In this paper two monasteries of viceroyal Lima are presented: the barefooted nuns of Saint Joseph and Our Lady of the Rock of France, colloquially called Santa Clara. Both serve as an example to characterize the traditional architectural morphology of this kind of religious assemblies, from the barely begun seventeenth century to the remaining years of the Viceroyalty of Peru. Typical spaces only found here are the residential cells of the nuns, the subject of our particular interest, as built environments, coveted, modified, fought for –and little studied from the physical perspective. Thus, this study uses primary source documents in the Archbishop’s Archive of Lima, plus surveys and fieldwork, to try and understand the issue from an architectural perspective, both in terms of materiality and morphology, functionality and space management. The study part of a broader project covering an important sector of traditional Lima, also aims to contribute to the creation of knowledge for the conservation of similar religious buildings in the city.