The Mansion
Perched at 506 Princess Street like a slightly haunted older sibling of Kingston’s music scene, The Mansion spent 17 years as one of the city’s most beloved music venues, a place where something was always happening, often on multiple floors at once. With three stages spread across three levels, a sunlit patio that regularly turned Sunday afternoons into unofficial mini-festivals, and a calendar that somehow managed live music every night of the week, The Mansion didn’t just participate in the scene, it helped hold it together.
The building itself had already lived a few colourful lives before becoming The Mansion in 2009. It was once home to Ghetto House Cafe, opened by Dan Aykroyd on New Years Eve 1994, a place famous for a vintage police car from The Blues Brothers jutting out of it’s second-story wall. The cafe drew visits from the likes of The Tragically Hip and Bill Murray, and while that chapter didn’t last long, it left behind exactly the kind of slightly surreal energy the building seemed to thrive on.
By the time it became The Mansion, the space had settled into something special. It was intimate without being cramped, lively without being overwhelming, and welcoming in a way that made it easy for all kinds of people to find their place there. Touring bands could book it easily, local artists got real opportunities to play (for some, like Petras, their first gigs), and the crowds reflected the full spectrum of Kingston itself.
One might simply show up for Taco Tuesday and accidentally witness something transcendent.
And yes, Taco Tuesdays were legendary. So were the burgers. Cheap drinks that made it easy to stay longer than planned. Karaoke nights that blurred the line between performer and audience. Cabaret shows. Patio sets. Even volleyball, once upon a pre-COVID time. And through it all, staff that kept things running with the kind of consistency that turns a venue into a second home.
It was also, notably, pet-friendly. The Mansion was never trying to be exclusive. It was trying to be alive. And it was. Night after night.
After 17 years as the beating, slightly erratic heart of Kingston’s music scene, The Mansion closed it’s doors on March 11, 2026. It was the end of a place that had steadily helped shape our community for nearly two decades. Another huge loss in a city that’s had to say goodbye to too many spaces like it.
It’s no surprise then, that The Mansion is the most represented venue in our poster archive. When a place gives that much to a scene, you hold onto whatever pieces of it you can.
For more mansion posters (and a closer look at it’s louder, faster, beautifully chaotic side), check out our Punk at The Mansion (Coming soon!) post elsewhere in the archive. There’s also a few bonus posters hanging out in our Mahones, Holiday Rock, and Sarah Harmer collections. And if you’re curious about the artists who once rattled these walls, the tags at the bottom of the page are your way in, just follow the thud of bass downstairs and see who’s playing.
Artists appearing in this poster collection: A Beginners Guide to Endings, Allison Lickley, Andrew Laviolette, An Island’s View, Aron Wilson, The Ascot Royals, Asteroid #4, Attack in Black, Audiopark, Baird Brothers, B.A Johnston, Benjamin Nelson, The Beta 58’s, Black Mission FIgs, The Blind Lenses, Brian Taguchi, B.Rich & Dinky, By Divine Right, The Chalk Lines, Change of Heart, Cherry Chapstick, Chris Royer, Cities Turn to Sand, Clues, Daniel Romano, Dan Whiteley, The Darcys, Dead Sparrows, The Devin Cuddy Band, Dinosaur Bones, DJ Anomaly, Doll, Down Here From Here, Dr.Jones, Egyptian Prescription, False Face, Filet Sterling, Fly Pan Am, Fred Eaglesmith, The Gertrudes, The Good Right Arm Stringband, Grampa w Manolith, The Greg Ball Band, Hawkward, Helen Stewart, The High Dials, The Huaraches, In Cloud of Awesome, Inhuman Science, Intensive Care, The Jip, Joey Wright & Friends, The John Henrys, Landers and Rockwell, Les Breastfeeders, Liqourbox, Loyal Haggard, Madame Raz, Madison Violet, Mad Ones, The Manvils, Meisha & The Spanks, Mississippi Grover, Myles Deck + The Fuzz, Nothin’ But Mental w Alpha Jabs, Odd Fosters, Ohbijou, Orange Alabaster Mushroom, Owl Farm, The Pack a.d Unpersons, Paper Ladies, Paul Barton, Pelt, PS I Love You, Radio Mama, The Riot Police, Reuben Degroot, Rusty, Sheesham & Lotus & Son, Slow Man Tofu, The Soul Jazz Orchestra, Sphynxes, The Standstills, The Stanfields, Steven McKay, Sunfields, Suns of Static, Switchyard Sullivan, T3rr3strial, Timknightus, Treebot, Unsettlers, Van Allen Belt, Wax Mannequin, White Cowbell Oklahoma, Wilderling, Xiu Xiu, Young Rival and Zoobombs.
