The Auchmar Manor House is a significant cultural landscape. This manor house, the last surviving country estate on Hamilton Mountain, was built for the Honourable Isaac Buchanan – Scotsman, entrepreneur, civic leader, politician and legendary Canadian public figure. Enjoy this rare opportunity to view the main floor of this Gothic revival house and the walled and landscaped grounds that surround it.

Balfour House is Hamilton’s last great escarpment estate. Several prominent Hamiltonians have called it home since 1836, most recently the family of St. Clair Balfour. Owned by the Ontario Heritage Trust and managed by the City of Hamilton, the building and garden are spectacular.

Learn more about the industrious Barton Village neighbourhood alongside local historian Joachim Brouwer during this in-person hour-long tour (Saturday only). Highlights include properties that reveal its storied past as well as buildings that showcase the urban transformation happening in one of Hamilton’s up-and-coming areas.

Come and see the Beach Canal Light Station, which comprises a 17-metre tall (55-foot) tapered, circular, stone tower with an iron lantern, both completed in 1858, and an adjacent keeper's cottage built in 1857. The lighthouse, built by contractor John Brown, was modelled on the six imperial towers that he constructed on Lake Huron and Georgian Bay.

Beginning in 1872, the Bridgeworks was a major component in the growth of Hamilton's reputation as a Steel Town. The extensive building and grounds, once used for building iron and steel bridges for Canada's railways, are now the home of a multi-functional events hub that focuses on community, arts and special events. This once-commercial space is now a community hub.

Erected in 1856, the Coppley Building is the finest surviving pre-Confederation commercial building in Hamilton. Recently acquired by TAS, a Toronto-based social investor in partnership with the Hamilton Community Foundation, it is currently being restored. But you can have a glimpse of the work as part of Doors Open, with access to the courtyard, situated between the two main buildings.

Join us for an evening of food, dancing and shopping while you experience one of Hamilton's best examples of adaptive reuse. The Imperial Cotton Factory was taken over in 2014. The Cotton Factory is a creative arts centre in the heart of lower Hamilton. Come and explore artist's studios, artisan and vintage markets, and a beautifully restored 1900s factory.

Opened in 1956, the Dundas Museum & Archives is a private, non-profit museum that collects, interprets and celebrates the unique identity of the Valley Town. This year, the museum welcomes you to tour the permanent galleries, the historically designated c. 1848 Doctor’s Office and their feature exhibition, “Leading Ladies: Early Dundas Women’s Groups.”

Completed in 1849, Dundas Town Hall is one of the oldest remaining municipal buildings in Hamilton. The original two-storey building was designed by Francis Hawkins. Despite various renovations over the years, the site retains its heritage features. In 1971, the interior was modernized and the octagonal wing, containing new council chambers, was added.

Dundurn Castle is one of the finest examples of high regency-style architecture in the country. Constructed in the 1830s for Sir Allan Napier MacNab (railway magnate, lawyer and politician), the buildings deteriorated under subsequent owners, but were restored in the 1960s to their original splendour. Today, Dundurn Castle tells the story of the MacNabs and the people who served them.

Join us in Gage Park for a tour of the formal gardens, designed by Howard Grubb and Lorrie Dunington – the largest Dunington/Grubb-designed project in Canada. Known for their work at Whitehern, Dunington/Grubb have developed gardens throughout Hamilton, including Battlefield Park. During this tour, see how Gage Park has developed while still retaining its original features, such as its fountain.

The Erland Lee (Museum) Home is a National Historic Site that serves to tell three stories: that of the Lee family, who lived in the home from 1808-1970, of the Stoney Creek community, and of the Women's Institute, which was founded in the home's dining room in February 1897. The Lee home is a beautiful example of carpenter's Gothic architecture.

Fieldcote was built in 1948 as a private home, and today serves as a cultural heritage centre with emphasis on Ancaster’s local history, the promotion of fine arts and the celebration of natural heritage through beautiful, landscaped gardens and walking trails.

The Tropical Greenhouse at Gage Park, opened in July 2021, is a 1,300-square-metre (14,000-square-foot) greenhouse containing a unique collection of subtropical plants, palm trees, a waterfall and fish pond. Visitors can view the production greenhouses where annual plants intended for the City’s gardens and traffic islands are started. Plants will be transferred this year beginning May 24.

The EcoHouse property is the last remaining portion of the original Glen Manor Estate, which encompassed almost the entire current Davis Creek neighbourhood. The farmhouse was pre-Confederation; many original characteristics remain. Unique historical features include the original stone walls, the 1960s solarium addition, and a Veevers brothers chandelier. Some modern features include the Hamilton Seed Library and a community garden.

For the last 20 years, Robin McKee has shared the “Stories in the Stones” of Hamilton Cemetery. Hosting walking tours of this Victorian landscaped cemetery, the oldest in Hamilton, McKee reveals the people of Hamilton's past that have left a legacy for the future. This year, the tour will be the “Women’s Tour” to honour all women for Mother’s Day!

Located on the grounds of Dundurn National Historic Site, this museum preserves and shares the military history of Hamilton and area through exhibits, programs and events. The building, originally constructed as a gate house for Dundurn Castle in the late 1830s, was first known as Battery Lodge, being located on the site of a War of 1812 artillery emplacement.

The Hamilton Waterworks, 1859, features two 14-metre (45-foot) high, 70-ton steam-powered pumping engines that supplied the city with clean drinking water from 1859 to 1910. The engines were made in Dundas, Ontario and are the oldest surviving examples of their kind in North America. The waterworks complex is a National Historic Site and a civil and power engineering landmark.

The Lister Block features a two-level, L-shaped interior shopping arcade and distinctive terracotta and brick façade. It is one of Hamilton's first multi-purpose commercial office/retail buildings. Built in 1923, it was restored in 2012. Join architect-led tours and explore a Tourism Hamilton presentation inside. Architectural Conservancy Ontario and Hamilton Municipal Heritage Committee information stations will also be available inside.

The MacNab Street Presbyterian Church was completed in 1857 during a cholera epidemic. The exterior is solid stone masonry with an updated slate roof. After the First World War, nine-window stained-glass windows by the Scottish artists William Wilson and James Ballantyne were installed. The sanctuary has stone walls and columns, blonde wood and a magnificent Casavant organ.

In 1850, Dundas Millworks helped the Valley Town become the foundry and machine tool capital of then-Canada West. Today, the renamed Millworks Creative Studio is a beautiful brick-and-beam building in the heart of Dundas with an original show-stopping façade. As part of the renovations, there is now space for several creative enterprises, including some prominent film and television projects.

Come and visit Otterburn, the second-oldest inhabited home in Ontario, and explore the remains of one of the earliest grist mills. The house and mill were built in 1789 by Captain John Aikman, a refugee from the United States after the Revolutionary War. Patrick Bermingham, Otterburn’s current owner, provides fascinating commentary on the site. One tour daily at 10 a.m.

Built in 1914 as a vaudeville and movie theatre, this distinctive beaux-arts building was designed by Stewart & Witton. After 76 years of continuous operation, the theatre closed in August 1990. But, in 2018, it reopened as an independent art-house cinema. Original architectural features – including lavish interiors – have been beautifully restored, and a new neon sign recreates the long-lost original.

This 1885-86 building in the heart of historical Dundas has served as a foundry, indoor skating/curling rink, bus depot, warehouse and, since 2016, the Shawn & Ed Brewing Company. The wood post-and-beam/brick masonry structure has been preserved yet modernized with the latest in craft beer equipment. The brewery focuses on German-style lagers with an emphasis on quality and authenticity.

St. Augustine's, established in 1827, is the oldest parish in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Hamilton. Following the destruction by fire of the original church in 1863, construction of this neo-Gothic church began in February with the building sufficiently finished for dedication in December that year. The most significant extant addition to the building was the Angelus bell in 1876.