Saint Mary's School (formerly Saint Mary's College) is a private, four-year female boarding school serving grades 9-12 in Raleigh, North Carolina. It is operated as an independent school, but has an historic association with the Episcopal Church and has an episcopal chapel, St. Mary's Chapel, on the school's grounds. The school formerly operated as Saint Mary's College and educated girls in grades 11-12 and their freshman and sophomore years in college. The school changed to a four year high school in 1998,[1] at which point it changed its name.
 
History
The school was founded in 1842 as a successor to the Episcopal School for Boys, which had been founded earlier in 1833. During the United States Civil War, the campus hosted the families of several prominent southerners, including the daughter of Robert E. Lee and the wife and children of Jefferson Davis. Several of the early buildings on campus were constructed using stone discarded from the construction of the North Carolina State Capitol, which is located only a few blocks to the east. Throughout the 19th century, the area around the campus was sparsely populated, as it was mostly occupied by large plantations. When a street car line was installed past the school, the surrounding land was sold off and subdivided into densely populated neighborhoods. Currently, the campus is considered to be part of Downtown Raleigh.
 
Campus
Saint Mary's buildings date from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries and also include antebellum structures individually recognized as Local Historic Landmarks. Three buildings from the 1830s are visible from Hillsborough Street from behind a wooded glade of large oaks, hollies, and magnolias.
The school's oldest structures, East and West Rock, are matching buildings of discarded stone from the building of the second State Capitol in the 1830s. The brick Greek Revival building between them was erected soon after; it was remodeled in 1907 to include a Neoclassical Revival front portico and dormitory wings. It was named Smedes Hall for the school's first president.
Two buildings erected in the later nineteenth century are Gothic in style: the 1855 Richard Upjohn Carpenter Gothic Chapel and the 1887 Gothic Revival Language Arts building, a brick structure with pointed-arch windows.
The early twentieth century saw much construction; nearly all the permanent brick buildings, which were rendered in the Colonial Revival style, survive. Later construction continued to complement earlier buildings, and the view of the campus from Hillsborough Street remains notable for its historic integrity.
St. Mary’s School was listed on the National Register in 1978.