This is the story of one such house which has watched people come and go through happy and sad times, busy moments and quiet pauses.

The house at 78 Mountain Ave. in Hamilton, Ontario was built in 1905 by Mr. Jenks, an ironworker in the city. At that time it was one of the early houses on the street.

After its completion, Jenks lived in it whiile he built #80 and #82. On the completion of #76 around 1917, he moved into it and lived there to his death. His daughter, Grace, remained into the early 2000's

In 1917, Rev. C. J. Loney (CJL) moved into the house with his wife and young family. As the minister of the nearby Stanley Ave. Baptist Church, the house saw the comings and goings of other clergy, local parishoners and missionaries from around the world. In 1960, he retired after 46 years at Stanley and over fifty in the ministry.

In 1963, his daugther Kathleen and her husband and son made some minor modifications to the house and moved in. On July 26th, 2007, Kathleen Matheson died and George inherited the family home. It had been in the family for almost 100 year, with Kathleen having lived there for most of her 93 years, and was steeped in family history (especially the attic, the front parlour, and Loney study).

The immediate thought was to clean out the house, do some minor repairs, and find a fastidious renter who would do it no harm, assuming that eventually it would put on the market. After all,we were well settled in low-snow, low-humidity, "beautiful Victoria, British Columbia."

But after spending several days (and a few nights) in the house in August, they shocked themselves by deciding to move back to Ontario and live in the house. Moving into it seemed "the right thing to do. "

In 2008, renovations were begun on the house with a mind to making it more liveable while maintaining the historical feel. Read more