MANSIONS! (Durand Part II)

[flar]

HAMILTON NEIGHBOURHOODS:
Corktown • Durand • Central • Dundas • Locke St. South • Burlington • Stinson • Westdale • St. Clair • Keith • Landsdale
The Delta • Gibson • Jamesville • Concession Street • Durand North • Durand South • Old Dundas Houses • Hess Village • Barton Street
Ancaster • North Kirkendall • South Kirkendall • McMaster University • Downtown • The Bayfront • The North End • Kenilworth
Mountain Brow • Textile District • Strathcona • North Stipley • Flamborough • Beasley • Chedoke • Stoney Creek • The Beach Strip

HAMILTON FEATURES:
C I T Y _ L I G H T S • Stone Hamilton • Twilight of the Industrial Age • Twilight of the Industrial Age II
Stone in Dundas and Ancaster • Goodbye, Hamilton (from 43 floors up) • Dirty Brick • Day for Night
This broken down old city still manages to wake up every morning... • Everywhere, Ontario • < R - E - T - R - O >
HAMILTON | Scenes from the cutting room floor • S U B U R B I A ! • Everywhere, Ontario • Hamilton Rowhouses
< H E A V Y <> I N D U S T R Y > • Old Man Winter vs. Hamilton

Durand
Part II
(south of Herkimer)
Hamilton, Ontario

In part one we looked at the northern half of Durand, one of Canada's finest and most interesting Victorian neighbourhoods.
In this part, we look at the southern half of Durand, where townhouses and apartments give way to one of the the largest and
most exquisite collections of mansions in Canada. While the architectural richness of the northern part of Durand may not be
obvious to the casual observer, there is no mistaking the quality and uniqueness of the homes shown in this part of the tour.
Victorian styles predominate early on, but as we move closer to the base of the Niagara Escarpment, examples of a variety of
house styles popular during the 1850-1920 period are evident.

Link to Part I: http://forum.skyscraperpage.com/showthread.php?t=162149

Enjoy!

[theWatusi]

sweet cribs

[Dean]

Originally Posted by flar

[B]Durand
Part II
(south of Herkimer)
Hamilton, Ontario

I
Victorian styles predominate early on, but as we move closer to the base of the Niagara Escarpment, examples of a variety of
house styles popular during the 1850-1920 period are evident.
[/IMG]

A common misconception is the term 'Victorian style'. 'Victorian' refers to the era rather than the architectural style.

Most of these fantastic homes are certainly Queen Anne in style or variants of that style. Some are Second Empire styled with Mansard roofs and dormers windows as features while some have Picturesque Gothic motifs.

A great collection none the less.

[flar]

Originally Posted by Dean

A common misconception is the term 'Victorian style'. 'Victorian' refers to the era rather than the architectural style.

Most of these fantastic homes are certainly Queen Anne in style or variants of that style. Some are Second Empire styled with Mansard roofs and dormers windows as features while some have Picturesque Gothic motifs.

A great collection none the less.

That's why I said Victorian styles. I was referring to the fact that the neighbourhood is roughly divided into an older Victorian neighbourhood, and a newer area of homes built in the early 20th century as infill or as the neighbourhood expanded onto the foot of the Niagara Escarpment. Taken together, there are examples of many styles from the Victorian era and beyond (ie: Gothic Revival, Italianate, Queen Anne, Tudor Revival, French eclectic and other early 20th C revival styles). The oldest homes in this tour date to the 1850s and many of the homes toward the end of the tour were built in the 1910s and 20s.

[Top Of The Park]

very interesting

[TinChelseaNYC]

Built during an age of rampant good taste. What a place! Now is any of this landmarked and protected?

I want one of these:

[Kingofthehill]

Sexy.

[WilliamTheArtist]

Wooonderful collection of homes. Thanks for sharing. Love both the Victorian era homes and the 20s. Count yourself as being lucky to have such a great collection of those late 1800s homes. There is not a single such example here for our city is so new. It would be so neat to have and see such homes.

[KevinFromTexas]

Beautiful.

[Jibba]

Gorgeous homes. So solid and stately looking. I could grow old in many of those. Thanks for documenting these.

[BrianE]

This time period in our history is the peak of human achievement for residential architecture in my opinion.

[wisla_krakow]

http://i84.photobucket.com/albums/k2...outh/00018.jpg

I'm going to assume those are garage doors, and are fucking sweet.

[flar]

Originally Posted by TinChelseaNYC

Built during an age of rampant good taste. What a place! Now is any of this landmarked and protected?

I want one of these:

^^Those houses are where the gardeners, housekeepers, etc. and their families used to live.

Some of these houses are designated under the Ontario Heritage Act. That's our version of landmarked and protected. Specific features of buildings are classified as "designated features" and any modifications affecting those features would have to granted an exemption. This can include interior features in some cases.

There is also the Durand-Markland Heritage Conservation District, which encompasses some of the area shown in this tour (and Part I). Any construction or alteration in the heritage district has to be granted a permit by the city and is subject to heritage design guidelines.

I don't know how much "teeth" the Ontario Heritage Act has. There is a major problem of "demolition by neglect" in Hamilton. Earlier this year, city council voted against a bylaw aimed at stopping demolition by neglect. City council also recently granted an exemption to themselves for renovations to City Hall, in which a designated feature of City Hall (marble cladding) is to be replaced with cheaper preformed concrete. There is concern that this sets a bad precedent, as it may now become easier for owners of heritage properties to be granted exemptions. There is little to worry about in Durand, as most of these homes are well cared for, but in other parts of the city there are serious concerns about heritage preservation.

[boden]

Sweet Flar, sweet.

[TANGELD_SLC]

Those are some very nice houses!
Although alot of them seem to be more like my servant's quarters or townhouses and apartments. They are still good-looking, but not very mansion-like.

[flar]

Originally Posted by TANGELD_SLC

Those are some very nice houses!
Although alot of them seem to be more like my servant's quarters or townhouses and apartments. They are still good-looking, but not very mansion-like.

This is still a neighbourhood tour, so I included examples of everything seen in the neighbourhood. I just called it "mansions" because there are a lot in this neighbourhood. The houses TinChelsea pointed out were indeed servant's housing, but most of the townhouses (such as the ones in the picture below) were homes of professionals and the middle class.



Here is a house I neglected to include in the tour. This cute little Second Empire cottage was built in 1892 as a residence for the operator of a nearby pumping station.




Another interesting detail, the house below was built in 1911 for the manager of the Bank of Montreal when Hamilton was still a major financial centre (in fact, Hamilton was the last Canadian city other than Montreal or Toronto to have national bank headquarters--The Bank of Hamilton--which merged with the Bank of Commerce in 1924). In 1958, the Bank of Montreal sold the house to a hotel owner who used the house to entertain many stars, including Louis Armstrong, Zsa Zsa Gabor, Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey, and Glen Miller. The person who currently lives in the house has a nice collection of classic cars. You can barely see a couple in the driveway at left.

[TinChelseaNYC]

Just out of curiosity, how much do those smaller houses I pointed out and that 2d empire cottage sell for up there? Something tells me they're not cheap.

[flar]

^^Hamilton is not an expensive city (these are outta my price range though)

Looking at MLS listings:

A small cottage for $274,500
http://www.realtor.ca/propertyDetail...ertyId=7780228

The narrow townhouses range from $280,000-450,000
http://www.realtor.ca/propertyDetail...ertyId=7678110

Smaller mansions are about $600-700,000
http://www.realtor.ca/propertyDetail...ertyId=7780213

One larger mansion was for sale at $1.7 million.
http://www.realtor.ca/propertyDetail...ertyId=7518563

[Swinefeld]

Sweet Jesus. You have an uncanny knack for finding Canada's premier properties. Those were simply stunning.

Bravo.

[xzmattzx]

Great pictures. I was going to comment on how even these mansions have that Hamilton red and orange and brown brick, but there are some nice different styles later on in the thread.