Save Auchmar sustainably.

The author of “Dusty Corners” in the Mountain News  has struck a chord. In his column of November 17^th mountain historian Colwyn Beynon has given us a vision of what could become of “Auchmar”, the city owned heritage home built by one of Hamilton’s great personages  and personalities, Sir Isaac Buchanan. In his vision Beynon sees a development at the corner of Fennel and West 5^th that would rival the gem that is Dundurn Castle. Please Google, “A new beginning for Auchmar”  and let your imagination run wild while reading. I think Colwyn is on to something and if I might I’d like to add more to that vision.

I’ve lived most of my life on the west mountain and yet have only been on the grounds of “Auchmar” officially once and that’s when the Hungarian Sisters of Social Services were selling off anything they didn’t want back in 1999 and on that day I did not enter the mansion itself. A couple of weeks ago, I walked the property boundary discovering what had always been hidden by that mass and mess of greenery along Fennel and West 5^th, an oasis of green and a gem of an economic opportunity never losing sight that the number one focus should be on the preservation and glorification of this heritage site. The Honourable Sir Isaac Buchanan who built “Auchmar” in 1855 not only was a leading figure in Hamilton but also in Upper Canada and Great Britain. One wonders, did he ever sit still. In brief Sir Isaac loved our mountain and wondered out loud why hadn’t the City of Hamilton developed above instead of below the escarpment? He was the force behind the first Board of Trade which evolved into our modern Chamber of Commerce. During the 1860’s with his own money he raised the 13^th Battalion which evolved into our venerated Royal Hamilton Light Infantry. He was in on the ground floor of railway development in Ontario with the Great Western Railway recognized as the first railway “system”. He promoted the Presbyterian Church in Canada with special attention paid to Knox and MacNab Presbyterian in Hamilton and others throughout Southern Ontario. He was to put it bluntly one of the most active entrepreneurial and political figures this city and this province has ever seen. So why endorse Colwyn’s vision of what could be? Because what might be is to painful to contemplate. An offer has been floated to fund a complete restoration of “Auchmar” in return for the acres of land you and I now can see rolling northwards from the dormitory. This development vision entails the construction of town houses. This can’t be allowed to happen. I would call upon leading political and economic figures in this city to come together with an action plan not only for the restoration of “Auchmar” but also for it’s continued sustainability. We have Dundurn. We have Whitehern. Now it is time to recognize the Mountain’s greatest heritage building by focusing resources and resourcefulness upon it. I’d love to see my son or daughter married there as Colwyn dreams. I’d love garden centres and florists to attach their names to the buildings and the acres of green space we will save. The RHLI museum could have a wonderful new home and archivists and genealogists could share space in the numerous outbuildings. Can the Chamber, the RHLI, LIUNA, the City and leading entrepreneurs be drawn into a financial discussion about possibilities for the future? I should hope so. We the citizens of Hamilton own this treasure and it is up to us to provide for it’s future, a future that should reflect the past and it’s preservation with the modern realities of sustainability. I think a panel of leading citizens could certainly come up with a better vision than mere town houses.

Doug Farraway