Museums and Historical Sites

The Bishop's House

County Road 18
St. Raphaels
613-938-4748 or 1-800-937-4748

Built in 1808 as a large three-story stone home, it was from here that the development of the Roman Catholic Church in Ontario began, directed by Rev Alexander Macdonell, first bishop of Upper Canada. From its earliest days, it has been a place of education beginning as the College of Iona. The first Premier of Ontario, John Sandfield Macdonald, attended the school. The building, originally gable-roofed, was given a Second Empire-style Mansard roof in the late 1880s, around the time it became Iona Academy, a longstanding day and boarding school. Adjacent the St Raphaels Ruins National Historic Site, the Bishop's House was identified as a key component of a well preserved early nineteenth century ecclesiastical precinct. Open for specific events.