Dundurn Castle (http://www.city.hamilton.on.ca/culture-and-rec/MUSEUMS/dundurn/default.asp) is an historic chateau in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada.
Sir Allan MacNab, later prime minister of the united Province of Canada between 1845 and 1856, hired architect Robert Wetherall and consturction of this stately home was completed in 1835. It became the property of the City of Hamilton, and in the late 1960s, it was restored as a Centennial project. It is now designated as a National Historic Site.
It operates as a civic musuem, and its grounds house other atractions. Dundurn Park, and asscoiated green spaces, is a favourite for wedding portraits. The Hamilton Military Museum is housed in an outbuilding which was relocated when York Street was widened as York Boulevard in the 1970s. Another outbuilding, the Cockpit Theatre, occasionally housed outdoor events and dramas.
A large German artillery piece, booty from the First World War, was removed from the southeastern part of the park in the mid-1980s. Until about 1990, it housed an aviary which was moved to the Westdale neighbourhood. The former covered pavillion offered picnickers protection from the cold, but in the last few years a walled garden was put in its place.
DundurnCastle is a National Historic site that illustrates the life and times of Sir Allan Napier MacNab (1798 - 1862), lawyer, landowner, railway magnate and Premier of the United Canadas from1845 to 1856.
Designed as a fashionable Regency style villa, Dundurn (Gaelic for "fort on the water") was nicknamed "Castle" by the citizens of Hamilton.
The Castle, with its gardens, grounds and many unusual outbuildings, was one of the finest estates in the province.
Being next to DundurnCastle was a benefit because alcohol could not be consumed at a baseball park after 1887, but the castle had a pub.
Since Dundurn's coaster opened in 1885, it too may be a Hinkle creation, although I have no reference as to how the cars were returned to the top of the first drop on this ride.
The restored DundurnCastle reopened June 17, 1967 and in August 1977 it was given a "National Treasure" designation under the Ontario Heritage Act.