Description of Historic Place

The Rosehill Schoolhouse is located at 20386 Kennedy Road on the west side of Kennedy Road, south of Highpoint Side Road, in the Town of Caledon. The stone schoolhouse was constructed in 1872.

The property was designated by the Town of Caledon in 1980 for its heritage value under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act (By-law 80-36).

Heritage Value

The Rosehill Schoolhouse is associated with the early school system in Ontario. Constructed in 1872, this one-room schoolhouse served Caledon Township School Section #11. The schoolhouse was closed in 1964 following the introduction of centralized schooling in Ontario, and converted to its current residential use. A majestic row of maples trees, planted in commemoration of Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897, demarcate the original southern boundary of the schoolhouse property.

The Rosehill Schoolhouse is a good example of an institutional building constructed in an Italianate-influenced vernacular style. It is also unique to the area, being one of only two 19th century schoolhouses built of stone in the former Caledon Township. Rectangular in plan with a hip roof and wide eaves, the schoolhouse's walls are of randomly coursed local limestone, with projecting cut stone quoins. Unlike its red brick counterparts of the same era, the Rosehill Schoolhouse is distinguished by an entrance on the long side, centred between two pairs of windows and sheltered by a bracketed portico with decorative finials. The building's most outstanding features are its tall, arched casement windows, capped by projecting masonry arches.

Source: Town of Caledon, By-law 80-36.

Character-Defining Elements

Character defining elements that contribute to the heritage value of the Rosehill Schoolhouse include its:
- rectangular plan
- rubble limestone exterior
- cut stone quoins
- projecting and radiating stone voussoirs
- hip roof
- wide eaves
- centrally placed doorway on long side facade
- bracketed portico
- tall casement windows and narrow windows
- one room design