A Rochester Dining Icon Is Coming Back — What Richardson's Canal House Means to the Flower City

The building on the canal bank in Bushnell's Basin was already 11 years old when Rochester incorporated as a city in 1834. Stagecoaches stopped at Richardson's Canal House when the Erie Canal was still under construction. Whatever comes next, that structure has outlasted a dozen American eras. It can handle one more renovation.

Built Before Rochester Was a City

Built Before Rochester Was a City

Richardson's Tavern dates to about 1818, built as a stagecoach stop on the route between Rochester and Canandaigua in what is now Perinton, Monroe County. The Erie Canal didn't open until 1825. That means this building predates not just the canal it sits beside — it predates the city it became famous for serving.

The structure was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980, recognized for its Greek Revival and Federal architectural style. That recognition isn't just a plaque. It marks the building as a primary document of early 19th-century Monroe County.

From Tavern to Table — How Richardson's Canal House Became Part of Rochester's Story

From Tavern to Table — How Richardson's Canal House Became Part of Rochester's Story

After decades of abandonment, the structure was converted for dining use in 1978 and opened as a restaurant on Valentine's Day 1979. That date turned out to be apt — Richardson's became the place Monroe County went to mark the occasions worth marking. Anniversaries, retirements, milestone birthdays. The kind of dinner where the occasion demands a view of the water.

The setting did most of the work. A waterfront historic building on the Erie Canal is singular in this region. The canal isn't backdrop — it's part of what you're eating beside. By the time the restaurant closed, it had become one of the most noted dining destinations in Monroe County. That reputation took 45 years to build.

Dennis Wilmot and Jim Barbato bought the property and plan to have it reactivated by the summer of 2027, if not earlier. The renovation includes waterfront upgrades along the Erie Canal — not just interior restoration, but a return of the building's relationship to the water that always set it apart.

The timeline is concrete. Richardson's has been closed long enough that some Rochesterians had started using the past tense. A 2027 target puts it back on the calendar for a new generation and for the people who already have a story from the original run.

Bushnell's Basin sits along the Erie Canalway Trail, with a walkable, village-like character that a restored waterfront destination amplifies. Wilmot and Barbato are renovating a building, but they're also restoring a gathering point for a corridor that has always been worth the drive from the city. Summer 2027 is the date to mark.