The Murton Summer House (Cahill's Castle)

scotto

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The Beach Strip
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From the book "Under This Roof", authored by Terry Boyle.
Thanks to Terry for allowing his work to be posted.
Also thanks to Lynn Voortman.
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In 1791 Augustus Jones named a tongue of land that divides Burlington Bay and Lake Ontario, Long Beach. Appearing as a large sandbar, this strip of land was formed centuries ago by the action of winds and waves depositing silt along a stretch of elevation. Soon marsh plants flourished on the bay margin and eventually trees anchored its shores. The strip was first used as an Indian trail and later by settlers who planted orchards and gardens, gradually building the dirt track. The beach became a naturalist's haven, echoing with the calls of loons, crows, night hawks, and canaries. For the fisherman, hauls of a thousand or more herring were common in the spring, selling at five shillings a hundred in 1854.
Residents of Hamilton and Burlington were naturally attracted to this playground of leisure and sunshine. Many began building stately summer homes and enjoying special excursions and moon-light cruises on Lake Ontario. Some preferred the entertainment provided by the many hotels along the beach. In 1873 a three-story resort named Ocean House was built, offering the summer residences and tourists a dance hall, music salon, bowling alley, billiards parlor, and boat livery by the canal Across the road stood the Royal Hamilton Yacht Club, drawing twenty thousand people to its regattas.

About 1891 Charles Murton of Hamilton built a grand summer home spanning the lakeside. The Murton family was in the coal business, having established the company in 1873. To own a summer home of this stature was very fashionable and many referred to the structure as "the castle."
Perhaps it was the corner tower where stairs led to the four bedrooms on the second floor and two on the third floor which earned it such a name. A twenty-room house with a decorative screened verandah sweeping round it, it featured servants' quarters, butler's pantry, and a breezeway running to the summer kitchen. A bathhouse, used for changing into stylish beach attire, was located in the back yard. For the Murtons, summer evenings were spent strolling the boardwalk or sitting on the verandah conversing about the day's activities.
In time the beach changed from a pleasant scenic playground to a desolate beach polluted by automobile exhaust, hydro towers, and smoke billowing from Hamilton's industry. Fire destroyed many of the summer residences and traditions of an era gone by. The Murton family sold their house in 1945 to the Cahill family. Bud and Betty Cahill still reside in one of the few remaining summer homes that once populated both shores of the strip.

Drawing from the book "Under This Roof"-(first attachment)
The corner tower, the heavily browed gables to dormers, the small-paned sash in the lunate windows on the second floor, and the spindle-work frieze to the verandah are all trade-marks of the late Victorian period around the turn of the century. The house is of the "shingle style" associated with shingle-faced summer residences erected all over the subcontinent in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and particularly in seaside resorts like Bar Harbor, Maine. Wood was used for the interior finish, with paneled wainscots, chevron patterning, or V-joint to walls and ceilings.
Murton House.jpg

Photo#1- The Cahills, no date.
Bud Cahill.jpg

Photo#2- Murton House, no date.
Murton House1.jpg

Winter Photo

Cahill.jpg
 

scotto

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Feb 15, 2004
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The Beach Strip
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The new owners of this historic Beach home have spent a lot of time and money to return the house to it's original style. It is back to the open porches and the windows and doors have been replaced to match those from a century ago. Well done!

 
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