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Untitled

[edit]

So is it 19 floors (infobox) or 28 floors (main article)? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 38.99.141.190 (talk) 20:46, 22 October 2009 (UTC)[reply]

@Sladen: (beginning with the History Section)

History

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The former Queen's Hotel, demolished to make way for the Royal York.
Royal York circa 1930
Royal York exterior

The Royal York is the third hotel and one of several establishments to occupy the site.

In 1843, respected lake-boat[clarification needed] captain Thomas Dick built the Ontario Terrace at this site. It consisted of four brick houses, and was later occupied by Knox College, a theological school.[1]

AfterFollowing refurbishment in 1853, the building[clarification needed] was renamed the Sword's Hotel, and then the Revere Hotel after a change in ownership in 1860. CaptainThomas Dick bought the hotel back in 1862, renovated it again, and named it the Queen's Hotel.[2]

Sometime lLater, the Queen's Hotel was purchased by Thomas McGaw and Henry Winnett, hoteliers of Upper Canada, who also owned the Queen's Royal Hotel in Niagara on the Lake[clarification needed].[3] Upon McGaw's death in 1901, Winnett acquired McGaw's interests in their hotels. After Winnett died in 1925, his estate eventually sold the Queen's Hotel to the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR),[year needed] run by then-president Sir Edward Wentworth Beatty.

Soon afterward,Later CPR Canadian Pacific announced it would its intention to demolish the Queen's Hotel to build the largest hotel in the British Commonwealth on its site. Prior to its demolition, the Queen's Hotel had been one of Toronto's most prestigious hotels.[vague][citation needed] It was billed as "One of the largest and most comfortable hotels in the Dominion of Canada."[4][1]

Construction on the new hotel began in 1927. The building was completed in 1929, and named Tthe Royal York. It was a state-of-the-art hotel for its time, with ten elevators to reach all 28twenty-eight floors;, and with radios, and private showers and bathtubs in each of its 1,048 rooms. The telephone switchboard was 20 metres (66 ft) long, and required 35 operators. Other features facilities included a bank, golf course, and a large Concert Hall outfitted with an impressive Casavant Frères pipe organ.[1][5] With five manuals and 107 one-hundred-and-seven stops, it was the largest pipe organ in Canada.[citation needed]

The hotel was enlarged during 1956-57, with the addition of the east wing.[6] This brought increased the total rooms to 1,600, and made Royal York the largest hotel in the Commonwealth of Nations for many years.[citation needed]

From 1988 until 1993, the Royal York underwent a $100-million restoration that brought back restored the hotel's original elegance. Guest rooms and public spaces were refurbished, while new amenities were added, including: a health club, a skylit lap pool,[clarification needed] and the first-ever American Express Travel Service Centre.[1] As of 2015 tThe hotel now also boasts has six restaurants and [quantify] bars.[7]

One of the hotel's more famous larger features was the Imperial Room, a nightclub that attracted big-name talent from musicians between the 1940s to the 1990s, including Marlene Dietrich, Tony Bennett, Ray Charles, Liberace, and Tina Turner, among others.[8] Management closed tThe Imperial Room closed during the major renovation in of the 1990s, and when it has been was refurbished to become a large ballroom and meeting hall.[9]

In [year needed] After Canadian Pacific Hotels acquired Fairmont Hotels and Resorts and chose started to use the Fairmont name on all of its hotels., tThere was a public outcry when the chain announced plans to take down the historic Royal York sign and replace it with a new Fairmont sign were announced. As a result of the protest, a new sign with the name Fairmont Royal York was erected instead.

The hotel has been the residence of choice for Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the Canadian Royal Family when in Toronto.[citation needed] The Queen usually has an entire floor reserved for her and her party entourage, occupying the Royal Suite herself.[citation needed]

The Toronto's PATH underground walkway system connects the hotel to the Royal Bank Plaza and Toronto's Union Station.

  1. ^ a b c d Cite error: The named reference Hotel History was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  2. ^ Filey, Mike (2001). A Toronto Album: Glimpses of the City that Was (2nd ed.). Dundurn Press. p. 17. ISBN 0-88882-242-1. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  3. ^ Appleton, D. (1898). Appleton's General Guide to the United States and Canada. D. Appleton and Company. p. 28. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  4. ^ "The Queen's Hotel". The Independent. 6 July 1914. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  5. ^ Marks, Christopher. "Royal York Hotel Concert Hall". Pipe Organ Database. Organ Historical Society. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Emporis was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ "Fairmont Royal York Dining". Fairmont Royal York. Fairmont Hotels. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  8. ^ Teotonio, Isabel (31 July 2013). "Louis Jannetta was Toronto's maitre d' to the stars". Toronto Star. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  9. ^ "Fairmont Royal York Function Rooms". Fairmont Royal York. Fairmont Hotels. Retrieved 11 September 2015.

Honey Bees

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In June 2008, the Royal York installed three beehives on its 14thfourteenth-floor rooftop terrace to serve its in-house garden, which already provides its restaurants with fresh herbs, vegetables, and flowers.[b 1] Approximately 350,000 honey bees provide several hundred pounds of honey each year, including a record-breaking 800 pounds800 pounds (360 kg) in 2011.[b 2] Blueberry Hill (talk) 22:17, 27 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Blueberry Hill, regarding [1], with the changes I've suggested, I think the above is fine. Thank you for taking the time to do this! If there are no other comments over the weekend, we can add this. —Sladen (talk) 07:59, 29 October 2015 (UTC)[reply]
  1. ^ Sibonney, Claire (8 July 2008). "Toronto hotel boasts own honey from rooftop hives". Reuters. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
  2. ^ "Fairmont's Bee Sustainable Program". Fairmont Hotels. Fairmont Hotels. Retrieved 11 September 2015.
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