Following the footsteps of royalty in one of Hamilton’s most elegant and storied estates
As I step up to the mansion's big metal front door with its wondrous twists of wrought iron, I find myself thinking of famous people who have been here before.
Wallis Simpson, the American socialite who married Edward VIII after he abdicated from the British throne, once visited the sprawling Tudor revival home at 135 Aberdeen known as Gateside House."
So did Princess Margaret, the younger sister of Queen Elizabeth II.
The beautiful estate - with its Gothic wood trim, beamed ceilings and leaded glass - was, and possibly still is, among an exclusive list of residences deemed by the government of the United Kingdom to be suitable for visiting royals.
And at least one former Canadian prime minister also once paid a call. In September 1973, John Diefenbaker dropped by for a visit and a short taste of elegance.
According to a Spectator account, it was an overcast morning" and a maid in white answered the muted door chimes."
The hostess Mrs. William Hendrie," was described as one of Hamilton's leading citizens, who at 96 has been a staunch Conservative all her life and a supporter and admirer of the man who now stood tall and impressive before her."
Between them, for 10 minutes or so this morning, they shared anecdotes and laughter and graciously relived an era fast fading into obscurity," The Spectator article said.
So, how did your faithful correspondent, a lowly scribe, one whose veins flow with ink rather than royal blood, score an invitation to this regal stopover in the summer of 2021?
Well, it started in July 2020. Architect John Lyle had been posthumously named Famous Hamiltonian of the Year" by the City of Hamilton and I was putting together a column about him.
I went on a drive through the city to snap some photos of places he designed such as the Thomas B. McQuesten High Level Bridge, Gage Park fountain and Central Presbyterian Church.
I also stopped by Gateside, one of Lyle's more notable residential creations. I ran into Katherine Isaac who bought the house with her husband Ian three years ago. She's a realtor and he works for a trucking company.
You're never sure how homeowners will respond to a stranger taking photos of their house from the sidewalk, but Isaac couldn't have been nicer.
I explained what I was doing, and she asked if I wanted to tour the inside. I thanked her but thought it was something that would be better done after the pandemic calmed down. I took a rain check.
As the months went by - and the pandemic raged on - I would drive by the house from time to time and noticed it was going through some major construction. For more than six months, it was surrounded by scaffolding and workers from two heritage restoration companies - Heritage Mill Historic Building Conservation and Reber Restoration - were doing external repairs.
The construction was finally completed earlier this summer and it seemed like a good time to put a mask on and reacquaint myself with Katherine. I also caught up with Alan Stacey of Heritage Mill to give me a sense of the work that was done.
Stacey says the house was a classic case of water damage that got out of hand.
It started out as a much smaller project, but we found more and more rot," he said. The Gothic gables design from esthetic point of view was fabulous but from a water management point of view it was atrocious."
Windows, gables and other woodwork and stucco had to be repaired or replaced. Reber replaced the slate roof, a massive job because of its size and ornate design.
I don't want to tell you what has been spent because it is very sad," says Isaac.
But, she says she is extremely pleased with how the construction turned out at the house she plans to live in with her husband for the long haul.
If you love living in old houses there are always projects. Those projects for her have also included kitchen and bedroom renos, as well basement repairs to deal with water issues," she says. We're trying to keep the house as original as we can. And that is not an inexpensive path to take. If you start doing things on the cheap and incorrectly then you have let it down."
It's all a big victory for local heritage preservation because the home is seen to be the most notable example of Tudor Revival architecture in the Hamilton Area. The style imitates houses that were built in the Middle Ages.
Historically, the house is very important and architecturally it's an absolute gem," says Stacey.
It's unusual how long it is for a residential building. That's one of the first things that hit me about the building - the footprint."
And both Stacey and Isaac say the repairs being done now will help assure the exquisite footprint from Hamilton history lasts well into the future.
Gateside at a glance:
- Designed by famed architect John Lyle in 1905, it was built for businessperson and soldier Col. William Hendrie (1863-1924) and his wife Elizabeth Hendrie (1877-1975).
- The house is 11,900 square feet, including the finished attic on a lot 189' by 100'.
- There are eight bedrooms, eight bathrooms and 10 fireplaces. It is currently divided into two units, with one half being rented out.
- After Elizabeth Hendrie died, Gateside was sold by her heirs. Numerous boxes of family papers, journals, scrapbooks, and photos that had been stored at Gateside were passed on to the Local History and Archives section of the Hamilton Public Library for posterity.
Two historical highlights:
Servant call boxes
- Left from the era when the Hendrie family lived at the house, are a couple of antique servant call boxes. Each box - that looks like something out of the British television series Downton Abbey - is wired to a series of call buttons in various rooms that were used to summon a servant for assistance. A bell would ring and a magnetic needle inside the oak, brass and glass enclosure would indicate where the call came from.
The iron door
- The front iron door was crafted by Frederick J. Flatman, a master iron worker in Hamilton who died in 1957. He was employed by the Hendrie family who encouraged him to pursue artistic ventures. His outstanding Hendrie Gates can be seen at Hendrie Park at the Royal Botanical Gardens. But it's said that one of his other masterpieces is the meticulously crafted iron door at Gateside that he made for the Hendrie family for supporting him over the years.