Toronto's historical treasure: the Fairmont Royal York Hotel

Capt Dick later bought back the hotel, giv­ing it a new ren­ovation and name, Queen’s Hotel on Front St. The prestigious Queen’s Hotel be­c­ame an iconic part of the city, hosting prom­in­ent guests like the Prince of Wales. But when the Canadian Pacific Railway bought the Queen’s Hotel in 1925, its presid­ent demolished it to const­ruct the largest, most grandiose hotel in the British Empire. Thus the new hot­el with its 28 floors of towering arch­it­ecture was built. It took 2 years to com­plete, opening as the Royal York Hotel in June 1929, just before the Depression.

Located in Toronto’s Financial Dist­rict, the hotel quickly set the hospitality standard of the day, each of the 1,048 guest rooms having its own bath. The 1.5 acres of public rooms included a 12-bed hospital, 12,000-book library and ornate passenger elevators. The Concert Hall featured a full stage and mammoth pipe organ. There was a glass-enclosed roof garden, the largest hotel kitchen in Can­ada with a huge bakery, a 66’ long switchboard and 35 teleph­one oper­at­ors, its own bank and St George Golf Course.

On opening night, the Royal York hosted four grand balls where guests dined and danced all night. The Imperial Room was the city’s newest and most elegant din­ing and dancing establishment. It defined the Tor­onto social scene as the site for high society funct­ions and big band shows. Canadian Pacific Royal York Radio Station began to broadcast in 1930, live from the Imperial Room for several years.

Through a history of 90 years, the Toronto hotel has played host to royal guests, heads of state and celebrities. King George VI and Queen (Mother) Elizabeth arrived at the Royal York Hotel on their royal tour of Canada in 1939, to bolster the UK and Canada’s cultural ties. Whenever Queen Elizabeth II visits Toronto, an entire floor of the hotel is reserved for her and her staff.

The hotel has also served foreign dignitaries, diplomats and heads of state, including the Presidents of U.S and France. And dig­nitaries like the 14th Dalai Lama. 11 heads of state stayed at the hotel during the 2010 G20 Toronto summit.

Its use for musical purposes signalled its future as one of the most prestigious nightclubs in Canada. This was not unusual - the larg­est hotels in Canada had series of orchestras which, by the 1950s, were used as show bands to accompany individual perform­ers.

As soon as WW2 ended, Moxie Whitley and his house orchestra began playing inside the Imperial Room. Whitley also booked many of the famous acts that premiered at the Imperial Room like Duke Ellington and Count Basie. Its headlining acts then included stars like Peggy Lee, Ella Fitzgerald and Bob Hope. Actress Ginger Rog­ers performed a solo show at the Imp­erial Room after she broke up with her partner, Fred Astaire. Others included Eartha Kitt, Louis Armstrong and Tina Turner.

Imperial Room was a major events venue with a 500-seat cap­ac­ity, wrap-around floor-to-ceiling windows and permanent stage, Toronto’s nightclub/supper club hotspot. From the 1950s-80s, the Imperial Room nightly shows continued while dinner was served on silver platters. It was a decadent and glitzy.

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The Fairmont Royal York served as a host hotel for the Toronto Inter­national Film Festival, making it a popular to stay for residence for those working in the film indus­try on near­by film and tv sets. Hollywood filmed scenes at a different loc­ation from where the story actually took place. Toronto became a Holly­wood hot­spot for film and tv productions. And the Fair­mont Royal York Hotel was the most filmed location in the city: c20 film proj­ects were shot there every year. The hotel stood in for an American Hotel in 2001’s Serendipity starring Kate Beck­insale and John Cusack. And The Kennedys (2011).

Conclusion