Charles Rudolph Hosmer | |
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| Born | 12 November 1851 |
| Died | 14 November 1927 (aged 76) |
| Nationality | Canadian |
| Occupation(s) | financier and capitalist. |
| Known for | The creation of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Montreal. |
Charles Rudolph Hosmer (November 12, 1851 - November 14, 1927), was a Montreal businessman and the man whose idea it was to create the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Montreal. Since 1900, he was considered the most important figure in Telegraphy in Canada.
In 1851, Hosmer was born at Coteau-Landing, Canada East. He began work as a Telegraphist with the Grand Trunk Railway Telegraph Company, later joining the Dominion Telegraph Company of which he became superintendent and then president. In 1880, he was appointed General Manager of the Canadian Pacific Railway Telegraph Service, retiring to turn his attentions to various other business opportunities. By the end of his life, Hosmer had numerous business affiliations, being a director of twenty six companies including the Bank of Montreal, the Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada, the Canadian Pacific Railway, the Halifax and Bermudas Cable Company, and the West Indies Cable Company. [1] He was President of Canadian Cottons Ltd. and the Ogilvie Flour Mills Company. He died at Montreal, leaving $20 million to his two children.
Hosmer was known for his liveliness and wit, becoming a close friend of both Edward VII and César Ritz. His home on Upper Drummond Street in Montreal's Golden Square Mile was to some a suitable showcase of his wealth, while to others it was viewed as pretentious. He collected a magnificent art collection which included four Canalettos. His son, Elwood Bigelow Hosmer (1879-1947) made an attempt to fly across the Atlantic Ocean in 1927, surviving after coming down near the Azores. [2]
In 1909, having seen the success of the Hôtel Ritz Paris started by his friend César Ritz, Hosmer set into motion the creation of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, Montreal. Gaining the support of Sir Herbert Holt, Sir Montagu Allan, Sir Charles Gordon and Charles Meredith, he formed the nucleus of the Carlton Hotel Company of Montreal.
Sir Sandford Fleming was a Scottish Canadian engineer and inventor. Born and raised in Scotland, he immigrated to colonial Canada at the age of 18. He promoted worldwide standard time zones, a prime meridian, and use of the 24-hour clock as key elements to communicating the accurate time, all of which influenced the creation of Coordinated Universal Time. He designed Canada's first postage stamp, produced a great deal of work in the fields of land surveying and map making, engineered much of the Intercolonial Railway and the first several hundred kilometers of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and was a founding member of the Royal Society of Canada and founder of the Canadian Institute.
Georges Auguste Escoffier was a French chef, restaurateur, and culinary writer who popularised and updated traditional French cooking methods. Much of Escoffier's technique was based on that of Marie-Antoine Carême, one of the codifiers of French haute cuisine; Escoffier's achievement was to simplify and modernise Carême's elaborate and ornate style. In particular, he codified the recipes for the five mother sauces. Referred to by the French press as roi des cuisiniers et cuisinier des rois, Escoffier was a preeminent figure in London and Paris during the 1890s and the early part of the 20th century.
Sir Hugh Allan was a Scottish-Canadian shipping magnate, financier and capitalist. By the time of his death, the Allan Shipping Line had become the largest privately owned shipping empire in the world. He was responsible for transporting millions of British immigrants to Canada, and the businesses that he established from Montreal filtered across every sphere of Canadian life, cementing his reputation as an empire builder. His home, Ravenscrag, was the principal residence of the Golden Square Mile in Montreal.
Sir William Cornelius Van Horne, was an American businessman, industrialist and railroad magnate who spent most of his career in Canada. He is famous for overseeing the construction of the first Canadian transcontinental railway, a project that was completed in 1885, in under half the projected time. He succeeded Lord Mount Stephen as president of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) in 1888. Van Horne was responsible for launching the sea transport division of the CPR, which inaugurated regular service between Vancouver and Hong Kong in 1891. He also presided over the expansion of the CPR into the luxury hotel business in the 1890s. Van Horne was also a prominent member of the syndicate that created the Cuba Railroad Company in 1900. He lived at the Van Horne Mansion in Montreal's Golden Square Mile.
Ritz or The Ritz may refer to:
George Stephen, 1st Baron Mount Stephen,, known as Sir George Stephen, Bt, between 1886 and 1891, was a Canadian businessman. Originally from Scotland, he made his fame in Montreal and was the first Canadian to be elevated to the Peerage of the United Kingdom. He was the financial genius behind the creation of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Hugh Andrew Montagu Allan, was a Canadian businessman and philanthropist. He was the principal heir of his father, Sir Hugh Allan, and became deputy chairman of the family-owned Allan Steamship Line. He was president of several major Canadian financial institutions and of the Montreal General Hospital. He co-founded and was president of the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Montreal. In 1940, he and his wife donated their Montreal home, Ravenscrag, to the McGill University Faculty of Medicine, and it became known as the Allan Memorial Institute. He is best remembered as a sportsman who donated the Allan Cup, a trophy that is still awarded today to the Canadian men's amateur ice hockey champions.
The Golden Square Mile, also known as the Square Mile, is the nostalgic name given to an urban neighbourhood developed principally between 1850 and 1930 at the foot of Mount Royal, in the west-central section of downtown Montreal in Quebec, Canada. The name 'Square Mile' has been used to refer to the area since the 1930s; prior to that, the neighbourhood was known as 'New Town' or 'Uptown'. The addition of 'Golden' was coined by Montreal journalist Charlie Lazarus, and the name has connections to contemporary real estate developments, as the historical delimitations of the Golden Square Mile overlap with Montreal's contemporary central business district.
Richard Bladworth Angus was a Scottish-Canadian banker, financier, and philanthropist. He was a co-founder and vice-president of the Canadian Pacific Railway, president of the Bank of Montreal, president of the Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal, president of the Montreal Art Association, and co-founder and president of the Mount Royal Club. He was the natural successor to Lord Mount Stephen as president of the Canadian Pacific Railway in 1888, but he did not desire the position; he twice refused a knighthood. The CPR Angus Shops were named for him, as was one of the later CP Ships.
Charles Melville Hays was the president of the Grand Trunk Railway. He began working in the railroad business as a clerk at the age of 17 and quickly rose through the ranks of management to become the General Manager of the Wabash, St. Louis and Pacific Railway. He became Vice-President of that company in 1889 and remained as such until 1896 when he became General Manager of the Grand Trunk Railway (GTR) of Canada.
Sir Edward Wentworth Beatty was the first Canadian-born president of the Canadian Pacific Railway (1918–1943). He was responsible for building the Royal York Hotel and RMS Empress of Britain, and later helped establish Canadian Pacific Air Lines. During World War II, he co-ordinated Canadian shipping and rail transport before ill health forced him to retire. He was Chancellor of Queen's University (1919–1923) and chancellor of McGill University (1920–1943). A lifelong philanthropist, on his death he left half of his estate to charity. He left his home in Montreal's Golden Square Mile to McGill, and it was known as Beatty Hall for 70 years until its sale in 2016.
Sir Herbert Samuel Holt was an Irish-born Canadian civil engineer who became a businessman, banker, and corporate director. He was President of the Royal Bank of Canada, Montreal Light, Heat & Power, and a director of some 250 companies worldwide, with assets valued at around $200 million. On his death, the Montreal Gazette described him as "the richest man in Canada", but he was also one of the most reviled. Among his peers in the Golden Square Mile, his ruthless business reputation ensured that "everyone respected his business ability, but nobody liked him personally". Holt was one of the founders of the Town of Hampstead, Quebec.
Sir Henry Vincent Meredith, 1st Baronet, was a Canadian banker and philanthropist. He was president of the Bank of Montreal, the Royal Victoria Hospital and the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts. He was governor of McGill University and on the board of the Canadian Pacific Railway. His home in Montreal's Golden Square Mile was made a National Historic Site of Canada in 1990 and is today part of McGill University, named Lady Meredith House for his wife.
Charles Meredith was a Canadian businessman. He was president of the Montreal Stock Exchange and president of C. Meredith & Co., Montreal's leading brokerage firm in the early 20th century. He was a co-founder of the Mount Royal Club, and he had owned the land on which the Ritz-Carlton Hotel in Montreal was built, becoming a principal shareholder with a significant influence on its image and future. His mansion in Montreal's Golden Square Mile, now known as Charles Meredith House, is currently part of McGill University.
Frederick Edmund Meredith was a Canadian lawyer and businessman. He was the 8th Chancellor of Bishop's University; President of the Mount Royal Club; Bâtonnier of the Bar of Montreal; President of the Montreal Victorias for three of their Stanley Cup championships in the late 1890s, and Chief Counsel to the CPR at the inquest into the sinking of RMS Empress of Ireland.
The Ritz-Carlton Montréal is a luxury hotel located at 1228 Sherbrooke Street West, on the corner of Drummond Street, in Montreal, Quebec. Opened in 1912, it was the second Ritz-Carlton hotel in North America after one in New York City. Its name was originally licensed by César Ritz directly, and while the hotel is now part of the chain managed by the Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, it retains its original branding stylization.
The Ritz-Carlton Hotel Company, LLC is an American multinational company that operates the luxury hotel chain known as The Ritz-Carlton. The company has 108 luxury hotels and resorts in 30 countries and territories with 29,158 rooms, in addition to 46 hotels with 8,755 rooms planned for the future.
Andrew Allan was a Scottish-born Canadian businessman and financier. In 1882, he succeeded his brother, Sir Hugh Allan, of Ravenscrag, in the Allan family's Canadian enterprises that were centred on the Allan Line Royal Mail Steamers, but also included banking and railways. He was Master of Foxhounds for the Montreal Hunt.
The Newbury Boston is a historic luxury hotel in Boston, Massachusetts. It opened in 1927 as The Ritz-Carlton Hotel. The property is a Boston landmark and anchors fashionable Newbury Street and the picturesque Boston Public Garden, located in the heart of the Back Bay.
Sir Thomas Skinner, 1st Baronet,, known as Sir Thomas Skinner, Esq. was a British-born financial writer, publisher, and businessman who became a Director of the Canadian Pacific Railway and of the Hudson's Bay Company.
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