The Queen's Hotel was a large hotel, in Toronto, Ontario, located on the north side of Front Street, between Bay and York streets - the current site of the Royal York Hotel. [1] In 1927 Canadian Pacific Railways acquired the Queen's Hotel, across the street from the newly opened Union Station, so it could demolish it, and build a larger hotel.
In 1844 four rowhouses, designed by J ohn Howard, were combined to form a hotel, which opened as "Sword's Hotel", in 1856. [1] In 1860 the hotel was renamed the "Revere House". [2] The hotel was purchased, and renovated, by Thomas Dick, and renamed the "Queen's Hotel" in 1862. The hotel was considered luxurious, and hosted prominent guests, including the Prince of Wales.
During the American Civil War the hotel was very popular with Americans from the Confederacy. [3] Some accounts assert Southerners had booked the entire hotel. The hotel served as an informal headquarters for Confederate Secret Service activities in neutral Canadian territory against the United States during the Civil War. [4]
At its height it provided 210 rooms, a restaurant, and extensive gardens. [1] It was the first hotel in Canada to have elevators installed. [2]
Greenwood Raceway was a horse racing facility in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Bay Street is a major thoroughfare in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the centre of Toronto's Financial District and is often used by metonymy to refer to Canada's financial services industry since succeeding Montreal's St. James Street in that role in the 1970s.
Woodbine Racetrack is a race track for Thoroughbred horse racing in the Etobicoke area of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Owned by Woodbine Entertainment Group, Woodbine Racetrack manages and hosts Canada's most famous race, the King's Plate. The track was opened in 1956 with a one-mile oval dirt track, as well as a seven-eights turf course. It has been extensively remodeled since 1993, and since 1994 has had three racecourses.
At the time of the American Civil War (1861–1865), Canada did not yet exist as a federated nation. Instead, British North America consisted of the Province of Canada and the separate colonies of Newfoundland, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, British Columbia and Vancouver Island, as well as a crown territory administered by the Hudson's Bay Company called Rupert's Land. Britain and its colonies were officially neutral for the duration of the war. Despite this, tensions between Britain and the United States were high due to incidents such as the Trent Affair, blockade runners loaded with British arms supplies bound for the Confederacy, and the Confederate Navy commissioning of the CSS Alabama from Britain.
Maple Leaf Stadium was a jewel box-style baseball stadium in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located at the foot of Bathurst Street on the south side of Lake Shore Boulevard. It was built in 1926 by Lol Solman for his Toronto Maple Leafs baseball team of the International League. Previously, the Maple Leafs had played at Hanlan's Point Stadium. It continued to be the home of the Leafs for 42 seasons, until the team left town following the 1967 season. The stadium was demolished in 1968. Fans often referred to the stadium as the "Fleet Street Flats".
Greektown, also known as The Danforth, is a commercial-residential neighbourhood and ethnic enclave in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located on Danforth Avenue, between Chester Avenue and Dewhurst Boulevard, in east Toronto. Named after Asa Danforth, Jr., an American contractor who designed Queen Street and Kingston Road, the area is known for its architecture dating back to as early as 1910, and for its number of Greek restaurants and stores. The area was one of the major settlement areas of Greek immigrants to Toronto after World War I.
Inn on the Park was a luxury hotel which was formerly located on a hill overlooking Leslie Street and Eglinton Avenue in North York, Ontario. It was one of the early Toronto hotels operated by the Four Seasons Hotel chain.
The Arcade Building is a ten-storey office building with ground-floor retail in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is known for the colourful LED lighting that has adorned its facade since 2008. The site was previously an indoor shopping arcade.
The Confederate Secret Service refers to any of a number of official and semi-official secret service organizations and operations conducted by the Confederate States of America during the American Civil War. Some of the organizations were under the direction of the Confederate government, others operated independently with government approval, while still others were either completely independent of the government or operated with only its tacit acknowledgment.
The Temple Building was a 12-storey, 36.93 m (121.2 ft) highrise erected at 62 Richmond Street West and Bay Street in Toronto, Ontario.
The Discovery District is one of the commercial districts in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It has a high concentration of hospitals and research institutions, particularly those related to biotechnology. The district is roughly bounded by Bloor Street on the north, Bay Street on the east, Dundas Street on the south, and Spadina Avenue on the west.
The Ward was a neighbourhood in central Toronto, Ontario, Canada, in the 19th and early 20th centuries. Many new immigrants first settled in the neighbourhood; it was at the time widely considered a slum.
The Hotel Waverly was a four-storey low-rise hotel in downtown Toronto. Opened in 1900, the hotel was built for J.J. Powell. It was one of the oldest Toronto hotels in continuous operation.
The Standard Theatre is an inactive theatre in Toronto that originated as the city's main venue for Yiddish theatre, and later became the Victory Burlesque, which would be the last traditional burlesque theatre in Toronto when it closed in 1975. It is located at 285 Spadina Ave. the corner of Spadina Avenue and Dundas Street.
Crawford Street Bridge is one of two known bridges that once spanned over Garrison Creek valley — the actual creek disappeared as brick sewer by the 1920s) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and buried intact in the 20th century. The bridge shares design features with the larger Prince Edward Viaduct.
George Wallace Gouinlock was a prominent Canadian architect. Gouinlock practiced mostly in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, including several designated buildings at Exhibition Place.
Markham Street is a north–south residential street located in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, one block west of Bathurst Street. Its northern end starts in the Seaton Village neighbourhood and it passes through Mirvish Village, Palmerston–Little Italy, Trinity–Bellwoods and ends at West Queen Street West at its south end.
Three Way Piece No.2: Archer is a large sculpture by the British artist Henry Moore. Two casts exist: cast 1 in Toronto, cast 2 is owned by the National Gallery, Berlin. The work is 340 cm long and 325 cm high. A plaster cast of the work was also made, and was shown in June 1965 at the Queen's Theatre in London as part of a memorial service to T.S. Eliot.
The Broadway Theatre was a burlesque live theatre and cinema in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The theatre was opened under the name of Globe Theatre, in 1918. It was renamed the Roxy Theatre in the early 1930s and assumed its final name, the Broadway Theatre, in 1937. It was located on the southwest corner of Bay and Queen streets at 75 Queen Street West.
Wendigo Creek was a short watercourse in Toronto, Ontario, that drained into Grenadier Pond. It was spring fed, like nearby Spring Creek. Its headwaters were north of Bloor Street, near Dundas Street and Laws Street.
With more than 100 Southerners renting out the entire hotel, residents included both aristocratic refugees and fugitive soldiers who'd escaped Northern prison camps.