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Canada's Grand Railway Hotels
During the golden age of Canadian rail travel, the country's premier railway operators built some of the world's grandest hotels. Most could be found in our big cities, complimenting the nearby grand railroad stations, with a few built to display Canada's natural beauty. As rail travel lost favour through the mid to late 20th century, a few others were built in much more modern, utilitarian style.
As time went on, some were demolished, some were lost to fire, a few re-purposed, but many of them still stand today as an integral part of our towns, cities and National Parks. This thread is dedicated to these grand hotels that hold a place of honour on the Canadian landscape, along with the few that were lost in history. To get us started, here's a (likely incomplete) list of those hotels. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Canadian_railway_hotels |
The Delta Beausejour(SP?) in Moncton was originally a CN hotel.
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We no longer have a railway or a grand railway hotel, but we did for a while.
http://i63.tinypic.com/2076hl4.jpg Quote:
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https://media.expedia.com/hotels/1000000/10000/3100/3045/3045_60_z.jpg The prestige restaurant at the Beausejour (The Windjammer) still uses CNR silverware. :) |
The Westin in Halifax was the CN Nova Scotian Hotel and is still connected to the VIA Rail Station
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I must say that the CN hotels for the most part are pretty boring.
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http://www.lordnelsonhotel.com/slideshow/img/gallery/2-Aerial-View.jpg Source Nova Scotian Hotel http://www.hotel-r.net/im/hotel/ca/westin-nova-scotian-4.jpg Source They are both nice but modest. The railway hotels were a bigger deal in the west, just like the major department stores. Halifax had another group of hotels built in the steamship era starting around 1830. |
The (Third) Hotel Vancouver:
https://t-ec.bstatic.com/images/hotel/max1280x900/305/30575390.jpg From: https://www.booking.com/hotel/ca/fairmont-vancouver.en-gb.html |
I prefer the second one:
https://searcharchives.vancouver.ca/uplo...3c-4963-8021-d20e42ffe3c4-A24811_141.jpg |
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I have no idea. The old advertisements for the hotel only described the two options positively; they promoted it as comfort and familiarity versus spacious and modern - but the newspaper articles I've read seem to suggest the showers and toilets and things were shared in the Euro parts.
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Back in the day, I suspect that "European-style suites" referred to rooms without private bathrooms.
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Here's the Fort Garry, Winnipeg's classic old CNR hotel which has been independently owned since 1979.
https://static.thousandwonders.net/Fort.Garry.Hotel.original.25795.jpg thousandwonders.net Winnipeg had a couple of other notable railway hotels, including the longstanding Royal Alexandra Hotel next to the CPR station. The Royal Alex had the misfortune of being located a down at the heels area a bit far from Portage and Main, in what would eventually become Winnipeg's skid row. Once the bottom fell out of intercity railway traffic, its fate was sealed and the Royal Alex was demolished in 1971. https://media.winnipegfreepress.com/images/CB2-Demolished_Alex.jpg winnipegfreepress.com There was also the Northern Pacific's short-lived Manitoba Hotel near Portage and Main which burned down in 1899, only nine years after it was built. http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/sites/images/norwester4.jpg mhs.mb.ca Likely the best-known railway hotel in the province outside of Winnipeg was Brandon's Prince Edward Hotel. It was a CN hotel and there was a small railway station attached to it for local trains. It was demolished back in 1980. http://ebrandon.ca/photos/regular/G4Z0G86YRSX80RY6.jpg ebrandon.ca |
Since it won't take long to cover the major well known railway hotels I thought we could also ad some of the smaller less known or forgotten ones.
The Highland Inn, Cache Lake, Algonquin Provincial (Ontario) Park, Owned and opperated by the Grand Trunk Railway System. The Highland Inn was purchased from Ruth Paget by the Ontario Government in 1956. In the following year, it was dismantled and burned. 1908 - 1954 https://static.torontopubliclibrary.ca/da/images/LC/pcr-9.jpg source: https://static.torontopubliclibrary.ca https://static.torontopubliclibrary.ca/da/images/LC/pcr-8.jpg source: https://static.torontopubliclibrary.ca https://static.torontopubliclibrary.ca/da/images/LC/pcr-10.jpg source: https://static.torontopubliclibrary.ca https://www.ontarioparks.com/images/op125/thenandnow/algonquin-1913.jpg source: https://www.ontarioparks.com |
I grew up in a railway family in Moncton in the 70's. I believe my dad or grandfather told me that the Algonquin in St Andrews By The Sea NB was a CP hotel at one time.
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In 1903, the Canadian Pacific Railway Company purchased The Algonquin :cheers: |
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