HAMILTON HERITAGE: THE FIRST IN A SERIES ON HISTORIC LOCAL PROPERTIES

The view from Reverend Calvin McQuesten's bedroom as a boy in the late 1870s was of a tree-lined carriage path that had recently had its name changed from Maiden Lane to Jackson Street.

At the time of his death in 1968, the quaint Victorian row houses and drooping willow trees were gone and in their place stood Hamilton city hall and its rear parking lot.

But one thing remained constant during his 92 years.

Whitehern, the limestone mansion purchased 116 years earlier by the grandfather for whom Calvin McQuesten was named, still stood at Jackson and MacNab streets.

Today, 140 years after it was built, Whitehern continues to play a prominent role in Hamilton as a museum attracting more than 8,000 visitors annually and living up to McQuesten's description of it as an "oasis in a downtown desert."

When designated a national historic site in 1993, the two-storey Georgian-style home surrounded by stone walls and gardens was called one of the best examples of historic preservation in Canada.

Pass under its etched-glass light on the columned porch and through the tall wood door to enter a world of wealth, political and social power. It takes you to a time when Hamilton was a manufacturing giant and transportation hub that boasted some of the most powerful leaders in the country, including Dr. Calvin McQuesten. Born in New Hampshire, he arrived in 1835 in the newly incorporated town of Hamilton, which had a population of little more than 2,000 people.

McQuesten joined his cousin in the manufacture of stoves and farm equipment in what became McQuesten & Company, the first foundry established in Hamilton, a city that would come to be defined by its foundries.

The company made McQuesten a rich man, and befitting his status he bought Whitehern in 1852. It had been built in 1848 with two-foot thick walls, and sat on a rise of land that gave its two-storey height an even more imposing presence.

The 24-room Whitehern was a fitting residence for one of the city's most prominent families, and while it is a museum today, it still has the feel of a family home.

Its exterior may reflect an architectural style popular in the Victorian era of the mid-19th century, but its interior features a variety of styles from Art Nouveau to mid-20th century in furnishings and decor.

It is this sweep through the years that gives visitors a true view into three generations of McQuesten family life.

The main floor features a well-stocked library, large dining room, a quiet front parlour in formal Victoriana, and a more casual rear sitting room. The kitchen was originally in the basement, and a dumb waiter took food to the dining room above.

Whitehern's wide hallway is illuminated by two chandeliers and dominated by a winding staircase leading to a landing bathed in light from a large arched cobalt-blue and red stained glass window manufactured by Hamilton Glass Works, and flanked by wall sconces.

The main-floor rooms are spacious with 12-foot moulded ceilings. A 1930s addition at the rear comprises the kitchen and two servants rooms.

The basement kitchen was converted to an office for Thomas B. McQuesten, who would outshine his grandfather as a leading citizen.

As downtown Hamilton expanded, the once-pastoral Whitehern was overtaken by urban spread. Small factories and low-income homes were built on the north side of Jackson Street, and with the laying of the TH&B railway tracks at the rear of the property in 1897, the McQuestens found themselves living on the wrong side of the tracks.

But while other large downtown estates were demolished and divided, Whitehern withstood the passage of time and a decline in the family fortune.

Calvin McQuesten died in 1885, and his only son, the high-strung and nearly bankrupt Isaac, died of a possible suicide three years later at 42. He left his widow, Mary Baker, with six children under the age of 14.

But the formidable grande dame held on to Whitehern and by the time of her death in 1934, son Thomas had restored the McQuestens to more secure financial footing as a prominent lawyer.

More importantly to Hamilton, as an alderman he was instrumental in the city acquiring King's Forest, Chedoke Golf Course, Gage, Bruce and Inch parks and the Royal Botanical Gardens. He also enticed McMaster University to move from Toronto with an offer of free Westdale land.

Later, as provincial minister of highways and public works and chairman of the Niagara Parks Commission, the Niagara Parks system and Queen Elizabeth Way were created.

Thomas McQuesten died Jan. 13, 1948, of cancer at age 62, one week after he was named Hamilton's Outstanding Citizen of the Year.

Fearing Whitehern might fall to downtown redevelopment, Calvin and his two remaining sisters, Mary and Hilda (none of the six children married), struck a deal in 1958 to give the house and their furnishings, records, letters, photographs, art collection and library to the City of Hamilton for preservation after the last family member died.

The offer was made, and accepted, so that "In the peace and quiet of Whitehern so close to the hurly burly of Main Street, future citizens and particularly the children of the future, can have a vision of a vanished world of highly civilized, well-mannered people -- a little world perhaps in the 1840s, but nevertheless one that laid the foundation of the city of Hamilton."

dfoley@thespec.com

905-526-3264