Hamilton's Built Heritage Inventory

A building may have heritage value or interest if it:

• Helps contribute to, or define, the character of a community or neighbourhood;
• Is related to an important event in the history of the city or the development of a neighbourhood;
• Demonstrates a high degree of craftsmanship or artistry;
• Was designed by, or is related to, a significant person in the community, province or country; or,
• Is a community landmark.

An inventory tells us what we have and where it is located.

An inventory of heritage buildings, or built heritage resources, can be thought of as a hub of information that informs different conservation strategies, including:

The City of Hamilton maintains an Inventory of Heritage Properties, or the "Inventory". This list used to be known as Hamilton's Heritage Volume 2: Inventory of Buildings of Architectural and/or Historical Interest .

The Inventory is a compilation of over 30 years of data on buildings identified as having cultural heritage value or interest. Properties have been added to the Inventory as a result of survey work conducted by volunteers and Heritage Committee members, as part of project work conducted by the City and through the development application process.

There are no legal restrictions imposed on property through listing on the Inventory. Inventoried properties are not subject to Heritage Permits. 

There are over 6,700 addresses listed on the Inventory across the City of Hamilton (shown below). 

To view the City's comprehensive heritage resource mapping, including registered and designated heritage properties, visit  www.map.hamilton.ca/heritagemap  or view the  Hamilton Heritage Resources Story Map .

To learn more visit:  www.hamilton.ca/heritageplanning .

The City is proactively updating the Inventory of Heritage Properties through the Built Heritage Inventory (BHI) process. The primary goal of the BHI is to conduct updated surveys of buildings and proactively screen them to determine which have heritage value worthy of listing on the Municipal Heritage Register or warrant further review for potential designation under the Ontario Heritage Act.

Listing properties of heritage interest on the Municipal Heritage Register provides interim 60-day protection from demolition and the opportunity for the City to discuss conservation or salvage options with the owner, or for Council to protect the property if it is a significant heritage resource worthy of designation under the Ontario Heritage Act.

The Council-adopted Built Heritage Inventory process is:

When the Built Heritage Inventory work began in 2011, there were over 8,000 addresses listed on the Inventory city-wide. In the past eight years, almost 3,000 properties have been evaluated through the BHI process and over 1,450 listings have been added to the Municipal Heritage Register.

This work started with the pilot project in Downtown Hamilton, which was completed in 2014. The pilot, known as the Downtown Built Heritage Inventory (DBHI), helped test out the process for conducting this proactive inventory work. The process was further refined as part of the Durand Neighbourhood Built Heritage Inventory (DNBHI) completed in 2017. The most recent third phase, known as the Waterdown Village Built Heritage Inventory (WVBHI), was completed in the fall of 2021. Combined, these three studies added over 1,600 listings to the Municipal Heritage Register and identified over 90 candidates for designation.

Additional listings are pending as part of inventory initiatives led by the  Hamilton Municipal Heritage Committee  and volunteer community groups.

Approximately 6,700 properties remain on Inventory pending review through the Built Heritage Inventory process. Each phase of the BHI work has taken approximately two years to complete, with between 850 to 1,500 properties reviewed per study area. 

A framework was developed to help prioritize future BHI work. It is based on legislation and municipal best practices and broken down into four categories:

Analysis was conducted using the framework, resulting in a set of short, medium and longer-term priorities to guide future BHI work.

The short-term priorities would review 38% of the remaining Inventory listings and would prioritize those areas with high concentrations and integrity of heritage resources, the highest perceived development pressure and strong community support for conducting the work.

The next phase of BHI work will begin in downtown Dundas (slated for summer 2022).

Short-Term Priorities (shown in red below): Areas with significant inventory listings, including historic neighbourhoods in downtown Hamilton, downtown Dundas, downtown (old town) Stoney Creek, Ancaster Village and historic settlement areas in Ancaster, Glanbrook and Flamborough.

Medium-Term Priorities (shown in blue below): Areas with moderate concentrations of inventoried properties, including the remaining historic neighbourhoods and historic settlement areas, and new historic neighbourhoods of interest

Longer-Term Priorities (shown in green below): The remaining rural listings and post-1950 neighbourhoods across the city.

• Ancaster historic settlement areas: Ancaster Village, Jerseyville, Lynden
• Downtown Dundas: central business district and adjacent historic neighbourhoods of Colborne, Hunter, Spencer Creek, Sydenham and York Heights
• Flamborough historic settlement areas: Greensville (which includes Crook’s Hollow, Bullock’s Corners and West Flamboro) and Sheffield
• Glanbrook historic settlement areas: Binbrook, Mount Hope, North Glanford and Woodburn
• Historic lower Hamilton neighbourhoods: Beasley, Central, Corktown and Stinson
• Downtown (old town) Stoney Creek

• Remaining Ancaster historic settlement areas: Alberton, Carluke, Copetown, Renforth, Southcote, Trinity and Weir
• Ancaster areas: Lime Kiln, Old Mill, St. John’s and Sulphur Springs
• Dundas neighbourhoods: Creighton (east and west), Duranda (east and west) and University Gardens
• Remaining Flamborough historic settlement areas: Bakersville, Carlisle, Clappison’s Corners, Flamboro Centre, Kirkwall, Millgrove, Mountsburg, Orkney, Rock Chapel, Rockton, Strabane, Troy, Valens and Westover
• Remaining Glanbrook historic settlement areas: Blackheath, Sinclairville and Ryckman’s Corners
• Remaining historic lower-Hamilton neighbourhoods: Ainslie Wood East, West and North; Bartonville, Blakeley, Crown Point East and West, Delta East and West, Gibson, Hamilton Beach, Homeside, Industrial Bayfront, Keith, Kirkendall North and South, Landsdale, McAnulty, Normanhurst, North End, St. Clair, Strathcona, Stipley and Westdale North and South
• Historic Hamilton-mountain neighbourhoods: Centremount, Eastmount, Inch Park and Southam
• Remaining Stoney Creek historic settlement areas: (Elfrida), Mount Albion, Tapleytown, Tweedside and Winona
• Stoney Creek areas: Fruitland and Winona South

• Remaining inventoried properties across the City
• Post-1950s neighbourhoods

Various community groups, including neighbourhood associations and heritage organizations, have expressed begun spearheading their own updated inventory work. The City has been working with the interested groups about opportunities to empower and support community volunteers in conducting BHI work in their areas.

In Summer 2020, the Ancaster Village Heritage Community and Beasley Neighbourhood Association each began the process of recruiting volunteers and conducting their own community-led inventory work. These pilot projects will help inform other community-led BHI initiatives in the future. The Ancaster Pre-Confederation Inventory was completed in January 2021 and the final recommendations of the Beasley Inventory are expected in 2022.

To stay up to date with the City's ongoing Built Heritage Inventory work, visit  www.hamilton.ca/heritageinventory .

CulturalHeritagePlanning@hamilton.ca