St Mary's is in a residential area of Dundee located in the extreme northwest of the city, to the north of Ardler and west of Kirkton. It is also bounded on the west by Downfield Golf Club, to the northwest by Clatto Country Park and to the north by Craigowl View. The scheme was built on farmland during the late 1940s, 1950s and 1960s as part of the city's attempt to create new council housing for working-class Dundonians following the end of the Second World War. All of the scheme's streets, bar two on the periphery (listed below) begin with the prefix 'St'.