History
Prior to the construction of the Hotel Macdonald, the site was home to a squatters' camp. The squatters often lived in tents or in small caves dug into the side of the river valley wall where they still remain to this very day. Many of the squatters were Ukrainian-speaking immigrants from the Austro-Hungarian province of Galicia. The locals nicknamed the site the "Galician Hotel".
The Hotel Macdonald was designed by Ross and Macdonald, the same architectural firm that designed many of Canada's landmark hotels. The hotel was designed in the Château-style that characterized Canada's large railway hotels, and was completed on July 5, 1915. It is named after Canada's first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald. Standing high on the bank overlooking the largest urban parkway in North America, the North Saskatchewan River Valley, the Hotel Macdonald has a garden in the rear of the building.
This seven-storey Grand Trunk Pacific hotel was built in a distinctive Chateau Style adapted from 16th century French castles. The building is laced with Indiana limestone and roofed with copper. It was built and furnished at a cost of about $2,250,000 (over $44 million today).
Along with the Palliser Hotel in Calgary, it was one of the first two establishments to be re-issued with a liquor licence by the Alberta Liquor Control Board when Alberta abolished Prohibition in 1924.
A 300-bedroom, 16-storey addition (now demolished) was built in a modern style in 1953 to keep up with the rising demand for hotel accommodation in the city. Together the hotel and the addition were dubbed "The Mac and the box it came in."
The hotel fell into disrepair and was closed in 1983, and there was talk of demolition. The City of Edmonton designated the building as a Municipal Heritage Resource, with five areas included in the designation: the building exterior, the Confederation Lounge, the Lobby, the Wedgwood Room, and the Empire Ballroom. Canadian Pacific Hotels bought the hotel in 1988, and restored the hotel to its original grandeur in 1991 (at a cost of $28m). Several suites were added: Charles Melville Hays Suite, Deluxe Turret Room, Lois Hole Suite, King George VI Suite, Sir Winston Churchill Suite, Edward Prince of Wales Suite, the Aberhart, Manning, and Lougheed suites, and the Queen Elizabeth II Suite (also known as the Royal Suite) which was 2,400 square feet (220 m2), over two floors, with two bedrooms and a dining room for eight. With the addition of the 18 suites, the hotel now has 199 rooms.
In 1999, CP Hotels purchased Fairmont Hotels, and now operate the hotel (and all other hotels) under the Fairmont banner.
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—Henry Ford (1863–1947)
“The custard is setting; meanwhile
I not only have my own history to worry about
But am forced to fret over insufficient details related to large
Unfinished concepts that can never bring themselves to the point
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“All objects, all phases of culture are alive. They have voices. They speak of their history and interrelatedness. And they are all talking at once!”
—Camille Paglia (b. 1947)