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Casa Loma
Casa Loma means hill house in
Spanish, and now is a museum and landmark in Toronto, Ontario,
Canada, constructed in the gothic revival style of architecture. It
was built for financier Sir Henry Mill Pellatt, taking three years
to finish, from 1911 to 1914, and designed by E. J. Lennox, who also
designed many other city landmarks. During 1903, Henry bought 25
lots in Toronto, from developers Rolf and Kertland, then he
commissioned Lennox to design the house, starting with the huge
stables, potting shed and the hunting lodge, which would be located
a few hundred feet from the main house. The hunting lodge itself was
a 4,380 square foot house with servants quarters, and as soon as the
stables complex were done, Henry sold his summer home in Scarborough
to his son and moved into the hunting lodge. The main house cost
around $3.5 million to build and used 300 workers to build the house
in three years. It was most unfortunate that World War I started,
because it stopped the construction work, which at 98 rooms, was the
biggest private residence in the nation. Some of the important
amenities inside included; three bowling alleys that were never
finished, two secret passages in his ground floor office, an
elevator, an oven big enough to cook an ox, central vacuum and two
vertical passages for pipe organs. The majority of the third floor
was unfinished and today is used for the Regimental Museum for the
Queen's Own Rifles of Canada; which Pellatt had joined as a rifleman
and rising up through the ranks, became a commanding officer. He was
knighted for his devotion to the regiment and later served as an
honorary Colonel and then when he retired was promoted to
Major-General. After the war, the depression hit and the city
increased the property's taxes from $600 a year to $1000 a month and
Henry, who was going through the times himself had to auction of his
$1.5 million in art and furnishings for just $250,000. He would only
be able to live in the house for less than ten years, leaving in
1923. Later it became a luxury hotel and in the 1920s was a very
popular nightclub. The Orange Blossoms, which later became Glenn
Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra played at the club for 8 months in
1927 and 1928, then a short while afterwards went on tour in the
continent, becoming a big swing era dance band. In 1933, the estate
was seized for $27,303 in back taxes. It soon fell into disrepair
and terribly run down, with the city calling for its demolishment,
but then in 1937, the Kiwanis Club of Toronto leased it. Today it is
called the Kiwanis Club of Casa Loma and the mansion is undergoing a
magnificent 15 year renovation project. It has never been an
official residence of the city or province and opened in 1937 to the
public as a tourist attraction by the Kiwanis Club. In WWII it was
used to conceal research on sonar and also to construct sonar
devices, called ASDIC, for U-boat detection. Presently it is one of
the city's most popular attractions, and is still managed by the
Kiwanis Club of Toronto. On the main floor of the mansion are
the great hall, oak room, library, billiards room, dining room,
smoking room, the conservatory, Sir Henry's study, the serving room
and Peacock Alley; on the second floor is the round room, Sir
Henry's suite and bathroom, the spectacular oak panels in Henry's
drawing room took artisans three years to carve!, the Windsor room,
Lady Pellatt's suite and bathroom, the guest suite, and the girl
guides exhibit. The third floor held the regimental museum, the
Austin room, the Kiwanis room, servant's room, and garden room. In
the basement the gift shop sits, which has the bowling alleys and
shooting range, that were not finished, the gymnasium that was also
not finished, as well as the pool which wasn't finished either, the
wine cellar and the tunnel leading to the hunting lodge and stables.
It is a beautiful home to say the least, and a monument to Sir
Henry.
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