Talk:Fairmont Royal York

Untitled
So is it 19 floors (infobox) or 28 floors (main article)? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 38.99.141.190 (talk) 20:46, 22 October 2009 (UTC)

(beginning with the History Section)

History
The Royal York is the third hotel and one of several establishments to occupy the site.

In 1843, respected lake-boat captain Thomas Dick built the Ontario Terrace at this site. It consisted of four brick houses, and was later occupied by Knox College, a theological school.

After Following refurbishment in 1853, the building was renamed the Sword's Hotel, and then the Revere Hotel after a change in ownership in 1860. Captain Thomas Dick bought the hotel back in 1862, renovated it again, and named it the Queen's Hotel.

Sometime l L ater, the Queen's Hotel was purchased by Thomas McGaw and Henry Winnett, hoteliers of Upper Canada, who also owned the Queen's Royal Hotel in Niagara on the Lake. Upon McGaw's death in 1901, Winnett acquired McGaw's interests in their hotels. After Winnett died in 1925, his estate eventually sold the Queen's Hotel to the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), run by then-president Sir Edward Wentworth Beatty.

Soon afterward, Later  CPR  Canadian Pacific announced it would  its intention to demolish the Queen's Hotel to build the largest hotel in the British Commonwealth on its site. Prior to its demolition, the Queen's Hotel had been one of Toronto's most prestigious hotels. It was billed as "One of the largest and most comfortable hotels in the Dominion of Canada."

Construction on the new hotel began in 1927. The building was completed in 1929, and named T t he Royal York. It was a state-of-the-art hotel for its time, with ten elevators to reach all 28 twenty-eight floors ; , and  with radios ,  and private showers and bathtubs in each of its 1,048 rooms. The telephone switchboard was 20 m long, and required 35 operators. Other features facilities included a bank, golf course, and a large Concert Hall outfitted with a n impressive Casavant Frères pipe organ. With five manuals and 107 one-hundred-and-seven stops, it was the largest pipe organ in Canada.

The hotel was enlarged dur in g 1956-57, with the addition of the east wing. This brought increased the total rooms to 1,600, and made Royal York the largest hotel in the Commonwealth of Nations for many years.

From 1988 until 1993, the Royal York underwent a $100 - million restoration that brought back restored the hotel's original elegance. Guest rooms and public spaces were refurbished, while new amenities were added, including : a health club, a skylit lap pool,  and the first-ever American Express Travel Service Centre. t T he hotel now also boasts  has six restaurants and  bars.

One of the hotel's more famous larger features was the Imperial Room, a nightclub that attracted big-name talent from  musicians between the 1940s to the 1990s, including Marlene Dietrich, Tony Bennett, Ray Charles, Liberace, and Tina Turner, among others. Management closed t T he Imperial Room closed during the major renovation in  of the 1990s, and  when it has been  was refurbished to become a large ballroom and meeting hall.

In  After Canadian Pacific Hotels acquired Fairmont Hotels and Resorts and chose  started to use the Fairmont name on all of its hotels. , t T here was a public outcry when the chain announced plans to take down the historic Royal York sign and replace it with a new Fairmont sign were announced. As a result of the protest, a new sign with the name Fairmont Royal York was erected instead.

The hotel has been the residence of choice for Queen Elizabeth II and other members of the Canadian Royal Family when in Toronto. The Queen usually has an entire floor reserved for her and her party entourage, occupying the Royal Suite herself.

The Toronto's PATH underground walkway system connects the hotel to the Royal Bank Plaza and Toronto's Union Station.

Honey Bees
In June 2008, the Royal York installed three beehives on its 14th fourteenth -floor rooftop terrace to serve its in-house garden, which already provides its restaurants with fresh herbs, vegetables, and flowers. Approximately 350,000 honey bees provide several hundred pounds of honey each year, including a record-breaking 800 pounds  800 lb in 2011. Blueberry Hill (talk) 22:17, 27 October 2015 (UTC)


 * , regarding, with the changes I've suggested, I think the above is fine. Thank you for taking the time to do this!  If there are no other comments over the weekend, we can add this.  —Sladen (talk) 07:59, 29 October 2015 (UTC)