Best Heritage Preservation Hamilton Near Me

4worldlovers: Each restoration project is unique. All of our work is guided by sound conservation principles as set forth in The Venice Charter International Charter for the Conservation and Restoration of Monuments and Sites (1964), as well as the Standards and Guidelines for the Conservation of Historic Places in

Canada and The Ontario Heritage Tool Kit. These guidelines offer consistency when planning for, intervening on, and using historic places and has been adopted by several federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal authorities, as the benchmark for assessing proposed conservation interventions.”

Wherever possible, existing heritage material is conserved with minimal intervention and techniques that are reversible. Where that is not possible, historic and/or sympathetic materials are sourced locally.

A woodworker for more than 30 years, Walter Furlan is a graduate of Willowbank School of Restoration Arts in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. Walter also has a B.A. in Labour Studies from McMaster University. His work experience includes consulting, project management and conservation of historic windows and other elements at more than a dozen National Historic Sites. He has worked on everything from Dundurn Castle, Auchmar and the Central Presbyterian Church to the House of Commons in Ottawa.

We have a growing collection of custom furniture built using locally sourced materials and the same amount of care and effort that goes into our restorations.

We provide a full range of historic and heritage conservation and preservation services. If it's old and in need of repair we can restore it.

We provide hands-on and microscopic analysis of historic architectural paints and other finishes to determine colors, composition and application methods.

Our specialty areas include repair of historic sash window systems and thermal upgrades. New reproduction of period sash window systems and new wood storm window and screen replication.

4worldlovers:
We tell the stories of work and working life in Canada and beyond. Our multi-disciplinary events offer a contemporary perspective on issues that affect society, work and communities.


WAHC relies on the generous contributions of our volunteers and sponsors/donors to do all of what we do. Are you interested in history, labour, and art? Join us! We couldn’t do it without you.

4worldlovers: In 1972, the Hamilton Conservation Authority purchased 120 acres of land in the Dundas Valley from Mr. Charles Hill. This property was for many years part of an estate known as “The Hermitage”. The stone house and outbuildings, which now only exist in ruins, were built by Mr. George Gordon Browne Leith, when he bought the property in 1855. He and his wife lived there for many years; later followed by their daughter Mrs. Alma Dick-Lauder.

An earlier house was built by the Revered George Sheed, the first resident Presbyterian minister in Ancaster. Reverend Sheed bought the property in 1830 and built a frame home on the low ground to the east of the present ruin, near the stream. In Leith’s time this building was in the middle of the orchard, and was used for storing apples until some time after 1900. Mr. Sheed died in 1832, and was buried in St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church’s cemetery in Ancaster.

In 1833, the land was sold to an Englishman, Otto Ives. He came to Canada from Greece with a Greek wife. There is a legend that the Ives’ coachman, William Black, fell in love with Mrs. Ives’ niece, who had accompanied her to Canada. He asked Ives for permission to marry, but was emphatically refused. The next morning, Black did not appear with the carriage and was later found hanging from the stable rafters. A suicide could not be buried in a churchyard, so he was buried at the crossroads where Lover’s Lane joins Sulphur Springs Road. On moonlit night, some say that he can be heard crying for his lost love.

George Leith, who bought “The Hermitage” in 1855, was the second son of a Scottish baronet, Major-General Sir George Alexander Leith. As the second son, Leith could not inherit the title or the property in Scotland. He was given a pension and sent to Canada. The money was sufficient to enable him to get settled, but he would not have been financially independent for the rest of his life.

George Leith’s home was one of many built by well-to-do British immigrants in Ancaster, but surpassed them all. The building stone was quarried locally and the red bricks came from Dundas. The limestone sills came from the Credit Valley.

The attendant buildings were numerous, and their foundations can still be seen. The separate building to the north was a two-room laundry with a cistern in the floor. The long building directly behind the main house extended back about 85 feet. It contained a carriage house, a workroom and wood storage. The L-shaped wing next to it was the children’s nursery. To the west of the main house was a stable. The kitchen was in the west wing on the same side. In 1861 there were 13 people living in the house, five of whom were servants. On the ground floor of the main house was a drawing room, library, dining room and an enormous entrance hall. By today’s standards, the furnishings were opulent and many were brought from Scotland. There were paintings by Raeburn, Archer and Hogarth and many valuable first editions in the library. One of the most precious possessions was a set of china given to Mr. Leith’s father by the King of Burma, when he was governor at Penang.

At this time, the land had to supply most food requirements for the large household. By 1861, the farm was well developed. Of a total of 250 acres, 150 were cleared and cultivated. Leith built a house, a barn and granary down the lane for his tenant farmer. This house is now privately owned. The gatehouse was also built at the time. Known as The Lodge, it was, for many years, the home of Mrs. Penelope Hutchinson, a granddaughter of George Leith.