THE HEART OF THE CITY

MINDEN & HONEY DEW

18-22 King Street East

IMAGE: button(490 bytes)CURRENT STATUS (1999)
Present Owner: Adele Sager and Simon Molka
Present Use: Financial offices, retail stores, various tenants
Heritage Status: Listed on the City's Inventory of Buildings of Architectural and / or Historical Interest
Locally Significant Date: Pre-Confederation

IMAGE: button(490 bytes)BUILDING INFORMATION
Date Built: 1840s
Original Owner: Archibald and Thomas C. Kerr, dry goods merchants
Original Use: Wholesale dry goods business to 1906
Subsequent Uses: Wholesale shoes and leather goods (John Lennox & Co., 1910-1922); financial offices; Honey Dew Coffee Shop (1942-70); various retail stores (including Robert Duncan, book store)
Previous Building on Site: Unknown, probably none

IMAGE: button(490 bytes)ARCHITECTURE
Size: Three-storeys
Design and Style: Neoclassical
Architect, Builder: William Thomas, architect
Construction Materials: Brick masonry with limestone front
Architectural Integrity: Moderate (upper facades largely intact, except for replacement of all but four original windows)
Architectural Features: #18-20:  austere but well-proportioned ashlar facade with a continuous lintel under the third storey windows and flat or round voussoir arches over the windows; decorative stone cornice; eyebrow dormer (originally three)

IMAGE: Minden's Jewellery Store (47041 bytes)The Minden building, located at 18–22 King Street East, started as a warehouse. In the 1920s, Louis Minden and his wife, Anna, bought the building and moved their ready-to-wear business into it. Minden’s of Hamilton was considered one of the top stores of its kind in Ontario. This limestone commercial building was one of the last of its design.

Since 1952, the eastern portion of the building has been known as the Minden building. The lower floor of the western portion was occupied by the Honey Dew restaurant from 1942 – 1971. The Honey Dew was a very well known restaurant in downtown Hamilton in its day. However, the building became vacant in 1971 and shortly after Robert Duncan & Co. moved in. The space was used as a book and stationary store. IMAGE: Honey Dew Restaurant (18166 bytes)

The Minden building suffered from a fire in 1951, which ended the clothing business. Louis Minden still owned an office in the building. In 1970, the building was devastated by another fire, this time trapping people on the top floor. Although no one died, the event was a strain on the local fire department and a lot of damage was done to the building.

Minden’s Jewellery Store was established by Harry Minden on James Street North in 1922. The business sold jewellery and other items, such as blankets and dishes. His son Murray took over the business in 1940s and started concentrating on diamonds. The store expanded into branches and did a great deal of business. When Murray retired in 1985 at the age of 60, the business closed up. His son did not want to take over the business since he was a successful lawyer in Toronto. (Ted Minden has worked as a crown attorney on the Paul Bernardo case and the Jonathan Yeo case.) Thus, the Minden Jewellery Store closed up after 63 years of business.

REFERENCES:
Clipping File – Hamilton – Minden, Anna. Special Collections, HPL.Our Heritage Scrapbook. Volume 5. Special Collections, HPL.
Clipping File – Hamilton – Biography – Minden, Harry. Special Collections, HPL.
Clipping File – Hamilton – Biography – Minden, Louis. Special Collections, HPL.
Clipping File – Hamilton – Stores – Minden’s Jewellery Store. Special Collections, HPL.
Fires in Hamilton Scrapbook. Volume 1 and 3. Special Collections, HPL.
LACAC Research Files.  Planning Department, City Hall.
Wentworth Bygones. The Head-of-the-Lake Historical Society. No. 13. 1981.

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