Lord Nelson Hotel

Last updated
Lord Nelson Hotel & Suites
Lord Nelson Hotel.JPG
Exterior of the Lord Nelson Hotel
General information
Location1515 South Park St,
Halifax, Nova Scotia
B3J 2L2
Coordinates 44°38′33.72″N63°34′46.56″W / 44.6427000°N 63.5796000°W / 44.6427000; -63.5796000 Coordinates: 44°38′33.72″N63°34′46.56″W / 44.6427000°N 63.5796000°W / 44.6427000; -63.5796000
Construction started21 October 1927
Opening23 October 1928
OwnerUniversal Realty Group
Height32.68 m (107.2 ft)
Technical details
Floor count9
Design and construction
ArchitectO. C. Gross
Developer H.L. Stevens & Company
Website
lordnelsonhotel.ca

The Lord Nelson Hotel & Suites, commonly referred to as the Lord Nelson Hotel, is a grand hotel in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It is located on the corner of Spring Garden Road and South Park Street across from the Halifax Public Gardens. It was built in 1927 by a consortium of investors led by the Canadian Pacific Railway who wanted a Halifax anchor to the chain of hotels operated by its Nova Scotian subsidiary, the Dominion Atlantic Railway. [1] Along with the rival Canadian National Railway's Hotel Nova Scotian which began the same year, the Lord Nelson was Halifax's first modern hotel. The hotel was named after Admiral Horatio Nelson, who ironically never came to Halifax in his famous naval career (notably there is also an apartment building in Burlington, Ontario and a public school in London, Ontario both named after Lord Nelson: neither of which he attended), but whose name stood for naval traditions strongly associated with the heritage of Halifax.

Contents

History

On Friday, October 21, 1927, construction on the Lord Nelson Hotel began at the corner of Spring Garden Road and South Park Street on the old Dwyer property. The turning of the first sod was done by Mayor Kenny of Halifax, supported by a group of friends and well-wishers. The Lord Nelson Hotel opened for business on October 23, 1928. The hotel has changed hands over the years and is now privately owned.

The task of supervising the construction was assumed by O.C. Gross, architect, with construction carried out by H.L. Stevens & Co. of New York and Toronto, for Canadian Pacific Railways, which had already constructed a chain of hotels in the Annapolis Valley for its subsidiary, the Dominion Atlantic Railway. [2] The Stevens company had building experience in frosty winter weather; at night they heated the building area just completed with small stoves which kept the frost from getting into the finished walls. The building has a reinforced concrete foundation, topped with a course of granite to support the brick walls.

The hotels closest in style to the Lord Nelson Hotel at the time of construction was the Van Curler Hotel at Schenectady, New York, which was built for the General Electric Company & the Newfoundland Hotel, in St. John's. The walls of the Lord Nelson are of bluenose brick with ornate frame and Nova Scotia trip, with the concrete framework being covered in by brick. The aim of the construction was to use local materials and to award contracts locally. As much as possible materials available in Nova Scotia were used, although some had to be imported.

The main entrance to the hotel is on South Park Street, and originally featured a semi-circular driveway with trees and shrubs. The Georgian style has been incorporated in the construction of the hotel, featuring special decorations pertaining to Lord Nelson. From the lobby you can see a large mural of Nelson addressing his men on the deck of his flagship HMS Victory, just before the Battle of Trafalgar. This painting was done by Sister Agnes Berchmans, a native of New Brunswick. Her family moved to Eelbrook, Nova Scotia and young Julia Landry entered the Sisters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul, where she was professed as Sister Agnes Berchmans at the turn of the century. There are two of her paintings in the hotel, the large mural, and smaller one located in the Georgian Lounge. The gold leaf lobby ceiling is copied from the ceiling in the House of Commons in Ottawa, and was hand-finished by an Italian craftsman. There are floral and other motifs on the inverted sections, with the C.P. Railways logo among them. The lobby is 80 feet by 40 feet, and the Georgian Lounge is 60 feet by 28 feet. The original ballroom, which is called the Regency is 88 feet by 38 feet and still has the original hardwood floor and crystal chandeliers.

The original section of the hotel had seven stories with 200 rooms. There have since been two additions, and the hotel now features 260 rooms. The 8th and 9th floors were added in 1966, and the North Tower section was added in 1975. The hotel helped make Spring Garden Road into a major shopping district. Spring Garden Road shops at the time of construction simply consisted of a beauty shop, a barber shop, and a large grill; a drug store now occupies the space that was once the grill.

Cultural impact

Actor Austin Willis and pianist Dick Fry perform from the CHNS Studio in the Lord Nelson Hotel, 1928 Canadian Actor Austin Willis and Dick Fry Perform from the CHNS Studio, Lord Nelson Hotel, Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, 1928.jpg
Actor Austin Willis and pianist Dick Fry perform from the CHNS Studio in the Lord Nelson Hotel, 1928

The Lord Nelson Hotel was named after England's greatest naval hero: Horatio Nelson. A young student, Oswald Schenk, won a contest for suggesting the name of the hotel. The hotel opened during the early days of radio and because of its height, CHNS, which began in 1926, moved its broadcast studio from the old Carleton Hotel to the roof of the new Lord Nelson in 1928. [3] [4] It inspired a critically acclaimed novel by Ray Smith called Lord Nelson Tavern, first published in 1974. [5] The Lord Nelson also inspired the fictional hotel featured in the award-winning 1998 novel The Museum Guard by Howard Norman. Famous guests who have stayed at the Lord Nelson Hotel include the Rolling Stones, Anne Murray, Keith Urban, the White Stripes, Jerry Seinfeld, Ozzy Osbourne, Paul McCartney, and Willem Dafoe.

Related Research Articles

Canadian Pacific Hotels hotel

Canadian Pacific Hotels was a division of the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR) that operated a series of resort hotels across Canada. Most of these hotels were originally built and operated by the railway's hotel department, while a few were acquired from Canadian National Hotels. Today, they are operated under the Fairmont name, and remain some of Canada's most exclusive hotels.

Halifax, Nova Scotia Municipality in Nova Scotia, Canada

Halifax, officially known as the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM), is the capital of the Canadian province of Nova Scotia. It had a population of 403,131 in 2016, with 316,701 in the urban area centred on Halifax Harbour. The regional municipality consists of four former municipalities that were amalgamated in 1996: Halifax, Dartmouth, Bedford, and Halifax County.

Spring Garden Road, Halifax Community in Nova Scotia, Canada

The Spring Garden Road area, along with Barrington Street is a major commercial and cultural district in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. It acquired its name from the fresh water spring that flows directly beneath it. It comprises Spring Garden Road, South Park Street, and a number of smaller side streets. The area is considered to be one of the trendiest areas in Halifax and is one of the busiest shopping districts east of Montreal.

Dominion Atlantic Railway

The Dominion Atlantic Railway was a historic railway which operated in the western part of Nova Scotia in Canada, primarily through an agricultural district known as the Annapolis Valley.

CFB Halifax

Canadian Forces Base (CFB) Halifax is Canada's east coast naval base and home port to the Royal Canadian Navy Atlantic fleet, known as Canadian Fleet Atlantic (CANFLTLANT), that forms part of the formation Maritime Forces Atlantic (MARLANT).

Nova Scotia Railway

The Nova Scotia Railway is a historic Canadian railway. It was composed of two lines, one connecting Richmond with Windsor, the other connecting Richmond with Pictou Landing via Truro.

Halifax and South Western Railway

The Halifax and South Western Railway was a historic Canadian railway operating in the province of Nova Scotia.

Halifax Public Gardens

The Halifax Public Gardens are Victorian era public gardens formally established in 1867, the year of Canadian Confederation. The gardens are located in the Halifax Regional Municipality, Nova Scotia on the Halifax Peninsula near the popular shopping district of Spring Garden Road and opposite Victoria Park. The gardens were designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1984.

Downtown Halifax Downtown Area in Nova Scotia, Canada

Downtown Halifax is the city centre of Halifax, Nova Scotia. Located on the eastern-central portion of the Halifax Peninsula, on Halifax Harbour, it serves as the business, entertainment, and tourism hub of the region.

The Westin Nova Scotian

The Westin Nova Scotian is a Canadian hotel located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, owned and operated by New Castle Hotels and Resorts. It was built in 1928 by the Canadian National Railway as the Nova Scotian Hotel and after several changes of owners and names in the late 20th century became the Westin Nova Scotian in 1996.

The Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) in Nova Scotia, Canada has a widely varied geography.

History of Halifax (former city) Urban Community in Nova Scotia, Canada

Halifax, Nova Scotia was originally inhabited by the Mi'kmaq. The first European settlers to arrive in the future Halifax region were French, in the early 1600s, establishing the colony of Acadia. The British settled Halifax in 1749, which sparked Father Le Loutre's War. To guard against Mi'kmaq, Acadian, and French attacks on the new Protestant settlements, British fortifications were erected in Halifax (1749), Bedford (1749), Dartmouth (1750), and Lawrencetown (1754). St. Margaret's Bay was first settled by French-speaking Foreign Protestants at French Village, Nova Scotia who migrated from Lunenburg, Nova Scotia during the American Revolution. All of these regions were amalgamated into the Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) in 1996. While all of the regions of HRM developed separately over the last 250 years, their histories have also been intertwined.

Halifax station (Nova Scotia) railway station in Halifax, Canada

Halifax station is an inter-city railway terminal in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada operated by Via Rail.

Windsor and Annapolis Railway

The Windsor and Annapolis Railway (W&AR) was a historic Canadian railway that operated in Nova Scotia's Annapolis Valley.

The Flying Bluenose was a Canadian luxury passenger train operated by the Dominion Atlantic Railway between Halifax, Nova Scotia and Yarmouth, Nova Scotia from 1891 to 1936. It was a boat train scheduled to connect with passenger steamships to Boston and ran only during the summer months.

Midland Railway was a Nova Scotian railway company formed in 1896 to build a railway through Hants County, Nova Scotia, connecting Truro to Windsor. Completed in 1901, it operated independently until 1905 when it became part of the Dominion Atlantic Railway and later the Canadian Pacific Railway, until the line closed in 1983.

Historic Properties (Halifax) warehouses in Halifax, Nova Scotia

The Historic Properties are warehouses on the Halifax Boardwalk in Halifax, Nova Scotia that began to be constructed during the Napoleonic Wars by Nova Scotian businessmen such as Enos Collins, a privateer, smuggler and shipper whose vessels defied Napoleon's blockade to bring American supplies to the British commander Duke of Wellington. These properties helped make Halifax prosperous in Canada's early days by aiding trade and commerce, but they were also frequently used as vehicles for smuggling and privateering. During the War of 1812, two of the most successful Nova Scotian privateer ships during this time period were the Liverpool Packet and the Sir John Sherbrooke.

A plebiscite on Sunday shopping was held on October 16, 2004 in Nova Scotia. The vote was 54.90% for the "no" side, meaning that a Sunday shopping ban remained in place.

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑ "Dominion Atlantic Hotels, Dominion Atlantic Railway Digital Preservation Institute
  3. ↑ William March, 1986, Red Line: The Chronicle-Herald and The Mail-Star 1875-1954, Halifax: Chronicle Agencies Limited, p. 216
  4. ↑ Nova Scotia Archives, Broadcasting from the Lord Nelson hotel, 1928
  5. ↑ Biblioasis, Lord Nelson Tavern
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.