[1] The township of Warwick was declared a municipality in 1861, and prior to this was a developed centre of Darling Downs agriculture with the first land sales in 1850, and the establishment of the Horse and Jockey Inn in December 1848.

In 1854 Roman Catholic services, like many other religious and social gatherings held in Warwick, began in the Horse and Jockey Inn.

The Sisters acquired their first convent in a brick cottage at the corner of Albion and Percy Streets, Warwick, and immediately took over the running of the Catholic school, operated by the Missus O'Mara since 1867.

The site, on Locke Street, was chosen by Bishop Quinn and purchased by the Sisters on 27 August 1877 from Edward Collins, who acquired the original Deed of Grant on 1 February 1854.

The early drawing of the convent shows the building as a mirror image of how it now stands, which the chapel wings and tower to the left of the entrance porch rather than to the right.

George Simkin and John Ibler, who comprised the partnership, practised together from 1889 until 1894 and many of their buildings are notable examples of Victorian eclecticism and flamboyance.

[1] The foundation stone of the convent was laid in August 1891 by Archbishop Robert Dunne, who also performed the opening ceremony two years later on 11 March 1893.

[1] The Sisters of Mercy withdrew from Warwick in 1988, when lay Catholics in the town retained Assumption College as a campus for tertiary education.

All stone detailing, including tracery and window surrounds, mouldings, carvings, copings, chimneys is of smooth faced sandstone.

The entrance porch, located, not centrally, but slightly closer to the east of the building, is a pointed arched opening flanked by gabled pinnacles and all surmounted by a pedimented block, in which is a statue niche.

The tower is roofed with a lead sheeted onion dome, with expressed ribs and surmounted by a Latin cross made from metal.

A centrally located bay window, with similar parapet detailing to that on the projecting section of the eastern wing, is found on the first floor.

The first floor verandah is infilled with fibrous cement sheeting to balustrade level, above which are side opening arctic glass casement windows in bays of six.

[1] The eastern elevation of the building, again dominated by two storeyed verandahs, has a centrally located projecting gabled bay, expressing an internal stair hall.

Two pointed arched windows are found on the first floor of this and a door opening on ground level, covered by a recent walkway into adjacent schoolgrounds.

To the northern (rear) of this bay the verandahs are timber framed with simple turned balusters, stop chamfered columns and fretwork brackets and infill mouldings.

Two elaborate timber doorways, with moulded architraves surmounted by entablatures, have four panelled doors with transom lights above, and access former reception and music rooms.

[1] Separating the entrance hall from the central corridor is a fine cedar screen, with three tiers of trefoil arched openings, some of which are glazed with embossed glass panels.

Two pointed arched openings in the corridor, flanking the stair, separate this principal entrance area from the remainder of the ground floor.

The eastern wall of the front section of the cheap features large pointed arched window openings, with grisaille stained glass panels.

The more rudimentary rear section of the chapel has a timber fireplace, a walk through sash window and French door with transom light opening to the adjacent verandah.

To the north of the chapel, and separated by a stair hall, is the 1914 addition, which comprises large rooms with Wunderlich pressed metal ceilings featuring fleur-de-lis and Greek cross motifs and rendered walls with dado and picture rails impressed in the plaster.

Two large rooms beyond this, with timber boarded ceilings and vertical sash windows, have been recently joined with a six leaf folding door.

[1] Above the chapel, in the eastern wing of the first floor, is another former dormitory, which features a vaulted timber ceiling, with moulded cedar ribs and purlins, and panels of stained pine boarding.

[1] The grounds in which the convent sits, contain many features which add to the amenity of the building, including the circular front walkway with central statue; the rose gardens to the east of this and the grotto.

The building is significant as the home of one of the many branch houses of All Hallows' Convent, from where many of the state's early educational and social programmes were established.