The Building

The house was built by George Brock Rousseau (1817-1873)in 1838 for his bride Jane Morris whom he married in 1839. George B. Rousseau was a prominent citizen of Ancaster, and was Postmaster for 10 years, a Councillor and a member of the Ancaster agricultural Society. Other owners of the property were Bolton W. Donnelly, a druggist, who owned it from 1878-1919 Elizabeth Farmer, 1919-1928: Florence Farmer, 1928-1970: Frank S. Panabaker, artist 1970-1997, and it is presently owned by Kenneth Kershaw. In 1981 under the Ontario Heritage Act, Rousseau House was designated as a property of historic and architectural value. A plaque showing this, is placed to the left of the door fronting on Wilson Street. Downstairs the pine floors have been sanded and sealed. A new entrance for the restaurant on the north side of the building is a replica of the original street entrance with its stained glass panels.

The staircase, which originally went straight up from the street front door, has been rotated 180 degrees to ease the movement of restaurant customers to the dining areas on the first floor. All the original red pine doors have been restored and used throughout the restaurant. The tables downstairs and the top of the bar have been made from joists taken from the rear extension of the building which had to be demolished and then rebuilt to house the kitchen. The stone from the demolished rear section has been incorporated in the stone wall along the front of the building with some dressed from the old Smith House which was recently demolished. Interestingly, you will see a few white stones in the wall. These were removed from the basement wall of the house. During the 1800's there were several outbreaks of cholera in the area and all households were required to whitewash the cellars, hence the white stones.