Fairmont Royal York

The Fairmont Royal York Hotel is located in downtown Toronto.  The original site of the hotel consisted of four brick houses built by Captain Thomas Dick.  Born in Scotland, Thomas Dick went to sea at the age of fourteen and by the age of twenty three he was first mate and had travelled the world.  After getting married, he and his wife Christiana Bell, traveled to New York and on to the new city of Toronto. For a few year Thomas Dick worked in Niagara on the Lake with fellow Scots who pretty much controlled the ship building industry in the area.  Within five years he was part owner of a wooden paddle ship called the City of Toronto.  The ship primarily transported passengers between Kingston and Ontario.  Thomas Dick commissioned architect John Howard, Canada's official surveyor and civil engineer, to design and build a humble row of Georgian style houses. The four houses were built in 1838.

The row project was first occupied by Knox Theological College. The group arrived in Toronto from Kingston where after a Theological disagreement they had separated from Queen's College. The College remained until 1856 when refurbishments were made and the row were converted into Sword's Hotel.   Named after the hotel owner, Patrick Sword, the hotel was intended to cater for the surrounding parliament buildings.  When Sword moved to Quebec in 1859 he sold the hotel to B.J.B Riley who renamed the property Revere House.

In 1862 Captain Dick bought the property back and after some refurbishment opened the Queen's Hotel. With 210 rooms, a restaurant, a private garden and 17 private parlours, the Queen's Hotel offered a new level of luxury in the quickly growing city of Toronto. Growing in popularity the hotel was even said to be the site of Sir John A MacDonald's meeting with American Civil War sympathisers who were plotting retaliation.

Following the death of Captain Dick at the Queen's Hotel in November 1874 the hotel was sold to Thomas McGaw and Henry Winnett, hoteliers from Upper Canada who already owned Queen's Royal Hotel in Niagara on the Lake. Following McGaw's death, Winnett took over the hotel and after his death the hotel was sold to the Canadian Pacific Railway.

After purchasing the Queen's Hotel in 1927 The Canadian Pacific Railway announced they intended to demolition the beloved Toronto Hotel and build the biggest hotel in the British Commonwealth. The last guest to check out of the Queen's Hotel was long term guest Charles Bland.  The closing of the hotel was marked by an extravagant dinner with an orchestra playing Auld Lang Syne as the hotel doors closed for the last time.

Despite the shocked response of Toronto residents to the plans for the Queen's Hotel, the hotel was demolished and the Canadian Pacific Railway began construction on a new hotel situated conveniently across from Union Station.  On June 11th 1929 the hotel was officially opened as The Royal York. It was the tallest building in the British Commonwealth and set a new standard in luxurious hospitality.

There were 28 floors in the new Royal York, each beautifully designed and decorated in opulence.  The 1048 rooms each had a private shower, bath tub and a radio.  The hotel boasted a 12000 book library, a 12 bed hospital, and ten ornate passenger elavators.  Also spanning across the 1.5 acres of public rooms was a concert hall with a stage and elaborate pipe organ, a glass enclosed roof garden and a bakery that was able to bake 15000 French rolls a day.  For the further convenience of guests the hotel had its own band and a 66 ft long manned switchboard with 35 telephone operators.

It was decided that the hotel would also provide a golf course for guests that wanted to play some relaxing golf.  The golf club was established by Robert Home Smith, a friend of Edward Wentworth Beatty, the man leading the construction of the hotel.  Famed golf course designer, Stanley Thompson was asked to design the course.  The course opened in 1929 and under the name the Royal York hosted the Canadian Open in 1933. In 1946 the name of the course changed from The Royal York Golf Club to St George and Country Club.  It remains one of the most exclusive golf clubs in the world.

In 1956/57 the addition of rooms bought the hotels room count to 1600. From 1988 to 1993 a 100 million dollar renovation of the hotel took place. The rooms were refurbished, a skylit pool was added as well as a health club. The hotel created the first ever American Express Travel Service Centre. Three bee hives, with 350000 bees, were installed on the fourteenth floor roof in 2008. A rooftop garden provides the hotel with fresh vegetables, herbs and flowers.

The hotel is opulent and luxurious, with elevator 9 still carrying illustrious guests such as the Queen to their beautiful rooms.

The Fairmont Royal York has had many reports of paranormal activity. Children are heard running the hallways when there is no one visible while the noises from an unending ball, including music and laughter, can be heard coming from the empty ballroom. Cold spots and flickering lights are often reported. Guests and staff have heard screaming and loud footsteps in empty parts of the hotel. A full bodied apparition of a man has been seen on the eighth floor. He is said to be wearing a maroon jacket and slacks. He seems to float along the hallway. A former porter reportedly hung himself from a stairwell railing on the nineteenth floor. His ghost is said to make loud banging noises and is associated with equipment being used in the hotel failing.

I personally spoke to a porter at the hotel on my last visit who said that he had worked at the hotel since he was seventeen and he had personally experienced many unexplainable occurrences. One that he mentioned that baffled and frightened him happened in the basement and involved a large trolley, heavenly laden with laundry, moving inexplicably on its own.

The Fairmont Royal York Hotel is a beautiful place to stay. It's not hard to imagine that a ball goes on continuously in the opulent ballroom or that a ghost may wander along the beautiful hallways. Several times in the lift I personally heard a loud unexplainable knocking. It's a quirky, gorgeous place that is populated by an interesting and attentive staff, where you literally feel as though you have gone back in time.