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Origin project · 2021
Griffin House Museum
Collaborative photographic documentation for Hamilton Public Library; captured in winter 2021.
View model ↗Architectural documentation · 2021–2022
Ontario Historic Landmarks
An independent record of Ontario’s architectural and cultural landmarks explored through photography and 3D documentation—from the Griffin House Heritage Project to a wider collection of buildings, ruins, museums, and historic places.
Architecture · Imaging · Digital Heritage
01Place · Image · RecordA growing digital heritage record
The origin project
Griffin House Heritage Project
The origin project: a collaborative 3D documentation effort published by Hamilton Public Library in 2021. The work later expanded into independent scans of Hamilton-area sites and other architectural and cultural landmarks.
The Griffin House Museum model was produced from photographic capture by Mathew Eng for Hamilton Public Library. The Sketchfab record states that the scan was captured in winter 2021 and was published on June 15, 2021.
Griffin House is an important site in the history of Black settlement in the region. Enerals and Priscilla Griffin escaped enslavement in the United States, settled in Ancaster, and purchased the property in 1834. The Griffin family lived on the 20-hectare (50-acre) site for approximately 150 years, farming and participating in local Black and white communities.
The digital model made the property available for online exploration through an interactive three-dimensional representation. It also provides a concrete starting point for considering how photographic capture can contribute to the documentation and interpretation of historic places.
Historical context
Documenting more than a structure
Griffin House is not simply an architectural subject. Its significance is inseparable from the lives and accomplishments of Enerals and Priscilla Griffin and their family. A digital representation can support access to the place, but it does not replace the historical record, the site itself, or the work of the people who preserve and interpret it.
This project page therefore treats the model as both a digital artifact and a record connected to a particular place, capture process, collaboration, and history. Historical information should be read alongside the original institutional and heritage sources.
Attribution note: The original Sketchfab listing credits the source photography to Mathew Eng and Carson Braun, Hamilton Public Library. This page uses the requested byline “M. Alex Eng” and identifies Mathew Eng and Hamilton Public Library in connection with the original 2021 project. Carson Braun is acknowledged separately under project assistance, not as the photographic author.
The work that followed
From Hamilton outward
After the Griffin House Heritage Project, independent scanning efforts expanded to other City of Hamilton-area sites and then to additional architectural landmarks and cultural institutions. The models below are gathered as a broad record of that work, not as a single institutionally commissioned project.
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03
July 14, 2021
Auchmar Mansion — LQ
A model identified as a low-quality (LQ) version in the original title.
View model ↗04
August 10, 2021
Ontario Science Centre — MQ
An Ontario landmark represented in a model identified as medium quality (MQ).
View model ↗05
August 10, 2021
Japanese Canadian Cultural Centre — MQ
A cultural institution documented in a model identified as medium quality (MQ).
View model ↗06
Date to confirm
Dundurn Castle
A historic Hamilton property included in the wider model collection.
View model ↗07
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May 23, 2022
Battlefield Museum — Hamilton, Ontario
A museum model dated May 23, 2022 in the supplied collection list.
View model ↗The dates and LQ/MQ labels are transcribed from the supplied list. Dates for Dundurn Castle and Century Manor remain unconfirmed. The collection can be expanded as further models and project records are identified.
Documentation approach
From photographs to a navigable model
The work sits at the intersection of technology and imaging: capturing visual information, translating it into a three-dimensional representation, and presenting the result as a useful digital record.
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Capture
Photographic source material records visible surfaces and spatial detail from a real place.
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Reconstruction
Images are processed into a three-dimensional model that can be inspected from different viewpoints.
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Context
Model links, dates, credits, historical sources, and project notes help explain what the digital artifact represents.
This is a high-level description of the documentation workflow, not a claim that every model used identical equipment, settings, or processing steps.
About the author
M. Alex Eng
M. Alex Eng works at the interdisciplinary intersection of technology and imaging, with interests spanning digital capture, three-dimensional reconstruction, technical imaging, and the documentation of buildings and culturally significant places.
This practice brings together the technical side of image acquisition and processing with the interpretive value of visual records. In a heritage context, the goal is not only to create a model, but to document its subject, preserve the provenance of the work, and make the resulting record accessible for exploration and future reference.
The Griffin House Heritage Project is an important point in this trajectory: a collaborative institutional project that connects photographic capture to a publicly accessible 3D model. The wider collection presented here documents the independent work that followed and expanded beyond the original project.
Credits and references
Project record and related work
Griffin House Museum model
Original model published by Hamilton Public Library. The project’s photographic capture is attributed here to Mathew Eng. The original Sketchfab listing identifies a Creative Commons Attribution license; consult the listing for its full terms and current metadata.
Related architectural collection
The Raymond Moriyama Collection is a separate curated presentation of architectural 3D models and related documentation.
This independent project page documents the models and their context; it is not presented as an official Hamilton Public Library or Griffin House Museum website. Historical claims and model metadata should be checked against the relevant source institutions before formal publication.