Highfield

John Brown was a merchant no doubt associated with his better-known brother, The Hon. Adam Brown (1826-1926), who had built a successful wholesale grocery firm with St. Clair Balfour (1850-1895). In 1858, Brown employed architect Frederick James Rastrick to build him a Gothic, gabled mansion of Ohio stone with exterior walls that were three to four feet thick. Typically Victorian in style, there was a conservatory and a verandah and it was surrounded by 13-acres of "pretty, secluded" grounds and reputedly cost $100,000.

In 1874, "Highfield" was sold to The Hon. James Turner (1826-1889) for $45,000. Like the Browns, Turner was also a Scotsman and the owner of one of Canada's largest wholesale grocery companies and was later elected to the Senate. Turner lived here with his wife, Caroline Huldah Greene (1832-1910), and their eight children until his death in 1889.

In 1890, the Senator's widow leased the house to John Campbell Hamilton-Gordon (1847-1934), 7th Earl and 1st Marquess of Aberdeen, and his wife Ishbel Maria Marjoribanks (1857-1939), and their four young children. It marked the beginning of their extensive trip across Canada. Three years before Lord Aberdeen was appointed Governor-General of Canada, and Lady Aberdeen was highly complimentary of their first temporary home:

After the Aberdeens left Canada, various members of the Turner family continued to make their home here up until 1901 when it was sold and became a private prep school for boys. The Aberdeens, along with several of Hamilton's leading families, had persuaded Mayor Sir John Strathearn Hendrie (1857–1923) to establish a school that would "prepare able and privileged young men" principally for entry into the Royal Military College of Canada at Kingston. Initially named the "Ontario School" it very soon became known as the "Highfield School for Boys". It was destroyed by fire on May 5, 1918, and remained a ruin until 1933 when the Norman-château inspired Niblett House was built in its place.