Proposal to tear down James Street Church

The future of Hamilton’s James Street Baptist church is looking dismal. It’s owners are proposing it be partially torn down as soon as possible.

The church is a designated heritage site and a major Hamilton landmark, which is why the proposal came as quite a surprise Wednesday night at a heritage permit review committee meeting.

The church’s developer is requesting that the building be partially demolished before winter, to protect public safety. In the 129 page report, the developer says the church is structurally unsound and cannot be salvaged. The proposal requests that it only be partially torn down, leaving only the front towers and front wall still standing.

Problems with this building began very early on, actually when it was being built between 1878 and 1882. According to architect Drew Hauser, there was no engineer supervising the foundation when it was being built, and it partially collapsed during construction.

Structural engineer Grant Milligan says church use is hard on the building, because the heating is only cranked up on Sunday morning, and turned down the rest of the week, which damages stone buildings like this one.

the church needs an estimated two million dollars in repairs.

now, the heritage sub-committee did vote to table the proposal last night–and will review the issue again on october 9th after a site visit.

there are currently no new development plans yet, though the idea was brought forth to have a new tower go up on the site.