MOD HAMILTON Walking Tour with Irma Girdle!

Join the HBSA on a walking tour with Architectural Enthusiast and Drag Queen Extraordinaire - Irma Girdle!

Irma currently offers guided walking tours throughout Toronto and is working with the HBSA and OPPI to curate a tour for HAMILTON! Tours come with comedy, candid commentary and fun facts, but also a refreshing pub stop* to boot! Post Modernism in Hamilton, amongst many other topics will be covered during the tour.

Irma Girdle can’t wait to show you MOD HAMILTON (with some older stuff too!).

71 Main St. West. Similar to Irma’s 5-star reviewed tour of Mod Toronto, MODHAM starts in front of Stanley Roscoe’s impressive 1960 City Hall. Tour-goers will learn of Canada’s first “City Architect” and of the controversial 2008 replacement of the original marble cladding.

From there, we’ll walk east to examine Hamilton Place (now First Ontario Concert Hall) by Trevor Garwood-Jones, and the Carnegie-funded Hamilton Public Library across the street. Roscoe’s 1971 IBM Building and the Art Deco Pigott Building follow, along with the 1966 Union Gas Building.

Poking south to see the Art Deco glory of the Hamilton GO Centre, walkers will then hear the story of the Pagoda Chop Suey House sign (and the importance of neon to placemaking), Treble Hall, Capri Pizza, and the ubiquitous 1973 Stelco Tower, the topic of writer/photographer Sara Heinonen’s published love affair in 2023.

The tour will wrap up with Lister Block, the Federal Building, the John Weir Foote Armoury (National Historic Site of Canada), and an explanation of why there’s a Studebaker mural on the side of Jamesville Laundromat. There’s more (about 14 stops in all), but Irma wants there to be a few surprises!

Our last stop will be at Architect Hair Design (324 James St. N.), a licensed barbershop, for a pint and a chat.

Irma will be wearing heels, but she suggests you wear comfortable shoes.

Date: Thursday, October 8th

Rain Date: October 22nd, 2026

Tour length: 1.5 hours.

RSVP as soon as possible as seats are limited. Attendees will be contacted the week before the event to confirm attendance. This event qualifies for 1.5 hours of continuing education.

*Food and drink not included at the pub stop.