Claremont Lodge and Auchmar

Claremont Lodge and Auchmar, 1855

This gate lodge was built for the Hon. Isaac Buchanan (1810-1883) who was born in Glasgow. He emigrated to Toronto in 1830, became a successful wholesale merchant, represented Toronto in the first Legislative Assembly of the Province of Canada, 1841-44, and moved to Hamilton about 1850. He bought property here, named it the Claremont Estate in 1852, and in 1855 built the lodge and the main house, now located at 88 Fennell West. Buchanan subdivided the estate and renamed the main house "Auchmar" after the Buchanan estate on Loch Lomond, Scotland. He became Member of Hamilton, 1857-67, and served as President of the Executive Council in the 1864 Tache-Macdonald administration. He died in Hamilton in 1883.