Hamilton’s tower of steel and the photographer who fell in love with it
Fifty years ago, a tower of steel officially opened in the city of steel.
It was called Stelco Tower and designed for Stelco's head office to be the anchor tenant. Construction was completed in 1973 - as part of the first phase of the Jackson Square complex that opened the previous year - and it became the tallest building in the city.
Depending on how you count it, the 103-metre steel alloy and glass clad structure was either 25 or 26 storeys high. But its supremacy was soon usurped by the Century 21 Building, at 100 Main St. E., that opened with 43 floors the following year.
Fair to say that a nine-year-old girl living in Scarborough named Sara Heinonen took no notice of the upward rise of construction in Hamilton at the time. Although her dad was an architect.
It wasn't until 2018 - after she got fed up with Toronto's housing prices and bloated skyline and moved to Hamilton - that Stelco Tower captured her imagination.
And Saturday, the photographer and writer will launch her limited edition, self-published book Stelco Tower A Love Story" that features more than 90 images of the building taken from every distance and viewpoint I could find."
Happy 50th Birthday, Stelco Tower," she writes. My gift is this book of portraits. And maybe some new admirers as well."
Sara believes the tower that is now known as 100 King Street West is an underappreciated diamond in the rough of Hamilton's downtown, an overlooked beauty mark in the urban jungle.
And she is out to change that - bringing a newcomer's perspective to the city - by trying to encourage Hamiltonians to join in her enthusiasm.
I realize that this is my obsession and know it is something that not everyone is going to be as riveted by," says Sara, who works as a writer and communications consultant. She says she is drawn to offbeat subjects such as the Giant Tiger store that she featured in a 36-page softcover photo book a couple of years ago.
To me the scale of the building is the perfect size for the city of Hamilton. It is tall enough to have a strong presence ... but it is not so big that you feel that it is a skyscraper. It's really quite polite as a building," she says.
For some people who don't appreciate modern architecture they might find it too plain, boring or dark. But I feel it has many good qualities and it is perfectly scaled in the city. It is a good civic architectural citizen."
After she moved to Hamilton, she writes, the tower became a kind of lighthouse, both geographically and emotionally. By observing and photographing the building - in effect, developing a relationship with it - I began to find my footing."
She likes how the building can be seen from various places in downtown Hamilton including her house, which is about two kilometres away to the north. That was one of the things she asked her real estate agent to look for before she bought. I told her it would be really great to have a view of Stelco Tower."
And that goes to another reason she put together the 80-page book, as well as a zine" booklet called 50 Years of Stelco Tower: What You've Always Wanted to Know (But Didn't Think to Ask)."
She realizes with all the high-rise condominium construction in downtown Hamilton these days, that the tower will soon become eclipsed. It won't be the lighthouse in the future, that it was in the past.
Arthur C.F. Lau, 86, was the architect who designed Stelco Tower along with the other buildings that made up Jackson Square.
In a phone interview from his home in Montreal, he said the tower was notable for being the first major construction project in Canada to use a new Stelco-produced steel product called Stelcoloy for its exterior. Rust that forms on its surface transforms into a protective coating.
After a month or so the silver steel turns a reddish rust colour and then continues to change to dark brown over the next 15 to 18 months. After that it is designed to never change again," he said.
The last time he saw the building was while visiting Hamilton five years ago. The steel hadn't changed. It did what it was supposed to do, and it is still doing it. I'm very confident that it will not change."
But the alloy never really caught on with developers, he said. For one thing there are challenges in making sure the material is properly exposed to the elements to encourage the protective rust coating to form. For another, not many developers are interested in steel exterior buildings.
And while the steel worked as designed on Stelco Tower, the company that came up with it has had lots of other problems with decay. Stelco went through two bankruptcy protection proceedings. The steelmaker faded from being one of the city's biggest employers with 21,000 workers in 1981 to about 2,200 in Hamilton and Nanticoke today.
Along the way, Stelco departed Stelco Tower and the building is currently 20 per cent vacant in a downtown that is struggling to fill empty office and commercial space.
But Sara remains hopeful the tower will find a place for itself in the future and wants to see its unique brown steel facade continue to be part of a changing skyline for many decades to come.
Book and zine launch
- Rooney's Photo Book and Coffee Shop at 724 Main St. E., April 29 from 7 to 9 p.m.
Stelco Tower: A Love Story"
- A linen hardcover limited edition photography book, and essay, of 50 numbered copies. 80 pages. $150.
50 Years of Stelco Tower: What You've Always Wanted to Know (But Didn't Think to Ask)"
- A zine" booklet for $15.
Both publications by Sara Heinonen can be purchased at the launch and through www.saraheinonen.com