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During a 1908 train ride to Winnipeg, the mayor of Port Arthur, John James Carrick, met Sir William Mackenzie, president of the Canadian Northern Railway, and Sir Donald Mann, his chief contractor. They got to playing cards and the topic eventually turned to Port Arthur's need of a grand hotel, and Carrick's idea that the CNoR should be responsible for its creation. Carrick, without any real authority to do so, offered CNoR the site on North Cumberland, between what was then Arthur Street and Van Norman. Sir William Mackenzie showed an interest, it was decided that the hotel would be built for $250,000.
The hotel was built for $850,000 dollars and opened on March 14, 1911; which makes today the eve of this hotel's 99th birthday! (That I am posting this photo today is totally a coincidence.) It was described as "the finest hotel from Toronto to Winnipeg". Every room had running water (cold and hot) and the rate per day was $1.50 (you could get a room with a private bath for an additional fifty cents).
The six storey building was designed by Whitney Warren (one of the architects responsible for the design of the present incarnation of New York's Grand Central Terminal) and C. Tanguay in the Chicago-School architecture style. The two lowest floors are clad in sandstone with thin projecting pilasters, and the upper floors are clad in red brick with a stone stringcourse separating the fifth and sixth storeys. The third to fifth floors feature very little detail aside from plain stone lintels above each window. Its brickwork is more detailed and it is topped in a stone cornice. The base-shaft-capital rule of columns is very often applied to buildings designed following the principles of the Chicago School of Architecture. The building originally had its main entrance on the lake side, with cascading terraces connecting it to the train stations, making it very accessible to those just arriving in the city by boat or train. The building was seamlessly expanded to the south between 1912 and 1914, which accounts for its asymmetrical layout.
The building is on the list of recommendations for heritage status.
During a 1908 train ride to Winnipeg, the mayor of Port Arthur, John James Carrick, met Sir William Mackenzie, president of the Canadian Northern Railway, and Sir Donald Mann, his chief contractor. They got to playing cards and the topic eventually turned to Port Arthur's need of a grand hotel, and Carrick's idea that the CNoR should be responsible for its creation. Carrick, without any real authority to do so, offered CNoR the site on North Cumberland, between what was then Arthur Street and Van Norman. Sir William Mackenzie showed an interest, it was decided that the hotel would be built for $250,000.The hotel was built for $850,000 dollars and opened on March 14, 1911; which makes today the eve of this hotel's 99th birthday! (That I am posting this photo today is totally a coincidence.) It was described as "the finest hotel from Toronto to Winnipeg". Every room had running water (cold and hot) and the rate per day was $1.50 (you could get a room with a private bath for an additional fifty cents).
The six storey building was designed by Whitney Warren (one of the architects responsible for the design of the present incarnation of New York's Grand Central Terminal) and C. Tanguay in the Chicago-School architecture style. The two lowest floors are clad in sandstone with thin projecting pilasters, and the upper floors are clad in red brick with a stone stringcourse separating the fifth and sixth storeys. The third to fifth floors feature very little detail aside from plain stone lintels above each window. Its brickwork is more detailed and it is topped in a stone cornice. The base-shaft-capital rule of columns is very often applied to buildings designed following the principles of the Chicago School of Architecture. The building originally had its main entrance on the lake side, with cascading terraces connecting it to the train stations, making it very accessible to those just arriving in the city by boat or train. The building was seamlessly expanded to the south between 1912 and 1914, which accounts for its asymmetrical layout.
The building is on the list of recommendations for heritage status.