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Hamilton’s James Street Baptist Church will be revamped into The Connolly, a mixed-use project

It’s always a pleasure to see a developer partner up with the local community, especially when the project involves reshaping a historical landmark. Stanton Renaissance is carefully converting Hamilton’s historic James Street Baptist Church, situated at 98 James Street South, into The Connolly, a mixed-use project.

Built between 1878 and 1882 , the church is the oldest in Hamilton and was actually slated for demolition. But Stanton Renaissance will maintain the familiar facade and attempt to save as much of a building that had been condemned as structurally unsound. The refurbishment will see the space re-imagined as a 30-storey mixed-used space with retail, commercial, hotel and residential components.

As the project transitions, the developer wanted to ensure they weren’t entirely abandoning the old for the new. Part of the church since 1939, the enormous pipe organ was saved from the scrap heap when Louie Santaguida, President of Stanton Renaissance, offered the instrument free to anyone willing to remove it. Northern Organs took him up on the offer and painstakingly removed the organ, pipe by pipe in January. The craved wood facade that surrounded the organ was taken by Historia Restorations and displayed at the historic Treble Hall.

Other artifacts from the structure have found homes across the city with fixtures going to Chuck’s Burger Bar and a sheet music cabinet fitting in at the HumblePie Shop. Gas Works, a non-profit serving at-risk youth, even received a piano, gratis.

The original pews are being sold with the funds passed on to local charities and causes. Around Christmas, Stanton Renaissance donated funds to a child in the east end suffering from brain cancer as well as the Good Food box Program.