View source for Dundurn Castle

{{Short description|19th-century neoclassical Canadian building}}
{{Use Canadian English|date=January 2023}}
{{Infobox museum
| name            = Dundurn Castle
| image           = DundurnCastleSummer.JPG
| established     = 1830s
| location        = 610 York Boulevard<br />[[Hamilton, Ontario]], Canada
| type            = Regency [[château]]
| director        = 
| curator         = 
| visitors        = 
| website         = [https://www.hamilton.ca/attractions/hamilton-civic-museums/dundurn-national-historic-site Official site]
| embedded        = {{designation list|embed=yes|designation1=Canada|designation1_date=1984}}
}}
[[Image:Dundurn Castle Back.JPG|thumb|Dundurn Castle (back, facing Burlington Bay)]]
'''Dundurn Castle''' is a historic [[Neoclassical architecture|neoclassical]] mansion on York Boulevard in [[Hamilton, Ontario|Hamilton]], [[Ontario]], Canada. The {{convert|18000|sqft|m2|adj=on|order=flip}} house took three years and $175,000 to build and was completed in 1835.<ref name=TSTARFOUND>{{cite news| last=Dalby| first=Paul| title=MacNab's 'castle' home makes a grand statement| page=H06| date=2006-06-29| newspaper=[[Toronto Star]]| url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=rch&AN=6FP0950874946&site=ehost-live| access-date=2006-12-19}}</ref>

The forty-room house featured the latest conveniences of the day, including gas lighting and running water.<ref name=TSTARFOUND/>  It is currently owned by the [[Hamilton, Ontario|City of Hamilton]], which purchased it in 1899 or 1900 for $50,000.<ref name=SMITHEPILOGUE/><ref name=TSTARFOUND/> The city has spent nearly $3 million renovating the site to make it open to the public.<ref name=TSTARFOUND/>  The rooms have been restored to the year 1855 when its owner [[Allan MacNab|Sir Allan Napier MacNab, 1st Baronet]], was at the height of his career. Costumed interpreters guide visitors through the home, illustrating daily life from the 1850s. [[Queen Camilla|Camilla, Queen of Canada]], a descendant of Sir Allan MacNab, is the Royal Patron of Dundurn Castle.

==History==
Dundurn Castle, a Regency house, was completed in 1835 by architect Robert Charles Wetherell.<ref>{{cite book| title=Fitzhenry and Whiteside Book of Canadian Facts and Dates| last=Pound | first=Richard W.| url=https://archive.org/details/fitzhenrywhitesi0003unse/page/186/mode/2up?q=wetherell| page=186| publisher=Fitzhenry and Whiteside| year=2005| isbn=978-1-5504-1171-3| access-date=2023-06-18}}</ref> Sir [[Allan MacNab]] purchased the property from [[Richard Beasley (politician)|Richard Beasley]], one of Hamilton's early settlers, who was forced by financial difficulties to sell lands at Burlington Heights (now Dundurn Park). MacNab built Dundurn Castle on the foundations of Beasley's brick home.<ref name=HAMBIO1>{{cite book| title=Dictionary of Hamilton Biography| volume=I, 1791–1875| first=Thomas Melville| last=Bailey| publisher=W.L. Griffin Ltd| year=1981| isbn=978-0-9691-0230-4}}</ref>  Once built, Dundurn Castle became famous across Canada for its grand entertainments. [[John A. Macdonald|Sir John A. Macdonald]] and [[Edward VII of the United Kingdom|King Edward VII]] are among those who have been entertained there.<ref name=SAGA>{{cite book| title=Saga of a City| first=Milton| last=Watson| publisher=The Hamilton Spectator| year=1938}}</ref>

MacNab, later [[Joint Premiers of the Province of Canada|Premier]] of the [[Province of Canada]] between 1854 and 1856, hired architect Robert Wetherall and construction of this stately home was completed in 1835. The pillars and portico were added in 1855 as part of the preparations for the wedding of MacNab's daughter Sophia.<ref>{{cite book| last1=Smith| first1=Edward| year=2007| chapter=Approaching the Castle| title=Dundurn Castle: Sir Allan MacNab and his Hamilton Home| publisher=James Lorimer & Company Ltd.| page=9| isbn=978-1-55028-988-6| url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wmaFCgAAQBAJ&q=Dundurn+Castle:+Sir+Allan+MacNab+and+his+Hamilton+Home}}</ref>

After MacNab's death, the estate was used as an institution for the deaf and was purchased in 1872 by Donald McInnes, who sold Dundurn to the City of Hamilton in 1899.<ref name=SMITHEPILOGUE>{{cite book| last1=Smith| first1=Edward| year=2007| chapter=Epilogue| title=Dundurn Castle: Sir Allan MacNab and his Hamilton Home| publisher=James Lorimer & Company Ltd.| pages=91–92| isbn=978-1-55028-988-6}}</ref> In the late 1960s, Dundurn Castle was restored as a [[Canadian Centennial|Centennial]] project and is now designated as a [[National Historic Sites of Canada|National Historic Site of Canada]].{{citation needed|date=October 2025}}

A [[Strathspey (dance)|Strathspey]] for bagpipes was composed in honour of Dundurn Castle.<ref>{{cite book| first=Archie| last=Cairns| work=Archie Cairns Pipe Music Book 1| date=May 22, 2022| publisher=Scott's Highland Services| title=Strathspey| isbn=978-0969794820}}</ref>

==Hamilton Military Museum==
The park includes Hamilton Military Museum,  with displays on the [[War of 1812]], the [[Rebellions of 1837]], the [[Boer War]], [[World War I]], [[World War II]] and the role of women in the military.{{citation needed|date=October 2025}}

==Grounds==
[[Image:DundurnPark2.JPG|thumb|right|Dundurn Park, Aviary building]]

A large German [[artillery]] piece, booty from the World War I, was removed from the southeastern part of the park in the mid-1980s. Until about 1990, it housed an [[aviary]], which was moved to the [[Westdale, Ontario|Westdale]] neighbourhood. The covered pavilion formerly offered picnickers protection from the cold, but in the last few years a walled garden was put in its place. The gates at the front entrance of the park originally came from [[England]], but the stone pillars were cut from the [[Dundas, Ontario|Dundas]] mountain. In 1931, parts of the gates were removed and taken to the Chedoke Golf Club.<ref name=SAGA />

[[Image:DundurnPark.JPG|thumb|left|The [[folly]] in Dundurn Park]]

Dundurn Park has its own [[folly]], just east of the castle. Living up to its purpose, it had confused some people who had considered it a theatre, a laundry, a boat-house, a [[Buttery (shop)|buttery]], an office, a chapel for Sir Allan's [[Roman Catholic]] wife, or even a cockfighting ring,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Smith |first1=Edward |year=2007 |chapter=The Castle Grounds and Gardens |title=Dundurn Castle: Sir Allan MacNab and his Hamilton Home |publisher=James Lorimer & Company Ltd. |page=45 |isbn=978-1-55028-988-6 |quote=The most mysterious and interesting building is located to the northeast - the cockpit. This building resembles a Grecian temple and is thought to have been built to allow Regency gentlemen of Hamilton to engage in the eighteenth century "sport" of cock fighting, ... It seems it was never used for this purpose and merely provided something picturesque for the estate, a kind of Italianate folly.}}</ref> but no proof of the last use has ever been found.<ref>{{cite news| title=Digging into Dundurn's past Team finds hearth built by pioneer| first=James| last=Elliot| newspaper=[[Hamilton Spectator]]| date=October 2019| accessdate=2011-09-26 |url=https://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/thestar/access/514674661.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121108051006/http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/thestar/access/514674661.html?FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:FT|url-status=dead|archive-date=November 8, 2012}}</ref> [[Urban legend]] has it that many tunnels exist, leading from the Castle to various parts of the estate and one of the entrances was through the folly.<ref name=SAGA /><ref>{{cite web| url=http://www.historicplaces.ca/en/rep-reg/place-lieu.aspx?id=12341| title=Dundurn Castle National Historic Site of Canada| website=Canada's Historic Places| access-date=2023-06-18}}</ref>

MacNab was originally buried in 1862 on the Dundurn Park grounds between Dundurn Castle and Castle Dean on the corner of [[Locke Street (Hamilton, Ontario)|Locke Street]] and Tecumseh Street. In 1909, his body was removed and taken to Holy Sepulchre Cemetery in western Hamilton.<ref name=SAGA />

==See also==
*[[List of attractions in Hamilton, Ontario]]
*[[Ravenscrag, Montreal|Ravenscrag House, Montreal]]
*[[List of castles in Canada]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
*[https://www.hamilton.ca/attractions/hamilton-civic-museums/dundurn-national-historic-site "Dundurn Castle"], Culture and Recreation, Hamilton

{{Hamilton}}
{{Ontario parks}}{{Castles in Canada}}{{NHSC}}
{{Commons}}
{{coord|43.269481|N|79.884649|W|region:CA-ON_type:landmark|display=title}}

[[Category:Castles in Canada]]
[[Category:Museums in Hamilton, Ontario]]
[[Category:Houses in Ontario]]
[[Category:National Historic Sites in Ontario]]
[[Category:Historic house museums in Ontario]]
[[Category:Military and war museums in Canada]]
[[Category:Neoclassical architecture in Canada]]
[[Category:Designated heritage properties in Ontario]]
[[Category:1835 establishments in Canada]]
[[Category:Reportedly haunted locations in Ontario]]