Built in 1889, the 2½ storey Second Empire style St. Mary's Girls' School educated hundreds, possibly thousands of girls during its active years, those years coming to a close in 1975. Well before the school's closing it had been merged with the next door St. Mary's Boys' School to become a coed institution. The original St. Mary's Schools had been overseen by the Sisters of Charity, established in Halifax, in 1849.
After standing vacant for a few years both buildings were renovated by the diocese, the boys' school being reopened as the Catholic Pastoral Centre on October 19, 1980, with the Archbishop of Halifax, Rev. James M. Hayes doing the honours. Until 2016 both buildings were owned by the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Halifax, NS. As of Thursday, June 30, 2016 the buildings were sold to Oakport Ltd., a privately held company, based in Halifax, who are focused on property acquisition, development, and management. This building has been repurposed as commercial/retail rental space, the ground floor currently occupied by
Maritime Hobbies & Crafts Ltd, a hobby and crafts outlet which happens to be the Oldest Hobby Shop in Canada.
Given that this building preceded the Boys' School by fifteen years and is substantially smaller, one might suspect that this was initially a boys' school, becoming a girls' when the adjoining building was erected. We suspect, though, that such is not the case, as the St. Mary's Glebe House, built in 1888-91 on the other side of the block, was used as a boys' school from the time it was built, eventually becoming the initial site of St. Mary's College. A boys' school has been on that site since 1802.