Short histories about my hometown. Hamilton, Ontario.

For civic-minded Hamiltonians - particularly ones who with a good sense of the city’s history - the Birks Building is a touchy subject.

Standing proudly at the south-east corner of King & James, Oscar Wilde declared it the most beautiful building he had seen during his 1882 North American lecture tour. 90 years later, when the city council decided that it needed to be torn down, it still may have been Hamilton’s most impressive structure. Certainly, one of the most ornate examples of 19th century architecture that you could find in the city.

But Hamilton then, as it does now, had a habit of neglecting its historic buildings and tearing them down in the name of modernization - all, seemingly, without a plan, basic aesthetic sense or a bit of respect for the past.

Days before The Birks Building was due to be razed in 1972, a Teperman Construction scaffolding was erected. Soon after, some of those civic-minded Hamiltonians attached a 25-foot banner to the scaffolding, asking the question: “Is this necessary?”

Most likely they never got an answer. And it was torn down anyway.