[2] The four-storey building remains vacant on its original property just west of Portsmouth, a few metres inland from the shore of Lake Ontario.

[4] The Provincial Lunatic Asylum established in Toronto and similar institutions in New York persuaded the politicians of Upper Canada to design a facility that incorporated "modern treatment methods" of the time.

William Coverdale was selected as the architect of the structure, with much debate over the most optimal layout and progressive hospital design practices of the time.

[8][9] Affiliation with Queen's University and the provincial psychiatric system led to much research and debate about the appropriate methods for patient care, which drastically improved under William Metcalf and Charles Kirk Clarke towards the end of the 19th century.

[3] The facility had a major shift in 1959, when most patients were transferred to the nearby Ontario Hospital, and Rockwood obtained a new name and purpose: "The Penrose Building", a residence for local citizens with disabilities.