Royal York Hotel, c. 1920
TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA
In 1903, financier Henry Pellatt purchased 25 lots from developers Kertland and Rolf. Pellatt commissioned architect E. J. Lennox to design Casa Loma with construction beginning in 1911, starting with the massive stables, potting shed and Hunting Lodge, a.k.a. coach-house, a few hundred feet north of the main building. The Hunting Lodge is a two-story 4,380-square-foot house with servants' quarters. As soon as the stable complex was completed, Sir Henry sold his summer house in Scarborough to his son and moved to the Hunting Lodge. The stables were used as a construction site for the castle and also served as the quarters for the male servants, with some of the machinery still remaining in the rooms under the stables.
The house cost about $3.5 million and took 300 workers three years to build. Due to the start of World War I, construction was halted. At 98 rooms covering 64,700 square feet, it was the largest private residence in Canada. Notable amenities included an elevator, an oven large enough to cook an ox, two vertical passages for pipe organs, a central vacuum, two secret passages in Pellatt's ground-floor office, a pool, and three bowling alleys in the basement, the last two were never completed.
Most of the third floor was left unfinished, and today serves as the Regimental Museum for The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada.
During the depression that followed the war, the City of Toronto increased Casa Loma's property taxes from $600 per year to $1,000 a month, and Pellatt, already experiencing financial difficulties, auctioned off $1.5 million in art and $250,000 in furnishings. Pellatt was able to enjoy life in the castle for less than ten years, leaving in 1923.
The house cost about $3.5 million and took 300 workers three years to build. Due to the start of World War I, construction was halted. At 98 rooms covering 64,700 square feet, it was the largest private residence in Canada. Notable amenities included an elevator, an oven large enough to cook an ox, two vertical passages for pipe organs, a central vacuum, two secret passages in Pellatt's ground-floor office, a pool, and three bowling alleys in the basement, the last two were never completed.
Most of the third floor was left unfinished, and today serves as the Regimental Museum for The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada.
During the depression that followed the war, the City of Toronto increased Casa Loma's property taxes from $600 per year to $1,000 a month, and Pellatt, already experiencing financial difficulties, auctioned off $1.5 million in art and $250,000 in furnishings. Pellatt was able to enjoy life in the castle for less than ten years, leaving in 1923.
Harold Franklin LeRoy's construction company laid the floors in Casa Loma. As told by the Casa Loma guide, Sir Henry Pellatt's financial difficulties left him in the position of not being able to pay his tradespeople.
LeRoy could have had a breakdown, leaving his wife and children to return to his parents as he in turn would not have been able to pay his employees. His family would have had to leave the Roseboro house as well.
LeRoy could have had a breakdown, leaving his wife and children to return to his parents as he in turn would not have been able to pay his employees. His family would have had to leave the Roseboro house as well.