Transcript: Approves Heritage Designation for 33 Bowen Street - Hamilton Municipal Heritage Committee - April 17, 2026 | Summary 727

Approves Heritage Designation for 33 Bowen Street - Hamilton Municipal Heritage Committee - April 17, 2026

Sound check. 1 2 3. Sound check. 1 2 3. Good afternoon. As we have quorum present for today's meeting, I would like to call this meeting of the Hamilton Municipal Heritage Committee to order. Uh just a reminder that all electronic devices are to be switched to a non-audible function during our committee meetings. Uh, as we go through our roll call, if I can just get you to acknowledge that you're present. Uh, just make sure your your microphones are turned on. Uh, Councelor Crutch, present. Karen Burke, present. Graham Carroll, present. Andrew Douglas, present. Lyn Lstead, present. Andy McLaren, present. And Stephan Spalnick sends his regrets. Thank you everyone. As we go to the approval of our agenda, may I please have a mover and a seconder to approve the agenda as presented? I see Andrew and Andy. And are there any amendments from the committee members for the agenda today? Councelor Crunch. Under other business, I'm just going to give an update about the motion that's going went to the planning committee. Okay. Uh, and as new business, just at the end of the meeting, we'll do a quick just update on the Ontario Heritage Conference. Um, is there anyone opposed? Seeing none, this item is carried. Our declarations of interest. Are there any declarations today? Seeing none, we'll move on to the adoption of our minutes from the previous meeting. Uh, may I have a mover and a seconder to adopt the minutes from the previous meeting dated March 27th, 201? I see Karen and Councelor Crutch. Is there any discussion in regards to those meeting minutes limits? Seeing none, as we move to vote, is there anyone opposed? Seeing none, that item is carried. Item seven is our items for information. May I please have a mover and a seconder to receive the items of information 7.1 to 7.3. I see Graham and Lynn. Is there any discussion in regards? Uh, so we'll Graham, go ahead. I'd like to ask staff if uh they contacted the letter writer on that objection to George L. Armstrong like obviously she was misinformed of what heritage designation actually does through the chair Alyssa Golden culture heritage program lead. Um staff are actually just going to point out that this is a relatively new process just to make sure that this committee sees objections to designation as they come in. Our process is that we then prepare a report that goes to planning committee on that notice of objection for them to take action. Um so this is just for the committee's information. Um but yes, in terms of your question, Graham, um the the person that submitted the objection had reached out to staff when the notice was still live and staff had provided some clarification at that time and then received this notice through clerks before the end of the objection period. Any other questions or discussions? If there's none, we'll move to vote um to receive. Is there anyone opposed? Seeing none, that item is carried. Item eight are our items of consideration. Item 8.1 PD26075 is the recommendation to designate 33 Bowen Street in Hamilton, the former courthouse hotel stable under part four of the Ontario Heritage Act in Wo. I'd like to call upon Scott Dickinson, cultural heritage planning technician, to provide a committee with a presentation on the Welcome, Scott. There we go. All right. Good afternoon, everyone. Uh Scott Dickinson, cultural heritage planning technician, and this is report PED26075. The recommendation to designate 33 Bowen Street in Hamilton. Uh this property is located on Bowen Street between Main Street East and Jackson Street East in downtown Hamilton within the historic neighborhood of Corktown. A brief bit of background on this property. Uh it was listed on the Municipal Heritage Register in August of 2014. Uh in 2024, we received a formal or at least the city received a formal application, a formal consultation application rather for the neighboring property along Main Street East. And in November of 2025, this property was listed for sale, which prompted staff to conduct an evaluation under Ontario regulation 9-06. The results of that evaluation were that this property met five of the nine criteria laid out in that regulation. Pardon me. Firstly, that this property has design and physical value. This 1 and a half story stone structure constructed circa 1834 uh is a representative example of a 19th century vernacular commercial structure. This property has historical and associative value. It is associated with Hamilton's early growth, the former courthouse hotel and politician and businessman John Bradley. In the early 1830s, Hamilton was experiencing its very first population boom. And Irish immigrant John Bradley decided in 1832 to take advantage of this massive increase in demand for accommodation to construct a hotel opposite the newly built Hamilton Courthouse, which is which is today the site of the Ontario Court of Justice. By 1834, he was able to boast of the accommodations in his hotel, including a early central heating system and a commodious stable, which is of course the property in question at 33 Bowen Street, which you can see here circled in red uh in this photograph from the 1860s. Bradley's decision to locate his hotel at the edge of Corktown proved to be a wise one. He experienced a good deal of success in the hotel trade. Enough that he was able to expand into local politics and into land speculation. Oh, we can see the original courthouse hotel building here in this photograph from 1906. It's the building to the left of the one under construction. And that building under construction stands today at the corner of John Street South and uh and Jackson. Anyway, Bradley was able to run for office and was elected several times as Ctown's representative to the Hamilton Board of Police. And as you can see from this 1850s map, he was able to purchase a number of other properties which he sold. And in the case of some of the commercial properties, it leased out to other operators. By 1849, Bradley was in a financial position such that he could retire from actively being involved in this courthouse hotel, which you can see he then renting out. and he used this money to build for himself a house along the edge of the escarment which he called Belleview. Uh this house which stood at what is now Belvadier Avenue was well known to generations of Hamiltonians. Unfortunately, it was demolished in 2000. As for the hotel and the building at 33 Bowen Street, the courthouse hotel remained in operation for nearly a century. It closed in 1922 and in 1930 was, in the words of a spectator article, reconstructed uh into offices and apartments. That building stands today on John Street South. It is unclear at this time how much, if anything, of the original courthouse hotel is in that reconstruction. And as for the subject property at 33 Bowen Street, it remained a stable throughout the 19th century and transitioned into a garage as the 20th century began. After the hotel was closed and sold, uh it became well many different things. There was a car wash in the 1920s, warehouse for Verer's Ginger Ale, uh, auto parts storage for the City Chevrolet dealership in the 50s and 60s, and since the 1970s, starting with the Keg, it has been a restaurant and bar, or at least various restaurants and bars have inhabited it to the present day. This property also has contextual value. It is important in defining the character of Bowen Street. Uh this is the surviving stable of what was once a rank of stables along Bowen Street supporting the more public-f facing business buildings or commercial buildings on John Street. And of course this property is historically visually and functionally linked to its surroundings cited on its original location again facing those buildings that it was built to serve along John. These criteria are summarized here in the statement of cultural heritage value or interest. The full version of this statement is in appendex B of the attached report and also in appendix B you will find this description of heritage attributes which will inform the writing of a designation bylaw for this property. To summarize briefly, um we're looking at the features on the elevations and roof line of this structure, including its masonry construction, its side gable roof, its stone and brick facades, and the gable roof dormer, as well as its uh contextual value embodied on its within its location along Bowen Street. To end, staff recommend that this that the city clerk be directed to give notice of council's intention to designate 33 Bowen Street under part four of the Ontario Heritage Act. And I open it to questions from the committee members. Thank you, Scott. Um just before questions, um may I have a mover and a secondary to put the report on the floor? I see Graham and Lynn. So, do we have any questions in regards to the Thank you once again, Scott, for a great presentation. It's nice to learn some more of the history of this building. It's shocking that it's the only structure left along Bowen Street today from a whole massive amount of buildings that used to be there and it's important to preserve it. As I was saying to our chair before the meeting started, this is one of those buildings that it's actually shocking it's never been designated before today. So, thank you for your work. Other other questions or comments? Uh seeing none, uh we'll move to vote. Um as we move to vote, is there anyone opposed? So that's to receive the presentation and approve the recommendations. Seeing none, that item is carried. We'll now move on to our general information and other business. Item 11.1 is heritage buildings and landscape watch list. Um before we move forward, is there any additions or any um deletions to the list that we'd like to do today? Like that question. Okay. Question. Um so going back to one previous because councelor Katchel said something to bring up. Did he not bring new business? That'll be that'll be new business. Y no. So, so, so right now it's just any additions or deletions to the And then do we have anyone that wants to do updates to properties? So, we have Graham. Um, okay. Go ahead, Graham. Yeah, I just wanted to bring up once again St. Giles has had a few trespassers on it. The police call the other day for drug use on the property and it looks like someone's trying to burrow their way in again on one of the east side windows. the UPRC has been informed, so they'll get on it. They've been pretty good on that lately with their security forces, so hopefully that'll improve. Thank you, Graham. Uh, Council Crutch, you had an update. You'd talk to me. Yeah. Forgive me for not knowing the address. It's there's a property that was burnt out in Hess Village. The address just escapes me at this moment. I'm not sure if it's on the watch list or not. Again, apologies if it's not on the watch list. Um, but I know that it was a heritage building. My question is just about the status of that building in terms of I think if I have it correct, again, I'm not 100% sure, but there was a fire there. Um, then the building was partially burnt in a way. Um, what I'm hearing from people in the area though is that building that's right where the development is happening is a heritage building right at the well again the one end of Hess Village and that it's not in good repair. It's not being taken care of. Just want to get a sense of what's happening with it. If we know what's happening with respect to the development and think the development is stalled at this time, so it's not being addressed. I'm just trying to figure out what's happening with that building. If you know, I know I'm putting you on the spot, but I just came from meetings with business owners and a lot of them brought it up. So, I was just wanting I said to them, I don't really have an update for you, so I thought I would ask if it's okay. Through the chair, I think the property in question is 33 H Street South. It was a three-story apartment building that was subject to a fire, I believe. So, um, that property has already been raised. So, there are no buildings left on that property. No, not it's not that one then. It's the there's another one there that is an odd shape. You know, I'm doing a really excellent job today of bringing the appropriate address and uh I will just follow up with you offline because clearly I'm not 100% prepared for this discussion. Sorry. I thought I would remember exactly what the address is, but it's escaped me. Thanks. I won't take up more of the committee's time. I just I thought I would remember and I thought it was going to be simpler than it is, but it's not. Um there's an odd shaped building that's there and I know it has was a source of graffiti for a long time. There's all kinds of issues with it and I'm trying to figure out what's happening with that. I think it's adjacent to the development that's occurring there. Oh, that's up farther on the other end through the chair. Yeah, I believe so. There is 115 to 117 George Street which is at the southeast corner of Queen and George. That's right. That is a designated heritage property. They do have heritage permits in place for adaptive reuse of it. Um and our heritage planning team has worked with municipal law enforcement in terms of um visiting the site last year as a part of our blitz of vacant heritage buildings and there are active orders that are being worked on as a part of that property. Yeah, I think this was scenario where there was graffiti. There were some small fires, not a big fire like the other one. And there was there's been a lot of litter and other kinds of issues there. So, somewhat similar to the Canon netting mills. I guess that's why I'm bringing it up is that there appears to be a lot of a lot of trash and litter there on a regular basis. I don't know how we coordinate that or address those kinds of issues. It's not necessarily a heritage issue, but because it's a heritage building, I'm just trying to figure that out through the chair. So st heritage staff have been in recent conversation with the owner and municipal law enforcement staff about actioning those orders confirming what scopes of work needed heritage permits or not or could be covered under the existing permit. So I understand that work is ongoing and there should be action taking place in the short term. Do you recall what the nature of the orders were by chance? If you don't, it's fine. Again, I'm putting you on the spot. Off the top of my head, I do recall graffiti was part of it. um the sort of deteriorated wooden porch uh decking around it. That was part of the order in terms of cleaning that up as well as the garbage as well as some other um sort of minor building repair items as well. So, what does the process look like from here? Because you've been in touch with them recently. They're working on it. We're in a compliance model. I understand that. So, what happens next? Like what does the timeline look like? Do we check back in with them in a month? Like what how does that work exactly? Um through the chair. So that would be up to municipal law enforcement staff in terms of their communication. They the owners had reached out to us to confirm their heritage permit requirements as a part of um actioning the required orders. Um so staff would be happy to connect with mutual law enforcement and connect them with your office to answer any additional questions you might have. I'll send them an email now that I've got to clarify what's going on. Thank you so much. Appreciate it. Thank you for that. And do we have any other property updates that need to be done today? Seeing none, may I have a mover and a seconder to receive the updates? I see Karen Karen and Graham. And as we move to vote, is there anyone opposed to receiving? Seeing none, that item is carried. Um, we'll now move on to new business. Uh, councelor Crutch, did you have Yeah, I just wanted to update people about the motion that went to the planning committee. I know I circulated it for feedback. A few people in the community and others got back to me with small things and they I was able to go back and forth with them and say, "Yep, these things are incorporated. Yep, that's part of the plan already. Oh, we're already doing that over here." So, that was good. And I submitted that to the planning committee and without fanfare, it passed. And so, some reports will be coming back in the future about exactly what we're going to do to tighten the gaps. And just to remind everybody again, it's about tightening the gaps between the different kinds of enforcement we have and coordinating a bit better. That's been the word of the week, by the way. If we were picking a word of the week at council this week, the word is coordinating. So, I'm serious. It's come up at every single meeting I've been at. And I think that's the missing piece there is how are we going to quickly address things. So, here I think we have a very detail- oriented group of staff who are working on things who know what's happening, can action them quickly. Then we have uh specifically when it comes to heritage buildings. Then we have a whole other group of staff where we're doing vacant unit tax stuff with vacant buildings. Then we have another group of staff in the building division that are doing this. We have bylaw staff doing this. Then we have legal staff who are also working with them. So it's kind of making sure that each person is aware of the extent to which we can pursue things because sometimes it's just about a question being asked, right? So sometimes municipal law enforcement needs to ask heritage folks a question. Oh, okay. We didn't realize that. And then then a legal question comes forward and then suddenly the coordination starts happening and we realize, oh, this is unsafe or this is a problem or we will have to go in and look at this and we can put orders in place. So we haven't been coordinating that to put the orders in place. Now, this will, I think, tighten that up and staff will report back on what that look like in the future. So, I'm h happy about that. And and councelor, thank you for taking that forward and and taking action on that and and the work that's been put into doing that. That's great. My thanks to staff to be honest. They wrote the motion. Um, this is something Ken and I have been working on for like kind of in conversation and talking about back and forth for three years. So, thanks to them for all the hard work they did to try and sort this out. Go ahead, Ken. through the chair just for this uh committee's knowledge. We'll be coming back probably in the fall with a review of the heritage protocol and update just to and that's part of this work and part of that tying that coordination together. And just one more thing for fun since we're just all going to add things which is a good idea. Thank you Ken. I'm not I'm not uh giving any shade there. It's uh also a report is coming back on the Gore buildings also. At one point when this motion came forward, I was asked if I wanted to have the Gore buildings update as part of this and I said no. Let's have that be separate because people are concerned about that separately. My understanding is when this report comes back in the fall at the same time or very around that same time also we'll be getting a report back on the second part of the core building situation because we had we had one report and we're waiting for the second one. It's coming back then. Thank you for that. Um just one other new business item is just in regards to intera conference. Um as the municipal heritage committee, we're one of the proud uh organizing members of the the organizing committee and uh just we hope that everyone can join us for the conference that's coming forward in June. Um but just a reminder that April 30th is the early bird deadline for so if you if you want to um get a discount on tickets, now is your opportunity to get that up until the end of April. But we hope everyone will join us for that conference June 18th to 20th. Um any other new business items? follow up one. Okay. Yeah. Uh last month I'd asked about training and indigenous uh stuff. Wonder if you had any luck getting us some training yet or any good discussions? Yeah, through the chair. So following last month's meeting, staff reached out to the indigenous relations team um and um spoke about the request from this committee in terms of training uh both to heritage committee and to permit review and uh they're more than willing and happy to come to both committees to provide that training. Uh we're currently looking at the June dates for both uh this committee and the subcommittee to have them go to those meetings. Thank you very much. Really appreciate the efforts you're putting in. That's great. Um, is there any other new business? If there's being no further business, the Hamilton Municipal Heritage Committee is now adjourned at 12:20. Uh, the next the next meeting will be May 15th. And that is even with the designation.

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