Canadian Castles Part IV: Dundurn Castle

Photo Credit: Laura Waldie

Of all the Canadian Castle owners, one of the most complex individuals was Sir Allan Napier McNab, the owner of Dundurn Castle in Hamilton, Ontario. He had a very eclectic and varied career from being a carpenter, actor, railroad tycoon, real estate investor, military officer, a Baron, and Prime Minister of the Province of Canada. He was a man of dual personalities in many ways. On the one hand, he displayed such dizzying wealth and power, yet was constantly trying to keep two steps ahead of his creditors and he died virtually penniless. He was considered a very compassionate and kind employer to his domestic staff for the time, yet he was not above breaking the law or imposing threats on people to get what he wanted in the business world. He was lauded by many business associates as being a fine example of a new and golden age dawning in the Province of Canada’s entrepreneurial world, yet many Boards and Committees he sat on would scheme endlessly to find ways to be rid of him. In spite of all this, however, McNab left a remarkable piece of architectural history that not only reflects the development of the City of Hamilton, but also of a young nation in the making. 

Photo Credit: House of Commons Heritage Collection

Allan Napier McNab was born February 19, 1798 in Newark (Niagara-on-the-Lake) to a Scottish born military father, Allan Sr. and his wife Anne Napier. Allan Sr. had been a lieutenant with the Queen’s Rangers in the American Revolutionary War commanded by John Graves Simcoe. After the war was over, McNab was placed on half pay and struggled to find another position within the British Army. The family moved around from place to place, often following Simcoe in hopes of getting on again full time with the British Army.  McNab took on a series of odd jobs in order to survive and worked diligently to maintain as many social, business, and military contacts that he could with the hope they would one day prove fruitful for him. Allan Jr. watched his father develop and nurture these relationships and would employ the same diligence in his own life.

Allan Jr. was only 14 years old when the War of 1812 broke out. Having developed a love and appreciation of the military through his father, McNab joined the British Army in the defence of Upper Canada. He joined the battle at York (Toronto) to fend off the Americans. Later he joined the Navy and served for a brief time on the Great Lakes. By 1813, McNab was back with the Army and fighting for the British on American soil at Plattsburg and Buffalo, New York. By 1814, he suffered the same military fate his father had years before and was placed on half-pay. Even his reputation as a “boy-hero” of the War of 1812 could not secure him full time employment with the British Army in Upper Canada. And like his father, he began to bounce around looking for steady employment. Fortunately for McNab, his father’s networking resulted in the securing of a position in the York legal office of D’Arcy Boulton in 1815. However, McNab preferred the active life of a soldier and still held out hope that he would find full time employment again with the Army by 1816. This would not happen.

Over the next several years, McNab dabbled in stage acting, carpentry, and land speculation as well as working on his legal training. It would take him more than twice the average time to complete this training and he was finally called to the Bar in 1826. He did eventually realise that being a lawyer was a respectable profession for someone aspiring to become a society gentleman and did his best to succeed in this endeavour. By 1826, McNab had married, had two children, and had become a widower. He also came to realise by 1826 that he was never going to break into the tightly-knit and extremely influential ruling class, called the Family Compact, in York. Despite his lack of strong connections into the ruling class and his apparent lack of focus and defined career objectives, McNab would not be satisfied with sitting on the sidelines or playing a minor role in society. His father had made contacts in the small town of Hamilton, most notably with the sheriff William Jarvis. McNab relocated to Hamilton in early 1827 to take advantage of his father’s contacts there and from shortly after his arrival he began to draw up some impressive legal contracts with such prominent local families as the Chisholms of Oakville and the Hatts of Ancaster.

Photo Credit: Laura Waldie

Photo Credit: Laura Waldie

One thing that became readily apparent to McNab was how cheap and plentiful the virgin land in Hamilton was than in York. He wasted no time in securing credit in creative ways to purchase large parcels of land for future development or as an investment to be sold later when the demand for land was greater. McNab began building residences which were either flipped for a profit, or were rented out. He also built office buildings, warehouses and even a tavern. Some of his legal contracts included land leasings or other financial favours such as investments, something which would surely land him in jail today. Some of the land he received was leased rather than owned outright. Yet McNab was known to have sold one of these leases three times to three separate out of town buyers in order to earn some quick cash. In the late 1820s, not much of the land had been surveyed properly so property lines and divisions were never accurately determined and therefore could not be successfully argued in court if a disagreement arose. It was one of his scheming techniques that he was somehow able to get away with partly because he made sure the terms of sale were so convoluted in their legal language that no one dared to question them. But McNab did use his credit to purchase land for other reasons such as securing future railway contracts.

In 1835, McNab had owned the majority of shares of the Gore Bank of Hamilton. He used this influence to court the Great Western Railway Company which was looking to become a vital transportation link throughout Upper Canada as well as expanding into the United States railway ventures via Niagara. He was already President of the Hamilton and Port Dover Railway and the coming of the competing railways saw his land prices soar. He sold off many parcels of land for quite a tidy sum and his influence eventually led to a position as a director with the Great Western Railway.

McNab was also very active in local politics. He was first elected to the Legislative Assembly of Upper Canada in 1830 and would serve in a number of capacities for the next 27 years, including the House Speaker for three years. His most notable contribution to the political development of the Province of Canada was his role in defeating William Lyon Mackenzie’s Upper Canada Rebellion in 1837. McNab led a group of militia to York to defeat a group of Mackenzie supporters. McNab later took part in the burning of an American supply ship that had been sympathetic to Mackenzie’s fight for republicanism at Navy Island near Niagara Falls. Mackenzie’s Rebellion was defeated and McNab was knighted by Queen Victoria for his gallantry. Riding high off his elevation into the aristocracy with his new title, McNab retired for a while to his castle masterpiece to plot his next move in his business dealings.

Photo Credit: Laura Waldie

McNab bought the land Dundurn Castle sits on from his business associate J. S. Cartwright in 1832 for £2,500 which was £500 more than he had anticipated paying. The land had once belonged to Richard Beasley, a fur trader and local businessman who had built a grist mill and fur warehouses along the shores of Burlington Bay, below the property. In 1813, the retreating British Army set up camp on the Beasley property and built fortification hills, trenches and underground passageways. The Army also did damage to Beasley’s red brick home that sat on the site. When McNab bought the land, only the house foundations were left and he insisted that Dundurn Castle be built on those existing foundations. That is why, today, the house takes on a peculiarly long and narrow design with some rooms being very small while others are grander in size.

The castle is a interesting mix of old and new, much like McNab himself. The house is considered to be the very first home built in Upper Canada in the Mediterranean villa style. The castle was designed by Robert Charles Wetherell, a Hamilton based architect who built a number of grand homes for wealthy entrepreneurs. However, Dundurn Castle would become his masterpiece. Wetherell chose the Italianate style for Dundurn and in keeping with the eighteenth century style of ordered gardens, he incorporated the hills and trenches from the War of 1812 into the landscape as rolling grasslands and sunken gardens which can still be seen today.

Photo Credit: Laura Waldie

Photo Credit: Laura Waldie

The castle itself has 72 rooms, though 40 are accessible to the public today. The interesting thing about the size of the house is the number of people who lived in the home. McNab remarried in 1831 to Mary Stuart, a devout Roman Catholic from Brockville. They would have two daughters, Sophia and Mary (Minnie). Of McNab’s previous marriage, his daughter Anne Jane was married and living in England and his son, Robert, fatally shot himself in a hunting accident in 1834. McNab’s widowed sister-in-law, also named Sophia, lived with the family to help run the household and raise the two girls because Mary had suffered tremendously throughout most of her marriage from tuberculosis and was mostly confided to the sick room. There had been a domestic staff of about 12 working on site as well. Those who lived on the estate did so in the servants’ quarters in the basement.

The servants’ area, including the kitchen, scullery, milk room, brewing room, and dining area were considered to be more luxurious than how many people of the working and middle classes lived in Hamilton, and McNab received considerable flack for this.

Photo Credit: Laura Waldie

Photo Credit: Laura Waldie

For the most part, the basement work space such as the kitchen and dining area have many ground level windows. In the summer, these windows could be opened to let in fresh air while the iron stoves worked to prepare the family and servants meals. There was also gas lighting throughout the castle, including the basement. Gas lighting was extremely rare in the 1850s, even among the upper classes. McNab was highly criticised for giving his servants such a luxury while some of his own business associates did not enjoy the same luxury. Another interesting and highly modern feature of the house was the addition of indoor plumbing. Unlike the gas piping, which was hidden, the water pipes are visible as they follow the line of the ceiling and run down the corners of rooms. Heated water was pumped from the basement into the bathing room or kitchen using central gravity to move the water. Perhaps the pipes were located on the outside of the walls to afford better access if there was an unfortunate burst, or to easily heat up with candles should they freeze on cold winter days. There is also an intricate bell system in the basement. Here, a number of bells would ring out. Each bell had a different sound and would correspond to a different room in the house. The person in the room above would rotate a handle to sound the bell in the basement which would promptly bring a servant or butler to that room. Servants’ wages ranged from £2 to £10 per month, depending upon position, and this included a room in the castle for those who had no other home. Most of the castle’s domestic staff did not stay at the castle and would go home to their own families at night. These wages also raised a few eyebrows in Hamilton as they were deemed excessively high.

By the mid 1850s, Allan McNab was beginning to lose both his political and financial power. Though he was the Premier of the united provinces of Upper and Lower Canada from 1854-56 (equivalent in those days to today’s Prime Minister), he was very quickly becoming overshadowed by young political upstarts such as John A. Macdonald and George-Étienne Cartier. His repeated attempts at extortion through the Great Western Railway, led the executives to offer him £5,000 as a retirement gift just to get rid of him. He took the offer, then jumped over to the competitor, the Grand Trunk Railway, and attempted the same things. He was eventually forced out there in 1856. Financially, McNab had mortgaged himself so heavily to purchase land on speculation as well as try to keep up with the lavish lifestyle he wanted to project, that he made himself extremely vulnerable to the unstable financial markets. The economy of Upper Canada was very volatile in the nineteenth century and recessions and financial depressions happened every decade. And McNab was always a victim of each economic downturn. He was so desperate for funds near the end of his life that he resorted to borrowing from friends and offered up his daughters’ trust accounts as collateral. Suffering from painful gout, McNab made several trips to England to secure finances for his business ventures and to escape the cold Canadian winters in hope of improving his ailing health. Sometimes his sojours to Britain were financially successful but later in life, they were not. He did manage to secure a royal title of First Baronet of McNab in 1856, which had been a goal of his since coming to Hamilton. The title died with him as he left no surviving male heir to inherit the title.

Photo Credit: Laura Waldie

Photo Credit: Laura Waldie

McNab died at Dundurn Castle in 1862 leaving a mountain of debts and an uncertain future for his family. In order to pay off creditors, McNab’s sister-in-law, Sophia, with help from McNab’s daughter and son-in-law, mortgaged the property to pay off the creditors. Sophia did not want to remain in the home and soon emigrated to Australia. The castle sat empty for four years until it became an institution for the deaf in 1866. In 1872, the castle was purchased by Donald McInnes and he moved his family in shortly after a few minor revisions and repairs were made to make the estate livable again. Finally, in 1899, McInnes sold the castle to the City of Hamilton where it became a museum. In 1967, for the Canadian centennial year, $3 million was spent to restore the castle to reflect life in the 1850s. Extensive restorations are still being conducted in the house including some excavation work on the great hall. Renovations have shown that the original walls in the great hall employed the trompe l’oiel , or fool the eye, technique of painting. Decades of paint have been scaled back to reveal a gold and terra cotta coloured marbling effect similar to what is found in the upstairs family room.

Sir Allan Napier McNab was a complex man with many beliefs still rooted in eighteenth century Regency ideals, yet he was a visionary in where he believed the economic and political future of a united Canada was heading. He was shrewd, ruthless and immoral in his business dealings, yet compassionate about helping others less fortunate than himself and in so believing, gave generously to charities in Hamilton. He seemed to have the good fortune to be able to take advantage of new technologies like the railway and trans-Atlantic shipping ventures just at the right time to maximise profits, yet his need to spread himself thin by getting involved in everything new would lead to some bad financial decisions that would bring financial hardship later in life. Yet despite his contradictions, McNab’s place in the development of Hamilton and the development of a united Canadian province that would lead to full nationhood is secure, and he left behind an architectural record that helps to illustrate that progression. As an interesting footnote to McNab’s story, his eldest daughter from his second marriage, Sophia, married William Coutts Keppel who would become the 7th Earl of Ablemarle after his father’s passing. Sophia’s royal connection would not end there. Her son, George Keppel was married to Alice Keppel, the favoured mistress of King Edward VII. Sophia and William are also the great great grandparents of the present Duchess of Cornwall, Camilla Parker-Bowles. In November 2009, the Duchess and Prince of Wales made a special visit to Dundurn Castle so that the Duchess could visit the home that her great great great grandfather, Sir Allan, built and where her great great grandmother grew up.  Of all the people who would have wanted desperately to be there to conduct the tour, it likely would have been McNab himself. It would have represented acceptance into the highest rung of the British aristocracy and a goal he had wanted to acheive most of his life.

Photo Credit: Laura Waldie

Photo Credit: Laura Waldie

Dundurn Castle is open year round and admission includes a visit to the Hamilton Military Museum, which is on the castle grounds. The working gardens are also a major attraction for visitors and on special days you can learn what kinds of heirloom fruits and vegetables grew in many nineteenth century Canadian gardens. For more information, please check out the City of Hamilton’s Dundurn Castle National Historic Site page. A special thanks to Brian for the personal tour of Dundurn and whose expertise and knowledge of both Dundurn and Hamilton history is nothing short of miraculous.

For more stories in the Canadian Castle series, please click the links below:

Castle Kilbride
Hatley Castle
Craigdarroch Castle

Political History built heritage, castles, Ontario