into the yard, placed where one window would be on the opposite side. There is a tall, brick chimney, square in shape, on the south side of the building.
From the NRHP Registration Form