Castles of the North: Canada's Grand Hotels

Janet Arnett is the former campus manager of adult education at Ontario’s Georgian College. She is the author of Antiques and Collectibles: Starting Small, The Grange at Knock, and 673 Ways to Save Money.

The Lord Nelson, Chateau Frontenac, Banff Springs, The Royal York,
Empress, Jasper Park, the Royal Muskoka ... 48 grand hotels from
Canada’s past are featured in this substantial album. The grand hotel
era in Canada lived from approximately 1890 to 1960. Today, many of the
buildings have been destroyed, some have been converted to other uses,
and a few are experiencing a renaissance.

More than 400 black-and-white photos and a detailed text reveal the
magic and mystique of an era when famous folk toured by private rail
coach, while the rest of us turned to the local grand hotel for an
annual gala or as the perfect setting in which to treat mother to a
proper English tea. The armies of staff, the whims of wealthy guests,
and the code of perfect service are the stuff of legends, detailed
beautifully with examples of the sublime and the hilarious. There was
only one standard: to exceed expectations. In architecture, size, range
of services, decor, opulence, and luxury, the grand hotels were without
equal. Castles of the North creates this atmosphere for the reader
through specifics: the number of guest rooms, the number of meals
served, the variety of services available on site, the silverware count.

The hotels profiled span Canada from British Columbia to Newfoundland
and include resort as well as urban hotels. For each there is an
accounting of the construction, architecture, and dramatic events such
as fires, as well as mentions of celebrity guests and special features
or services such as therapeutic baths, an observation tower, an indoor
golf course, a casino, a radio broadcasting studio, and roof gardens.
The hotels thrived on providing whatever a discriminating clientele
might desire.

The book pulls wide open a door to a facet of Canadian social history
not previously displayed with such scope and appreciation.