Sketch of the William Pring House from 1856
Since 2012, HGH has been at home in the historic William Pring House.
The limestone mansion was built in 1855 for William Pring and his large family. Pring was the Customs Surveyor for Hamilton, which was a major import-export hub for Upper Canada at the time. By 1860, Pring had moved to Port Colbourne, leaving his family in the house, where they stayed for a number of years before moving to join him there.
In 1870, the house was bought by Duncan MacNabb, who never lived there, but owned it and rented it out for thirty years.
The house was bought in 1908 by Dr William Hopkins, who lived here with his family and carried on his practice here. His wife, Mynora Beamer, was a concert pianist and piano teacher, and may have taught her students in the building as well.
After Dr Hopkins’ death in 1933, the house changed hands many times. Over the next eighty years, it was used as a rooming house, as a water filtration business, split into three separate units, and used as a family home.
Hamilton Guesthouse opened in September 2010 in a house on Victoria Avenue, and it soon became clear that a larger venue was necessary. In early 2012, the William Pring House was put on the market for the last time, and we were fortunate enough to be able to buy this piece of Hamilton’s history.
1861 Census
Document: 1911census
