Located at 173 Main Street North in the Village of Waterdown, the Wallace House is one of the earliest constructed houses to be found in the village. Lying just outside the proposed Waterdown District Heritage Area, it is currently awaiting Heritage Designation by the Town of Flamborough in recognition of its historic and architectural value.
The house and property are part of an enormous parcel of land that was originally granted to Alexander MacDonnell in 1796. The land passed through a succession of owners during the next thirty-five years, none of whom lived on the propert. Purchased by Alexander Brown in 1805, Ebenezer Culver Griffin in 1821 and his brother, Absalom in 1830, it was sold to William Magill in 1846.
There are no records to tell who William Magill was, but he was almost certainly the builder of the house, as its late Georgian and Neo-Classical stylistic features date construction c.1840-1850. In later years it was frequently referred to as the “Magill property”, and even appears by this name on the will of the next owner – part of the local custom of placing the name of the house’s original owner on it for all to remember.
William Magill was possibly one of the sons of Robert Magill, a merchant and officer in the British Army who came to Canada with his family in 1832. Interestingly, Magill’s neighbour was Frederick Fielde, another half-pay officer, who settled in Waterdown in 1840 and is remembered for his donation of two acres of land to the Anglican Church in 1847 as the site for a church building, rectory and cemetery.
In 1853, the property was sold to Hugh Creen, described in the “City of Hamilton and Couty of Wentworth Directory of 1865” as a “gentleman”. Lending credence to the belief that the house was built by William Magill rather than Hugh Creen is the position of the house on its site. It was built facing towards Dundas Street rather than Main Street. Not until the year that Hugh Creen purchased the property was there any sort of road in place where Main Street is today. In 1853, James Kent Griffin built a toll road from Hamilton to Carlisle that passed along the east side of the house, possibly utilizing the laneway to the Creen house from Dundas Street. After the toll road was in place, all houses were then built facing onto Main Street.
Hugh Creen and his wife, Catherine Ferguson were the parents of three daughters and two sons, John and Peter. In 1861, when Hugh was sixty-nine years old and his wife sixty-two, their daughters were still living at home. All the daughters eventually married, but when he died sixteen years later, there were provisions made for each of them. In his will, Creen left to his eldest daughter, Elizabeth McNabb of Hamilton, the sum of $1500; to his second daughter, Mary Patton, he left his house, the “property known as the Magill property and upon her marriage or death I devise the property to her daughter Catherine Patton ….. and if she should die before coming of age, then the lot to go to her sisters Mary Margaret Patton and Georgina Patton, to share and share alike”. To his third daughter, Flora Ann, married to Waterdown mill owner, Lockman Abram Cummer, Creen left $1000.
It appears from the will that Hugh Creen’s second daughter was apparently a widow, for he mentions the possibility of her marrying. Probably she and her daughters were living on the Magill property at the time the will was written.
The Creen family sold the property to Robert and Sarah Lottridge in 1871. A longtime Waterdown resident, Robert Lottridge served as Postmaster during the 1850s, and later owned a woollen mill and general store in the village. Rachel Catherine Lottridge, his eldest daughter who died 11 April 1864 was the first wife of L. A. Cummer. Within six months of her death, Cummer, with a family of seven young children married Flora Ann Creen.
In 1880, the property was sold again, passing back to the Griffin family, when it was purchased by Burwell Griffin. It passed to his son, Wellington S. Griffin in 1911, and was owned by him until 1943.
Renowned architect and restoration expert, Arthur Wallace and his wife Letitia, purchased the house in 1951. As a professional architect, Mr. Wallace was responsible for many buildings in the City of Hamilton, most notably the Federal Building at Main and Caroline Streets. As a restoration architect he was responsible for the preservation of many nineteenth century buildings such as the stone office structure on the west side of Hughson Street between Haymarket and Augusta Streets. He was also deeply involved in the restoration project at Dundurn Castle during the 1960s and in the beginnings of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario.
During his lifetime he amassed an enormous collection of architectural drawings and photographs of buildings in the Hamilton area, many of which are held in the Archives and Special Collections of Hamilton Public Library. The Flamborough Archives also has a small collection of his Waterdown photographs depicting some of the fine village buildings, but sadly none of his own house, 173 Main Street North.
© The Waterdown-East Flamborough Heritage Society 1995, 2022.
Editor’s Note:The Wallace House received it’s Heritage Designation from the Town of Flamborough 24 July 1995.
