Architectural Heritage

Architectural Heritage. Several homes along the beach strip reflects its past as a summer resort for wealthy Hamiltonians.. , Victorian summer homes , In the 1870s, prominent, wealthy Hamiltonians began building summer homes on the Beach Strip. Three surviving examples, all built in the early 1890s, are described here. These homes were distinguished by their wood frame construction with clapboard or shingle siding, spacious verandas and ornate balconies, and decorative trim., The Murton Summer House , (957 Beach Boulevard) , This grand Queen Anne style summer home, built for coal merchant Charles Murton, has a prominent octagonal corner tower and wide encircling veranda with decorative lattice work. The twenty-room house featured servants' quarters, a butler's pantry, and separate summer kitchen linked by a breezeway. It was sold in 1945 to the Cahill family and later nicknamed "Cahill Castle". , The Galbraithe Summer Home , (1117 Beach Boulevard) , This house was built for Newton Galbreaith, a successful businessman and avid art collector. The full-width veranda combined with a gabled balcony over the entrance landing is a distinctive architectural feature found in Hamilton only on the Beach Strip. A circa 1900 photograph shows the exuberant character of the original house, with its playful circular and heart-shaped arches and ornamental roof cresting., The Moorings (913 Beach Boulevard) , Politician and lawyer Francis Edwin Kilvert built this spacious summer residence, which he named "The Moorings". Essentially Queen Anne in style, it is shingled (roofing and siding) in the manner of the U.S. east coast Shingle Style. It also features a wide wraparound veranda with elaborately carved posts and trim and numerous projecting gables with decorative half-timber work., Hamilton Beach Millenium Project