Auchmar was built in 1854 on land that the Honourable Isaac Buchanan had purchased two years previously. Its name was taken from the Auchmar estate on Loch Lomond, Scotland, which Buchanan’s family owned. Over the years the magnificent house on the Hamilton mountain was visited by such notables as Sir John A. Macdonald, Sir Allan MacNab, Pope John Paul II (when he was Cardinal) and the Prince of Wales during an 1860 Royal visit. Auchmar still stands on 10 acres of an eighty-six acre spread that Buchanan called Clairmont Park. It was considered an elegant example of gothic revival architecture with its arched windows, eleven chimneys, gables, and French doors.