Most probably know the main story about Casa Loma (picture below) which was built by Henry Pellatt and how he lost it. What is less well known is how it was a high class apartment hotel from 1925 to 1929. Arthur D. Blachford, in a letter to the Star, tells us that: “In 1925, William Sparling (his uncle) made an option to purchase Casa Loma and the stables and formed the Casa Loma Holding Company. The idea was to turn Casa Loma into a high-class apartment- hotel and a world-renowned showplace for Toronto. Sparling had to complete the inside of the building that had not been finished. He built the main entrance and made many other improvements including finishing the Great Hall and entrance stairway, the billiard room, and installing the organ in the Great Hall.” Notable hotel guests included: Duke of Windsor, then Edward, Prince of Wales, Sir Thomas Upton and Sir Harry Lauder.
For more about Casa Loma and Henry Pellatt, see “The Estatesof Old Toronto” by Liz Lundell, or www.digitalozone.com/casaloma.