FRAGILE FATES
If Hamilton roads need emergency million-dollar repaving interventions — and some roads appear to be dissolving into gravel — then how can we really expect the city to spend money saving old buildings? An expense that some taxpayers might consider frivolous.
History and architecture lovers must think about this as they look longingly at Hamilton’s inventory of marvellous buildings, some owned by the city, or owned by churches or private citizens.
On the Mountain brow there is the forlorn looking Century Manor on the grounds of the former Hamilton Asylum for the Insane. It’s for sale by the Province of Ontario, and the city has debated buying it. They took the idea to the public last year and the response was yes!
Stories on the fate of the historic Auchmar Estate are in the paper at least every month. The city-owned property needs an $8 million investment to open it for public use.
There’s a happier story at the
185-year-old Chedoke Estate that sits on the brow overlooking the city. The Ontario Heritage Trust owns it, the City of Hamilton maintains it, and Chloe Richer lives there.
Richer is in the heritage diploma
program at Willowbank School of Restoration Arts in Queenston. She’s living at Chedoke for her third-year internship.
So far she has been document-
ing the building in photographs, and has written a report on potential uses for the house and grounds. After studying bylaws, and the complex ownership and maintenance agreement, she favours leaving it as is.
“What we are doing here now is probably what works best because there’s minimal impact on the site.”
It makes sense. It’s always better to have someone living in a house, rather than having it locked up and lights out.
A student in the house can monitor conditions, do minor maintenance, and speculate what Chedoke Estate was like in the grand days when it was owned by the Balfour and, later, Southam families.
While the limestone estate is not terribly grand now, the interior remains in a holding pattern, with elements like the 1910 butler’s pantry, the bell system to summon servants, and bits of early 20thcentury wallpaper still intact.
Graceful mouldings, stairways and immense windows illustrate the importance of the house.
“I really love the fireplaces, the historic hardware and, of course, the natural environment here,” Richer says.
The arrangement with Willowbank is working, and there are no plans to change it according to Carolyn Samko, the city’s senior project manager for heritage facilities and capital planning.
“As soon as you do something other than residential, the structure and fire code issues become stringent.”
Putting a building into “maintenance mode” is a choice when money for anything better does not exist.
When the 1898 St. Luke’s Church closed in the North End, it was put on a minimal level of maintenance by the Anglican Diocese. Recently a town-hall meeting was held about the future of St. Lawrence Parish, a Catholic church also in the North End. The congregation is shrinking and the local diocese wants to see that reversed as they study the viability of smaller downtown parishes.
In February the city registered the Sisters of St. Joseph convent on their inventory of heritage properties.
The Waterdown convent is for sale for $15 million because, as one might say, “the nuns have left the building.” The registration requires the owners of the convent to give the city 60 days’ notice of intention to demolish or remove buildings.
But beyond the gloom there are inspiring stories — such as a big one in Buffalo.
The abandoned Buffalo State Asylum for the Insane has been turned into the Hotel Henry with a $100 million revamp.
Only a portion of the magnificent building has been restored, but it surely saved the Buffalo landmark that’s on the National Registry of Historic Places.
It’s a challenge, the care and curation of old buildings. But it’s a challenge that should never be abandoned.