Ford Hotel

Last updated
The Ford Hotel Ford Hotel 1929.JPG
The Ford Hotel

The Ford Hotel was a historic hotel in central Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was one of five hotels in the R.T. Ford & Company hotel chain and was identical to the Ford Hotel, Buffalo and Ford Hotel, Montreal. [1] The 750-room hotel consisted of three 12-story wings connected at the rear by a perpendicular spine atop a one-story base contained the lobby, restaurants and other amenities. The structure was located on Dundas Street West, east of Bay Street. It was built in 1928 and for several decades was one of the city's most prominent hotels. The hotel was next to the Toronto Bus Terminal and provided cheap rooms for lower income travellers. It was also well known as a site for crime and vice. The Toronto Star called it the "rendezvous of choice for couples pursuing an illicit affair." [2]

Contents

The building was demolished in 1973 and the site is today home to the Atrium on Bay, now known simply as "Atrium".

Other Ford Hotels

All buildings were designed by Rochester architect John Foster Warner (1859–1937) and all but Toronto and Buffalo locations survive today:

Hotels managed by R.T. Ford & Company

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Senate of Canada Building</span> Government building in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, located at 2 Rideau Street

The Senate of Canada Building is a government building and former railway station that serves as the temporary seat of the Senate of Canada. Located at 2 Rideau Street in downtown Ottawa, Ontario, it was known as Ottawa Union Station and served as the city's central railway station from 1912 until 1966. From 1966 to 2018, it was operated by the Government of Canada as the Government Conference Centre. The building currently includes a temporary Senate chamber, as well as some Senate offices and committee rooms.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lord Elgin Hotel</span> Hotel in Ottawa, Canada

The Lord Elgin Hotel is a prominent hotel in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. With 355 guest rooms, it is located at 100 Elgin Street at Laurier Avenue, across from Confederation Park in Downtown Ottawa. The twelve-storey limestone structure was named after James Bruce, 8th Earl of Elgin, the first Governor General of the united Canadas.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">High Commission of the United Kingdom, Ottawa</span>

The British High Commission in Ottawa, Ontario, is the main diplomatic mission of the United Kingdom in Canada. It is located at 80 Elgin Street in downtown Ottawa, across the street from the National Arts Centre and not far from Parliament Hill.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ottawa City Hall</span> City hall of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada

The current Ottawa City Hall is the city hall of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The downtown complex consists of two connected buildings: a modern wing located on Laurier Avenue and a 19th-century heritage wing located on Elgin Street. Although City Hall has frontage on two major streets, the main entrance is on Laurier Avenue, and the municipal address is 110 Laurier Avenue West.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Canadian Broadcasting Centre</span> CBC broadcast facility in Toronto.

The Canadian Broadcasting Centre, also known as the CBC Toronto Broadcast Centre, is an office and studio complex located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It serves as the main broadcast and master control point for the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's English-language television and radio services. It also contains studios for local and regional French-language productions and is the headquarters of the North American Broadcasters Association. Two floors of the facility house the ad agency Bensimon Byrne and its subsidiaries Narrative and OneMethod.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres</span> Toronto, Ontario Theatres

The Elgin and Winter Garden Theatres are a pair of stacked theatres in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The Winter Garden Theatre is seven storeys above the Elgin Theatre. They are the last surviving Edwardian stacked theatres in the world.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Elgin Street (Ottawa)</span>

Elgin Street is a street in the Downtown core of Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. Originally named Biddy's Lane, it was later named after Lord Elgin.

Ross and Macdonald was one of Canada's most notable architecture firms in the early 20th century. Based in Montreal, Quebec, the firm originally operated as a partnership between George Allen Ross and David MacFarlane from 1907 to 1912. MacFarlane withdrew from the firm in 1912, and Robert Henry Macdonald became a partner.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Atrium on Bay</span> Commercial offices in Ontario, Canada

Atrium is a large 1,000,000-square-foot (93,000 m2) retail and office complex in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Atrium is located adjacent to Yonge-Dundas Square, and was built upon the former site of the former Ford Hotel Toronto, on the north side of Dundas Street West, extending from Yonge Street to Bay Street. The mixed-use building was constructed in 1981 with parking on the second and third underground levels and retail space street and concourse levels topped by an eight-storey office block that rises to 14 floors on the east end of the site and 13 on the west. As part of downtown Toronto's PATH network, Atrium's Concourse Level is directly connected underground to the Dundas subway station, the Toronto Eaton Centre south, across on Dundas Street. A now-closed underground tunnel connects the Atrium to the former Toronto Coach Terminal located west, across Bay Street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ottawa Courthouse</span>

The Ottawa Courthouse is an courthouse in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. It is the main provincial court for the Ottawa area, and as such handles most of the region's legal affairs. The building is home to the civil, small claims, family, criminal, and district branches of the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. It is also home to the local land registry office. Some 1,000 people use the nine storey building each day.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Russell House (Ottawa)</span> Was the most high-profile hotel in Ottawa, Canada for many decades

The Russell House hotel was the most high-profile hotel in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada for many decades. It was located at the corner of Sparks Street and Elgin Street, where Confederation Square is located today. The original building was built in the 1840s. Additions were made in the 1870s and the original building replaced in 1880. It closed in 1925 and was demolished in 1928.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Maple Leaf Square</span> Mixed-use development in South Core, Toronto, Canada

Maple Leaf Square is a multi-use complex and public square located in the South Core neighbourhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located to the west of the Scotiabank Arena on the former Railway Lands. The $500 million development was jointly developed by Cadillac Fairview, Lanterra and Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment (MLSE), who own the nearby Scotiabank Arena. The complex has 1,800,000 square feet (170,000 m2) of usable space covering 2.1 acres (0.85 ha) on one city block.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Great Lakes passenger steamers</span> Aspect of history

The history of commercial passenger shipping on the Great Lakes is long but uneven. It reached its zenith between the mid-19th century and the 1950s. As early as 1844, palace steamers carried passengers and cargo around the Great Lakes. By 1900, fleets of relatively luxurious passenger steamers plied the waters of the lower lakes, especially the major industrial centres of Chicago, Milwaukee, Detroit, Cleveland, Buffalo, and Toronto.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Hotels in Toronto</span>

Hotels in Toronto have been some of the most prominent buildings in the city and the hotel industry is one of the city's most important. The Greater Toronto Area has 183 hotels with a total of almost 36,000 rooms. In 2010, there were 8.9 million room nights sold. Toronto is a popular tourist destination, with it having the 6th highest room occupancy rate in North America, but about two thirds of rooms are taken by commercial, government, or convention travellers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Buffalo Metropolitan Transportation Center</span> Intercity bus terminal in downtown Buffalo, New York, USA

The Buffalo Metropolitan Transportation Center is located on the southeast corner of North Division and Ellicott Streets in Downtown Buffalo, New York. The transportation center is open 24 hours daily.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Le Centre Sheraton Hotel</span> Hotel building in Montreal, Quebec

Le Centre Sheraton Hotel is a skyscraper hotel in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located at 1201 René Lévesque Boulevard West in downtown Montreal, between Stanley Street and Drummond Street.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Le V</span> Hotel, rental apartments in Quebec, Canada

Le V is a hotel and apartment complex in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is located on René Lévesque Boulevard West between Bleury Street and Anderson Street in Downtown Montreal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LECOM Harborcenter</span> Mixed use hockey themed development in Buffalo, New York

LECOM Harborcenter is an American mixed-use development in Buffalo, New York developed by Pegula Sports and Entertainment. The building occupies a full 1.7 acre city block formerly known as the Webster Block, directly across from and connected to the KeyBank Center and Canalside. The building is also near the southern terminus of the Erie Canal Harbor station.

References

  1. "The Ford Hotel". playle.com. Archived from the original on 2014-02-03. Retrieved 2014-01-27.
  2. Marchand, Philip (31 August 2002). "The crime that shook city's core". Toronto Star . p. B-1. ProQuest   1440878001.
  3. "Ford Hotel". History of Buffalo, New York. Retrieved 2014-01-27.
  4. "Cue the cranes: STATE OF OUR DOWNTOWN" . Democrat and Chronicle . Rochester, New York. 21 February 2010. p. A 1.
  5. "1425, René-Levesque Ouest (Ford Hotel)". Images Montreal. Retrieved 2014-01-27.
  6. Boswell, Randy (26 February 2016). "Expectations of grandeur: The Lord Elgin turns 75". Ottawa Citizen . Retrieved 2021-11-12.
  7. "Lord Elgin Hotel to undergo major renovations as it celebrates 75th anniversary". The Ottawa Star. 1 March 2016. Retrieved 2021-11-12.

Coordinates: 43°39′23″N79°22′58″W / 43.6563°N 79.3827°W / 43.6563; -79.3827