Built in 1854 on the hill of Fourvière, which was home to many monasteries, back from the river edge of the Saône, the convent of the Visitation is one of the first works of Pierre-Marie Bossan-Marie (1814-1888), best known as the architect of the Basilica of Notre-Dame de Fourvière.

Like many others, the monastery experienced in the 20th century the vicissitudes of history related to the drop in vocations and the economic difficulties of the order, which increased after the Second World War. In 1965 the Convent is sold to the City of Lyon.
Leased in 1970 to the Hospices Civils to accommodate nursing students, it was transformed in 1974 to store the archives of the Hospices, preserved until then at the Hôtel Dieu.

If just a few original interior fittings have been preserved, a beautiful building with harmonious proportions remains, built with an alternating of Couzon stone, red brick and white limestone.
In 2011 the Group èhotels-Lyon seized the opportunity to fully renovate the former Convent of the Visitation and set up a new and unusual hotel.