It was an old Victorian building that looked dated compared to all the new buildings of the early 20th century. Also, the hotel trade had moved away from Portage Avenue. So the owner demolished it around the end of the First World War and built a smaller building (which had a fire soon after it was built, I believe, leading to a quick refurbishment in the very plain style we see today). The second building was not intended to be a hotel at all but after about a decade it became one under the same name as the previous hotel.
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