Mark Osbaldeston 
Unbuilt Hamilton 

Finalist for a 2017 Hamilton Literary Award, the Kerry Schooley Award




Unbuilt Hamilton presents the Ambitious City at its most ambitious, exploring the origins and fates of unrealized building, planning, and transportation proposals from the early nineteenth century to the early twenty-first.



Marvel at the sweeping vista down Hamilton’s own version of the Champs-Élysées as you enjoy a concert in the escarpment amphitheatre. Drive up the Gage Avenue tunnel, or ride down the Ottawa Street incline railway. Take in the sites at the King’s Forest Zoo, see the stars in the planetarium, or catch a game at Commonwealth Stadium before returning to your island home in Bay Shore Village.



Featuring more than 150 illustrations, plans, and photographs,
Unbuilt Hamilton gives life to the Hamilton that might have been.

Table of Content

• Introduction: The Ambitious City


• Master Plans


• 1. George Hamilton Plan


• 2. Romulus/Westdale


• 3. Noulan Cauchon City Plan


• 4. Waterfront Proposals


• 5. E.G. Faludi City Plan


• 6. Civic Square


• Civic, Church, and Corporate


• 7. Hamilton Waterworks/Wentworth County Jail


• 8. Gore Bank


• 9. Christ’s Church Cathedral/Christ the King Chapel/St. John the Baptist Church


• 10. St. Patrick’s Church/James Street Baptist Church


• 11. Hamilton General Hospital/Juravinski Hospital


• 12. City Halls


• 13. Connaught Tower


• Arts, Learning, and Leisure


• 14. Hamilton Club


• 15. Central Library


• 16. Mc Master University Buildings


• 17. City Hall Art


• 18. Mc Master University Medical Centre


• 19. Mohawk College Tower


• 20. Sesquicentennial Sculpture


• Transportation


• 21. Tye-Cauchon Railway Report


• 22. Ottawa Street Incline/Mountain Tunnels and Highways


• 23. Train Stations


• 24. Northwest Entrance


• 25. East-West Expressway/North-End Perimeter Road


• 26. Elevated Transit


• Parks and Recreation


• 27. War Memorial and Civic Auditoriums


• 28. Sam Lawrence Park Waterfall


• 29. King’s Forest Zoo


• 30. Arenas and Stadiums


• 31. Gore Park Revitalization


• Epilogue: Hamilton in 2003


• Acknowledgements


• Sources


• Image Credits


• Index

About the author

A Hamilton native, Mark Osbaldeston has written and spoken extensively on architectural and planning history. His first book, Unbuilt Toronto, was the basis for an exhibition at the Royal Ontario Museum and was a finalist for the Toronto Book Awards and the Speaker’s Book Award. It also received a Heritage Toronto Award of Merit, as did its sequel, Unbuilt Toronto 2.