My World Tuesday ~ The "Chateau"

Chateau Laurier Hotel 2009
One of my favourite buildings in Ottawa, Ontario is the magnificant Chateau Laurier Hotel built between 1909 & 1912 to compliment the Grand Trunk Railway's Union Station across the street.
Union Station 2009
Commissioned by Charles Melville Hays the chairman of the Grand Trunk Railway, the hotel was to open on April 26, 1912 however Hayes, returning to Canada for the opening perished when the ship he was travelling on, the RMS Titanic sank on April 15, 1912

Chateau Laurie Hotel circa 1912
The hotel was opened in a subdued ceremony on June 14th, 1912 by it's name sake and Prime Minister at the time Sir Wilfred Laurier.
The original building was L shaped with the front facing south on Wellington Street and Union Station and the other arm of the L facing west along the Rideau Canal Locks (as seen in the photo above). In 1928 an addition was built to create the current U shape. The shaded area to the right in the photo above is the addition. The three arches in the bridge contained a road on left, the Rideau Canal in the centre and in the old days the railway tracks on the right as seen below.Ottawa circa 1912
Looking north across the Ottawa River to the Gatineau Hills of Quebec. On the left the Parliament Buildings, on the right the Chateau Laurier Hotel and Union Station Rideau Locks
Same view today looking north only from the bridge over the canal.

West side of Union Station now the Ottawa Convention Centre.

Looking south from the Ottawa River(Major's Hill Park)

The hotel is located on the east bank of the Rideau Locks across from Parliament Hill. Until the mid 1960's the Chateau Laurier Hotel, then owned by Canadian National Railway was the premier hotel in Ottawa.

(Remember you can click on all photos to enlarge for more detail.)

During 1977/78 I worked at the Chateau Laurier as their Convention Sales Representative. I was young and idealistic and could not understand why conferences would not book the hotel, the fact that many of the rooms were not much bigger than a bathroom didn't occur to me! They have since renovated and enlarged the rooms and continues to be one of Ottawa's premier hotels

In researching the history of the Chateau Laurier I happened on Robert's Urbsite Blog which has many great photos and lots of history of the Chateau Laurier.

I must send special thanks to my son-in-law Steve who rescued my computer and more importantly my blog from a nasty virus that threatened to end my days of blogging and prohibited me from leaving comments on anyone elses blogs(probably a good thing!)

Thanks Steve!

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