Caverhill Hall is situated on the north-easterly corner of Sydney and Mecklenburg streets. It was built during 1879-81 to replace the former home of Simeon Jones which had been destroyed by the Great Fire of 1877. Jones was then mayor of Saint John and a prominent businessman.

According to local historian A.H. Wetmore, Mr. and Mrs. Jones spent some time travelling and looking at houses in order to find an appropriate style for their own home. A house in Montreal met with their approval. Owned by a Mr. Galt, it had been designed by a Mr. Brown who prepared a similar set of plans with minor modifications for Caverhill Hall. The contract for building the house was awarded to Michael Flood, a known Saint John builder.

E.J. Brass, a retired local builder, represented Mr. Jones during the construction of the house. Brass also supervised the construction of the Bank of New Brunswick at 125 Prince William Street in 1878-79.

The Jones residence, much like a baronial castle, was unusual compared to other houses in the city built during this period. Most of the homes built by the wealthy during this time were built in the Second Empire style (brick, with decorative variations). Caverhill Hall, on the other hand, was constructed of local lime stone with freestone trimmings and has short red and grey polished granite pillars The lumber used in the building was reported to have been air-dried for a year. Under the careful supervision of Brass, a solid and sturdy building was erected. Wetmore describes some of the structural features as follows:

The walls are exceptionally heavy at the base and step back at each storey, creating a ledge on which the floor joists rest. To cite the thoroughness of the construction Mr. Keltie Jones said that during the forty years of their ownership no repairs at all were necessary except those caused by a slight fire in one of the chimneys.

Simeon Jones has been described by one writer as "one of the representative men of New Brunswick." Born in Prince William, New Brunswick, of Loyalist stock, he received an education there before coming to Saint John at the age of about 25 in 1852. He took a clerk position in Robert Keltie's brewing business and eventually became his confidential agent and business manager. When Keltie retired in about 1860, Simeon Jones purchased the brewing property. In 1874 Jones and several others started a successful banking business under the name "S. Jones & Co." Jones became an alderman of the city in 1879. As chairman of the city finance committee for two years, he succeeded in "raising the status of the city from a position of 'doubt' among capitalists to one of complete firmness and safety." As a reward for his success, Jones was unanimously chosen mayor of the city. He retired from the brewery in 1892 and his three sons took over the business. By 1903 the business had experienced seventy years of "partically uninterrupted prosperity" and its products were well known all over eastern Canada.

Did You Know? Simeon Jones Sr.'s eldest son Thomas married Jane Elizabeth Caverhill after whom the house was named. It was their son, also named Simeon Jones, that later became mayor of Saint John in 1881.

From 1898 until 1908, Caverhill Hall was the residence of R. Keltie Jones, Simeon Jones' son. The house was loaned in 1901 to the city to serve as a royal residence for the Prince of Wales and the Duke and Duchess of Cornwall and York during their visit on the 17th and 18th of October. For this occasion the house was elaborately re-decorated, the details of which were extensively described in the local newspapers.

For practically the whole period of World War I military officers used the residence as a headquarters. It was then rented to the municipality for a few years, until it was sold to them in about 1923 to be used as a health centre. Caverhill Hall later became a recreation centre for the Royal Canadian Air Force and is currently being used as a residence again (1999).