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Canada's great railroad hotels
In the late 1800's and early 1900's a series of great hotels were built across Canada to help settle the vast, empty country, and to use the spectacular scenery to draw tourists to the rail lines.
Starting with the Hotel Vancouver and Banff Springs in 1888 (both built by the Canadian Pacific Railway), and culminating with the Queen Elizabeth hotel in Montreal in 1958 (Canadian national Railway), these hotels are some of the finest, most beautiful buildings anywhere in the world. Most are now owned by Fairmont hotels, some (like the Prince of Wales in Waterton National Park, Alberta) are independant. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada%...railway_hotels here are some pictures of a few of them. The most famous. The Banff Springs Hotel, Banff, Alberta http://luxuryhorizons.files.wordpres..._springs_1.jpg http://luxuryhorizons.files.wordpres..._springs_1.jpg The Empress Hotel. Victoria, British Columbia http://www.jimbrickmancruise.com/por...pressHotel.jpg http://www.jimbrickmancruise.com/por...pressHotel.jpg Chateau Frontenac. Quebec City, Quebec http://ventonlife.files.wordpress.co..._frontenac.jpg http://ventonlife.files.wordpress.co..._frontenac.jpg Royal York Hotel. Toronto, Ontario http://www.daveandcharlotte.com/wp-c...39-56copy1.jpg http://www.daveandcharlotte.com/wp-c...39-56copy1.jpg Chateau Laurier. Ottawa, Ontario http://www.traceyfoster.com/gallery/...au_Laurier.JPG http://www.traceyfoster.com/gallery/...au_Laurier.JPG Prince of Wales hotel. Waterton lakes national Park, Alberta. This Hotel was built by the American, Great northern Railway, not a Canadian railway. http://photos.igougo.com/images/p895...ales_Hotel.jpg http://photos.igougo.com/images/p895...ales_Hotel.jpg The Local example, in my hometown. The Palliser Hotel. Calgary, Alberta. http://images.channels.nl/images/hot...28/1288741.jpg http://images.channels.nl/images/hot...28/1288741.jpg There are more that can be found in the linked Wikipedia article. All images found via google, link to the image is provided below each. Please post any pictures of yours of these great buildings. Cheers. |
Prince of Wales in Waterton is neat. Is that wood frame construction?
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Yikes! I hope it's well stocked with fire extinguishers.
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Delta Bessborough, Saskatoon, was the last grand railway hotel to be built in Canada and was opened in 1935.
http://www.digitalapoptosis.com/arch...nada/Delta.jpg Source http://farm1.static.flickr.com/96/23...5e1f0097f6.jpg Source http://saskatoonlive.com/images/plac...roughfront.jpg Source |
Can't believe Hotel MacDonald was not in your list. :)
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3631/...2098ebe3_o.jpg http://www.flickr.com/photos/funwith...77051/sizes/o/ http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2146/...4799d255_b.jpg http://www.flickr.com/photos/mimirnm...24725/sizes/l/ http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4062/...78d57be3_b.jpg http://www.flickr.com/photos/mschroe...42660/sizes/l/ |
The Hotel Nova Scotian was built at the eastern terminus of the Canada's national railway in Halifax, Nova Scotia. It was built by the Canadian National Railways beginning in 1928 and opened on 23 June 1930. Today it is operated as a Westin.
Hotel Nova Scotian http://museum.gov.ns.ca/imagesns/bin...2-DEV01514.jpg http://museum.gov.ns.ca/imagesns/bin...2-DEV01514.jpg |
It's surprising that the one in Montreal is one of the most modest of the great Canadian railroad hotels. Both the national railways that built these hotels were at that point Montreal based. Montreal was also the largest city in the country back then.
The Banff Springs, Chateau Frontenac, and Royal York stand out above the rest. |
You forgot the Fort Garry (1913) in Winnipeg.
BTW, if you're ever visiting Ottawa, note the way locals refer to the Chateau Laurier as the "Shadow" :yuck: |
I hope someone adds one of the Hotel Fort Garry in Winnipeg. It is quite different but very nice.
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For its external look, the reason why it may appears less chateau than the other (well not at all...) is because it has been built in 1958. But the interior is beautiful and very chic. It is right next to the CN headquarters and gare centrale. There is also the hotel-gare viger which has been built in 1898 by CP and designed by Bruce price, the same architect of the chateau Frontenac. A beautiful Grand hotel waiting for a new vocation. So Montreal has two, Queen Elisabeth built by CN and Hotel-gare viger build by CP. |
In this case, modest was not referring to how many rooms it had.
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I agree that the exterior look of the Queen Elisabeth is modest in comparison with most of the other Grand hotel. What do you want, it the 50s...
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Halifax has a second one, though it's not as impressive. The Lord Nelson Hotel was built by the Dominion Atlantic Railway (DAR) (article @ wikipedia).
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3170/...ff6a21cfd7.jpg http://www.flickr.com/photos/tomflem...54457/sizes/m/ http://farm1.static.flickr.com/198/5...09b047d720.jpg (source) |
I didn't post all the hotels because I was at work on hold and didn't have time. I was going to post the MacDonald in Edmonton and the Chateau Lake Louise, but I already posted 3 Alberta ones and didn't want anyone getting pissy. lol
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It's almost too bad all these hotels are basically the same style, makes the Palliser in Calgary a little more unique with it's Edwardian / Chicago styling.
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One day I'll do a trip staying at every one of the damn things. That's correct, one day.
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These are wonderful buildings. I've had the pleasure of staying at:
Chateau Frontenac Queen Elizabeth (and also, the CP hotel in Montreal, Chateau Champlain) The Royal York The Chateau Laurier Hotel Vancouver Chateau Montebello Jasper Park Lodge Chateau Whistler |
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