Leaning home sparks concerns of a collapse in Hamilton’s north end

The City of Hamilton has closed part of a street in the north end and asked neighbours to leave their homes over concerns that a house under construction could collapse.

The building at 75 Ferrie St. East is currently leaning towards the house next door, sparking concerns of a potential collapse of the home that towers over its neighbours.

The building has been under construction for several months, but it wasn’t until Wednesday night that the city says an off-duty inspector noticed that something was wrong.

“Obviously there’s some significant deflection in the wall, some movement, some racking, movement of the first and second floors.” says Bob Nuntall, Hamilton’s Manager of Building Inspections.

“Racking really is a diagonal twist of walls and framing structures. so it was a bit of movement of the second floor that caused the main and second floors to start to lean.”

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Out of an abundance of caution, next-door neighbours on either side were asked to find somewhere else to stay and neighbours say at least one of the homes has at least four rental units.

Ferrie Street has also been closed and blocked by metal fencing from John Street North to Catharine Street.

Neighbours say they only just found out about the issue when they spotted the fences.

“It would have been around eight or nine, maybe 10 o’clock. nobody said a word to us.” said one neighbour.

Construction crews remained on scene throughout the afternoon on Thursday, attempting to determine that the building was indeed stable.

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It’s not yet clear what caused the building to shift and crews remained focused on ensuring that the building was safe to enter before a true inspection can begin.

The City issued building permits to address this exact issue back in August 2022. Documents show that the owner lives in Mississauga and expected construction to cost upwards of $1.9-million.

The City says it doesn’t know what will happen to the building once it is stabilized or whether it can be re-built or will need to be torn down.

“Before we can even consider any demolition or repairs to the existing building, we have to stabilize it.” said Nuttall.

Ferrie Street is expected to remain closed between John Street North and Catharine Street until further notice, with the City saying it hopes to reach a solution in the next few days despite having trouble getting in contact with the owner.

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