Welcome to Ham House

We are honoured and thrilled to announce that the restoration of Ham House has received the 2020 Ontario Heritage Trust's Lieutenant Governor's Ontario Heritage Award for Excellence in Conservation! Please see the Ontario Heritage Trust for details about the award.

We are also pleased to announce that the project has been acknowledged by the Frontenac Heritage Foundation through the 2019 Heritage Conservation Award.

This particular Ham House is in Bath, Ontario, about 15 minutes west of Kingston on Lake Ontario. It is designated under Part IV of the Ontario Heritage Act.

We had our first glimpse of this building through the 1930 drawing of Reed from the collection of Prof. Eric Arthur of the University of Toronto. The classical details made it easy to imagine the elegant sensitivities of another time, quite distinct from the reality of the building in 2010.

We knew the classical north façade would make for a great restoration. We had less idea that the east façade was in fact more impressive as a nod to a Roman temple. We had even less expectation that the interior would have survived but after removal of about 40 tons of modern building material, the original interior was entirely intact. This included an 1817 store in the east end of the building complete with graffiti from the Upper Canada Rebellion.

This web site attempts to tell some of the story of this building and our adventure bringing it back to its original glory. The History section gives a little background for the building and its context in the history of the region and the individuals associated with it. The Finds section discusses artifacts and other discoveries in and around the site that link the building to Canadian history. The Restoration section discusses the work done to restore the building. Finally the Links section provides links to other resources and provides contact information for Ham House.

Please see our facebook page for up-to-date information on Ham House, as well as before and after photos.

The long term plan for the site is to establish a pub/restaurant. The COVID-19 crisis has been brutal on the hospitality industry so we will provide updates as that situation evolves.

If you are interested in providing financial support to assist in the continuing restoration of Ham House, please see Donate for details, or click on our GoFundMe campaign.