History
The Royal York is the third hotel to occupy the site. In 1843, the Ontario Terrace opened at this site and was renamed Sword's Hotel in 1853. The hotel was renamed again in 1860 as Revere House and finally as the Queen's Hotel in 1862. Prior to its demolition in 1927, the Queen's Hotel had been one of Toronto's most prestigious hotels. It was billed as "One of the largest and most comfortable hotels in the Dominion of Canada". It was owned by McGaw and Winnett. McGaw and Winnett were the hoteliers of Upper Canada at the turn of the 20th century also owning the Queens Royal Hotel in Niagara on the Lake and were managing partners in the Tecumseh House in London, Ontario. Henry Winnett acquired Thomas McGaw's interest in the hotels after his death in 1901. Henry Winnett died in 1925. His estate eventually sold the Queens Hotel to the Canadian Pacific Railway, then under Sir Edward Beatty, who demolished the Queen's Hotel and built the Royal York. Both Thomas McGaw and Henry Winnett are buried at Mt. Pleasant Cemetery with several members of their families.
The Royal York was a state-of-the-art hotel upon completion in 1929, with ten elevators, a radio in each of its 1,048 rooms, and a private shower or bath in each room. Other features included a large Concert Hall fitted with an impressive Casavant Frères pipe organ. With five manuals and 107 stops, it was the largest pipe organ in Canada. The telephone switchboard was 66 feet long and required 35 operators. The hotel was enlarged in 1956-57 with the addition of the east wing to a total of 1,600 rooms and was the largest hotel in the Commonwealth for many years. From 1988 until 1993, the Royal York Hotel underwent a $100 million restoration.
The hotel has been the residence of choice for Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the Canadian Royal Family when in Toronto. The Queen usually has an entire floor reserved for her and her party, occupying the Royal Suite herself.
After Canadian Pacific Hotels acquired Fairmont Hotels and Resorts and chose to use the Fairmont name on all its hotels, there was a public outcry when it was announced that the chain planned to take down the historic “Royal York” sign and replace it with a new “Fairmont” sign. As a result of the protest, a new sign with both names “Fairmont Royal York” was erected.
One of the hotel's more famous features was the Imperial Room, a nightclub that attracted major-name talent from the 1940s to the 1990s. Management closed the Imperial Room during the major renovation in the 1990s, and it has been refurbished to become a large ballroom and meeting hall.
The PATH underground walkway system connects the hotel to the Royal Bank Plaza and Union Station.
Read more about this topic: Fairmont Royal York
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