Rochleau Building

The property at 72 Princess Street, known as the Rochleau Building, is one of the oldest in downtown Kingston – built in 1808. It is designated by the city, and the Ontario Heritage Trust holds a 1981 heritage easement agreement with the property owners, Dorothy and George (Ted) Lloyd. 

FHF Founder Margaret Angus wrote this in a foreword to one of her books: “Very few, if any, Ontario communities have an 1808 limestone building on the main business street. Few can count with a radius of two blocks about twenty-five limestone, commercial structure erected between 1817 and 1867. The unique character of Kingston should be carefully protected.” 

This was the house of one of the early Kingston post-conquest settlers, Francois Xavier Rochleau. He was a French-Canadian stone mason whose daughter, Charlotte, was baptised in 1797 by Reverend John Stuart. In 1802 he was employed in building a stone wall around the burying ground, at what is now St. Paul’s Church. He no doubt had a hand in the building of the “French Church” (also known as St. Joseph’s, St. Isadore’s or St. Columbus) in 1808 – 12 and for which he was church warden in 1823. We are fortunate to have tangible evidence of this man who was in touch with the major events and persons shaping Kingston’s early history, by the presence of his 1808 house on Store Street or Princess St. The building must be preserved as it is one of the few survivng stone buildings in Kingston pre-1810. In this limestone building, the Princess Street facade is tight against the sidewalk, as many early houses were built. The lower storey is obscured under modern changes, but has potential for restoration. The original layout probably was a central door with a large room to each side. A stone string course divides the two storeys. The upper storey has four window openings, with modern sashes replacing the original ones, which may have had twenty-four panes. Quoining defines the corners of the building, and heavy moulded corbels support a large fire-break wall projection on the end walls. Out of the centre of these, rise massive chimneys. The top vertical section of the northwest fire-break wall facing Princess Street is proudly inscribed in stone ‘F.X.R. 1808’. An off-centre dormer is on the steeply pitched roof. The west end wall has two attic windows, twelve panes each. When viewing the house from the rear, one is surprised at its extent. A full two-storey stone wing goes at right angles to the main house, with the cornices meeting. Above this area, is a single dormer on the main house. Although the wing was added later, it ties in well with the main house. It has three twelve pane windows on the upper storey, and on the lower, a single window, a double door opening and a single door with a rectangular transom light above. The south end of this wing originally had no openings. Its gable roof ends in a fire-break wall which once probably had a chimney. The southeast slope of the roof changes to meet the height of roof of the carriage wing, abutting the first wing. The carriage wing is also in stone and has a low, curved arch of fine workmanship over a wide opening. Although this section is only half the height of the first wing, it has room for three small square windows on the upper part of its wall. The remaining lower openings have been recently altered, and the wall now runs into modern additions. In spite of the modern cement block additions to the rear of the Rochleau House, the inner courtyard area is on the main very pleasantly lined with old stone and brick walls of adjacent buildings. It is reached by an alleyway off Princess Street and is a most interesting spatial arrangement.

In August 2022, fire damaged a ground-floor commercial unit (Modern Primitive) and a second-floor residence. The damage was repaired in 2024, and that work was given a Heritage conservation award by the Frontenac Heritage Foundation. More information can be found on our awards page.