Sitting in the heart of Hamilton is an old, boarded up Classic Renaissance building, attracting attention since it stands out from the surrounding architecture. Ask anyone from Hamilton about it and they know what your are talking about... Lister Block was at one time the center of the community for Hamilton.
| Location | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Downtown | ||||||
| (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) | ||||||
| Built :: Closed | Status | Difficulty | ||||
| 1924 :: 1994 | Formerly Abandoned | ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ | ||||
| Hazards Risk | Security Risk | AUE Rating | ||||
| ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ | ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ ☆ | ★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆ | ||||
| Hazard Observations | Security Observations | |||||
| None Specified | None Specified | |||||
A four floor high building featuring indoor arcade, built to mimic the arcades back in the commercial districts of England, the original Lister Block was the first indoor commercial mall in Canada. Sadly, it doesn't exist anymore, having been claimed by fire in 1923. The current building was built on the site in 1924, continuing the tradition of the original Lister.
That all changed in 1994, when the last of the tenants were evicted (no reason has been noted for this act), and the building has sat there since, decaying away. Many photos exist of it throughout the latter part of the 2000's, becoming more and more hazardous with time.
That isn't the case anymore. In 2009, LIUNA, the owners of the building, began a massive renovation project on Lister, starting with gutting the interior (except the historic arcades on the first and second floors) and eventually featuring an exterior restoration.
And that is how Lister currently stands... under construction and gutted, slowly being refitted to bring it up to Building Code Standards so it one day can be a commercial hub again.
