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Hamilton's
Pride in the Birks Building
The answer most surely would have been a positive one. Birks was a symbol of Hamilton pride for over 89 years standing at the head of our downtown core. A Victorian wonder that should have never known the feeling of a wrecking ball. Love from its home once saved it in 1929, but love wasn’t enough in 1972 when the want for modernism surpassed the love for Victorian art and character, when the want for originality and history died that brief moment that will last a lifetime. I’ve been haunted by the Birks Building since beginning my research for this article. It’s as if the building were a ghost calling out to me, forcing my hands to the keyboard of my computer at my desk, in my home, to write the words that you are reading right now. Many dreams have occupied my sleep, pushing away the rest and keeping me here at this late hour with the cold winter wind pushing the window to my left. Visions of the unique rooftop spire and clock, as I float around to the front to see the extreme Victorian charm that attracted the best to our city, so finely crafted with the pride of a true artist. The wind of my dreams take me through the building with a feeling of dread that the walls will soon come crashing down around me, trapping me in for eternity, my thoughts asking if it would be so bad to go down with the ship if it were a masterpiece such as this?
Richard Waite is the artist. The same Richard Waite that designed the political centre of Ontario in Toronto, Queens Park. An American from Buffalo, New York whose reputation was heard throughout all of North America, whose designs were much sought after in the times of Queen Victoria, highest in Canada’s Golden Horseshoe history. Mr. Waite’s last Richardsonian Romanesque endeavor was the Reid-Wilson house in Montreal. He died at the age of 63 in 1911.
Kruger Grey was a key part of the post-fire 1920’s rebuilding process. He would design the “Charging Horseman” clock to be mounted on the side of the building from that time until its demolition. The man responsible for the “Charging Horseman” clock was very famous in world medieval art. From stain glass to coins, Mr. Grey stayed current with projects that mirrored the respect he was known to receive. One such project, upon the “tails” side of a nickel and a penny, post-1950s, you will see the common mark of K.G., giving testament to this great man for Canada.
In 1972, all the pride and dedication that went into this beautiful building was suddenly ended when big company and big money decided for Hamilton that it would build on the spot that the Birks building occupied. Claiming that it would cost more to fix up the aging building then to destroy and start from scratch, Hamilton allowed a demolition permit to be filed and passed. Dedicated Hamiltonians came out to protest the destruction of this city icon, but it would not be enough, as the Birks fell that same year. The “Charging Horseman” clock is the only piece of the legend that still stands as a reminder that this masterpiece once stood. Even though the horsemen don’t charge and the time is rarely correct, the clock is a keepsake charm of the building that once gave Hamilton completed pride.
Fog settles in the sky above Downtown Hamilton, on the southern side of King and James Streets. A light shines through the fog, up in the sky in the spot that the Birks once stood. If one could forget the time they might think this was the light of the spire clock. The fog dissipates revealing the light originates from a square shaped office window and I’m snapped back to reality. The reality is that the Birks was demolished in 1972 and that the spire clock that used to shine in a Victorian core is now a pile of ruble in a junkyard somewhere in this world. A wise woman once said that “modernism is boring”. The before and after pictures of this once Victorian core is complete and total proof that her wisdom is the truth. Enough proof for the most cautious sceptic. The world will never see a repeat to the beauty of the Birks Building. Our children will never even know what it was like to be part of a Victorian Hamilton, a shame that the city’s fathers involved should never be able to forget. **pictures kindly taken from the Special Collections Department at the Hamilton Public Library Make
sure to add your comments or feelings, as well as reading others
about the Birks Building on the |
If
you were to converse with a person who has called Hamilton their
home for over 35 years, you may wish to ask them a very important
question. This question would have been quite normal to say back
in the more booming years, but might be looked on with blank eyes
today. The question is, “What did the Birks Building mean to
you?”
The
Birks made Hamilton famous just by unique beauty alone. The detail
and style that went into the design is one of legend. Famous poet
and playwright Oscar Wilde had the opportunity to see the building
when visiting Hamilton. He was quoted as saying that it was the
finest structure he has seen in all of North America.
Hamilton
Drops the Hammer
