Delta Bessborough - History

History

After the Canadian Pacific Railway built a railway hotel in Regina in 1926, the Saskatoon business community lobbied Canadian National Railway to build one in Saskatoon. On December 31, 1928 Sir Henry Thorton, President of the Canadian National Railway, announced that they would build a similar hotel in Saskatoon. The hotel was designed by Archibald and Schofield of Montreal, and intentionally designed to resemble a Bavarian castle. In February, 1930, the excavation of the site began utilizing a steam thawer and gasoline excavator. Materials used in construction were of Canadian origin including Tyndall stone from Manitoba, brick from the Claybank Brick Plant in Claybank, Saskatchewan, and tiles from Estevan, Saskatchewan

In exchange for building a "chateau" style hotel with a minimum of 200 rooms, the city exempt the railway from property tax on the hotel for twenty-five years.

On May 30, 1931, Walter Pratt, General Manager of Hotels, Sleeping and Dining Cars of the Canadian National Railway announced that Sir Vere Ponsonby, 9th Earl of Bessborough and 14th Governor General of Canada had given consent for the hotel to be formally named “The Bessborough”. The Earl and Countess visited the hotel under construction in 1932. Construction was completed in 1932 but due to the difficult financial times of the Great Depression, the hotel failed to open until Horace N. Stovin became the first official registered guest on December 10, 1935.

In 1972, Donald, Dick, and Marc Baltzan purchased the Bessborough. Canadian Pacific Hotels purchased Canadian National Hotels in 1982. The Bessborough was placed under CP Hotels' subsidiary Delta Hotels during the 1990s. In 1999, CP Hotels and Delta Hotels were placed under Fairmont Hotels and Resorts. It was acquired by the Legacy Hotels Real Estate Investment Trust in 1998 and in 1999, that a $9,000,000 restoration of the Bessborough Hotel would be completed, returning many of its historical features. The hotel underwent a major renovation in 2003.