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Tuesday, November 12, 2024
Arch-i-text: The architectural legacy of the Hamilton family
Glencairn, the 192-year-old Queenston estate overlooking the Niagara River, is a irreplaceable part of Canadian history and heritage — and should be recognized as a national historic site, writes Brian Marshall. Supplied

The Hamilton family left an indelible stamp on Niagara and Upper Canada during the late 18th century and continued well into the 19th century.

Born in Scotland, the family’s patriarch, Robert Hamilton, arrived in Montreal during 1779 and immediately commenced building a business centred on trading around the Great Lakes.

Leveraging relationships he had formed during the American Revolutionary War, his company controlled the movement of goods around Niagara Falls, was a principal supplier of the British army garrisons and established a network of retail supply points providing general merchandizing within the growing settlements of Upper Canada.

Further, he drew on the profits of his various enterprises to engage in land speculation.

By the time of his death in 1809, Robert Hamilton was one of the richest men in Upper Canada and considered to be the principal land speculator in the colony.

Unfortunately, Robert’s sons lacked his incredible level of business acumen and his two eldest sons, Alexander and George, experienced much more modest levels of financial success and various failures.

However, they were extraordinarily well connected within the higher echelons of Upper Canada society — a fact which, on a number of occasions, saved them from financial ruin — and these ties were strengthened by terms served in the House of Assembly.

In 1816, on 257 acres he owned, George established a town site that would eventually grow into the city of Hamilton.

After the failure of his business in 1821, which cost him most of his inheritance, Alexander focused his career attention on patronage appointments.

Aided by his brother-in-law, Samuel Peters Jarvis and Rev. (eventually Bishop) John Strachan — both highly influential individuals in government circles — he regularly applied for and gained appointments as a justice of the peace, postmaster and deputy collector of customs at Queenston, surrogate court judge, and sheriff of the Niagara District.

These positions were complemented by acting as chairman of the Erie and Ontario Railroad Company and commissioner of the Niagara River Suspension Bridge Company.

By 1833, Alexander had recouped sufficient wealth to commence construction of a mansion in Queenston, the Willowbank Estate, designed by the same architect his brother John had used.

Unlike his older brothers, the youngest of Robert’s sons seems to have inherited his father’s shrewd business sense.

When he finally received his share of his father’s estate — a relative pittance when compared to that of his elder brothers — in 1824, he used the money to partner with his step-brother, Robert, in establishing the Queenston Steamboat Company.

While his brother left the business in the latter part of the 1820s, John continued on and regularly invested in new steamboat technology to provide him an edge in the financially hazardous and extremely competitive inland shipping sector of the day.

Rather than expanding his company-owned fleet of two or three ships, he chose to lease the others, an approach that allowed him to keep his overhead costs down and react more quickly than many of his competitors to sharp fluctuations in the economy.

Early in the 1830s, John’s fortunes were such that he commissioned the American architect John Latshaw to design a mansion in the Greek Revival style and, by 1832, the grand home was completed.

Overlooking the Niagara River on a waterfront property near Queenston, the two-storey building rose atop a raised full-height basement and presented its principal facade to the river. And, what a facade it was!

The colonnade on the main level was comprised of six Doric columns supporting an elegantly simple entablature from which rose a second floor colonnade sporting six Ionic columns, carrying a classically clean entablature decorated only by a dentil band moulding set in the frieze with the roof’s edge presenting as the cornice.

Four tall brick chimneys — each one anchoring a respective corner of the building’s square footprint — punctuated and accentuated the building’s massing while simultaneously lightening its grandeur.

Clad in white clapboard, the building’s walls are pierced by ranked generously sized openings placed in a balanced relationship to the centred entries on the front and rear facades.

The home was a classic of the American Greek Revival style expression and meant to impress, specifically as viewed from the river whereupon John’s competitors plied their trade every day.

Interestingly, John Hamilton only occupied the house for about a decade. Largely due to the reckless and cutthroat operations of his major competitors, he decided to temporarily withdraw from the Lake Ontario theatre and concentrate his attention on the St. Lawrence trade.

To that end, he moved both his business and residence to Kingston where he remained until his death in 1882.

But, rather than detailing the other accomplishments of John’s life, let us return to the home and estate he built and fast-forward to the year 1900.

This year, it was acquired by the wealthy American industrialist John D. Larkin and his wife, Hannah, as their weekend retreat and a home base from which he expanded his holdings in Niagara-on-the-Lake — holdings which, at the peak, reached 1,900 acres of prime-producing agricultural land in proximity to what is now the Niagara River Parkway.

Circa 1905, a wing had been added to the south side of the original house. This addition, its exterior and dimensions carefully designed to be subservient to and sympathetic with the Greek Revival original, increased the living space by approximately 60 per cent.

Further, Larkin caused both a coach house and tea house to be constructed on the property while improving the landscaping.

In 1923, Larkin sold the property to his daughter and her husband and it continued to be used by his family until the 1950s.

Once more we are going to jump forward in time to the year 2003, when the property was purchased by Reginald and Jean Porter.

The house they acquired was sad, tired and the worse for wear. 

Over the next decade and a half, the Porters scrupulously restored the exterior of the original house and Larkin’s 1905 addition.

They addressed the original surviving interior elements restoring where possible, reproducing where necessary and renovating where such work did not impact the original character.

In recognition of their work, they received the 2019 Peter J. Stokes Award for Restoration from the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario.

Earlier this year, Reginald Porter passed away. Last weekend, an estate sale was held at the property to sell all the contents.

And now, the future of this glorious piece of Canadian history and heritage is placed in question.

Having survived the highs and lows of nearly 200 years, what will happen to it next year?

It is a treasure of not only local and provincial but also national importance.

Its sister, Willowbank, built by Alexander Hamilton — whose impact on Canadian history was purely local — is a national historic site.

Should not Glencairn, built by John Hamilton — a man whose influence and impact positively affected the institutions (e.g. co-founder of Queen’s University), businesses, political systems (served 51 years in the legislature and, after Confederation, in the senate) and the development of Canada’s transportation network (both shipping and rail) — and designed by the same architect be accorded equal status?

I certainly believe that Glencairn is worthy of being recognized as a national historic site and moreover, all the protection the law can allow. 

Brian Marshall is a NOTL realtor, author and expert consultant on architectural design, restoration and heritage.

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