FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

“Visitation has been a home, a school, and a place of faith for generations—and its history began even before the Sisters arrived,” said Caroline Cardillo of the Visitation Academy & Monastery Landmark Initiative. “We’re gathering to make clear that this campus matters to all of New York City and deserves a thorough landmark evaluation.”

 

The site’s history includes the nineteenth-century Kings County Inebriates’ Home, incorporated in 1867 as a treatment center for alcohol and opiate dependency that also admitted women. At a time when addiction was often met with incarceration, the Home offered treatment and hope to people who had few options. Its grounds were part of that care, providing patients with space for fresh air, activity, and recovery. This innovative approach makes the Home an important part of New York City’s social reform history.

 

The principal nineteenth-century building, designed by architect Ebenezer L. Roberts, became the monastery. The second nineteenth-century building, built in 1888, became the Academy. The Sisters of the Visitation purchased the property in 1903 and, with the assistance of P. J. Carlin, transformed it into a religious and educational campus. Sacred Heart Chapel, designed by architect Franz J. Berlenbach Jr., was built between 1911 and 1913. The enclosure wall was constructed by J. Carlin, son of P. J. Carlin, in 1922. Visitation Academy, a women-run and women-led institution, educated generations of women before closing in 2024.

 

The Visitation property is known around the world, in part because of its connection to Sister Ita Ford, M.M., a member of Visitation Academy’s Class of 1953 who became a Maryknoll missionary in El Salvador. On December 2, 1980, Ford and three fellow churchwomen—Sister Maura Clarke, M.M.; Sister Dorothy Kazel, O.S.U.; and lay missionary Jean Donovan—were abducted, raped, and murdered by members of the Salvadoran National Guard. Saint Teresa of Calcutta visited the Visitation monastery on January 3, 1986. The visit was unannounced and received no contemporaneous news coverage. At the monastery, she visited with the Sisters of the Visitation in the library and greeted students and families as she left. She was in New York City to help open a hospice for people with AIDS and to seek the release of terminally ill prisoners with AIDS. The Sisters later preserved the library chair as a second-class relic and commemorated the encounter with a plaque reading, “Mother Teresa was here.”

 

The community response to the landmark effort has been an extraordinary groundswell, with neighbors from across Brooklyn and supporters from around the country joining the call to landmark Monastery Square. Organizers say the response has been unanimous in support of individual landmark designation for the entire campus.

 

On October 1, the initiative submitted a 430-page Request for Evaluation to the Landmarks Preservation Commission. The submission includes an 81-page historical narrative, photographs, maps, newspaper accounts, and documentation of the historic burial ground on the property.

 

The rally is open to the public. Organizers invite everyone to attend and show that they demand landmark designation for Visitation Academy: Our Home, Our History, For All Time.

 

Rally Details

Date: Saturday, November 14, 2026

Time: 11 a.m.

Location: In front of Sacred Heart Chapel, 8902 Ridge Boulevard, Brooklyn, NY

 

Learn more or get involved at LandmarkVisitation.com.

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Members of the media seeking interviews, historical documentation, photographs, additional research materials, or information about the November 14 rally are encouraged to contact the Visitation Academy & Monastery Landmark Initiative at contact@landmarkvisitation.com