{"id":4581,"date":"2009-06-11T12:05:43","date_gmt":"2009-06-11T16:05:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/spacingtoronto.ca\/?p=4581"},"modified":"2013-01-21T15:22:43","modified_gmt":"2013-01-21T20:22:43","slug":"throwback-thursday-the-royal-york-turns-80","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/11\/throwback-thursday-the-royal-york-turns-80\/","title":{"rendered":"Throwback Thursday: A city within one city block – The Royal York"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"\"\"<\/p>\n

Every Thursday, Spacing will bring you a snapshot of Toronto’s past, looking into what took place that day in the city’s history. Throwback Thursday will address how the city has evolved, with an emphasis on issues that remain relevant for development in Toronto today.<\/em><\/p>\n

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –<\/p>\n

Toronto’s skyline was never the same 80 years ago today.\u00a0 On June 11th, 1929 the chateau-style hotel formerly known as the Royal York Hotel<\/a> opened its doors at 100 Front Street West as the tallest building not only in Toronto but in the entire British Empire.<\/p>\n

The third hotel to occupy the site, the Canadian Pacific Railway demolished the former Queen’s Hotel to make way for the 28-story Royal York Hotel, whose final building cost was $16 million.\u00a0 At the time the hotel was considered to be state-of-the-art, complete with a radio, phone and a shower or bath in every one of its 1,048 rooms.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Not only private rooms filled the massive hotel; public rooms took up 1.5 acres of space and included a 12-bed hospital, a 12,000 book library, a 66 foot long telephone switchboard manned by 35 operators and a Concert Hall with a 50 tonne Casavant Frere<\/a> pipe organ where the Canadian Opera Company put on its first production.<\/p>\n

The Royal York was also one of the first buildings in Canada to have elevators, ten ornately decorated lifts that people would travel to Toronto just to ride in.\u00a0 The Hotel even had an early manifestation of a green roof with a glass-enclosed roof garden whose produce are used by the Hotel’s chefs capping the skyscraper.<\/p>\n

The building was designed by Ross and Macdonald<\/a>, based in Montreal, who were arguably Canada’s most famous architecture firm at the time while being assisted by Toronto’s own Sproatt and Rolph.\u00a0 Ross and Macdonald had also designed the newly built Union Station, which sat across the street from the Royal York.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In many ways, the hotel is truly “a city within a city block.”\u00a0 Having welcomed more than 40 million clients to its halls, it also boasts Canada’s largest kitchen (supposedly it can fit seven<\/span> over three floors, equal to the size of three 747 jumbo jet interiors), a bakery that can make 15,000 rolls a day, three rooftop beehives providing up to 700 pounds of honey a year, five restaurants, four lounges including Toronto’s smallest bar – “York Station<\/a>” – not to mention Toronto’s largest laundry, a health club and a spa.\u00a0 Complete with countless eccentricities and hidden gems, the building incites exploration<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Resident ghosts are one of many of the Royal York’s quirks.\u00a0 A grey-haired man in slacks and a burgundy smoking jacket is known to haunt the 8th floor.\u00a0 Similarly, a permanently closed Crystal Ballroom<\/a> occupying one of the upper floors has been the cause for many noise complaints amongst hotel guests.\u00a0 Closed long ago because it didn’t meet modern fire code requirements, guests have been known to hear music, loud talking and shaking chandeliers coming from the floor.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

In 1949, the Royal York became a field hospital after the cruise ship SS Noronic<\/a> caught fire in the Toronto harbour directly across from the hotel.\u00a0 The hotel expanded in 1959, adding a 17-story east wing that provided an additional 400 rooms, making it the biggest hotel in the British Commonwealth.\u00a0 In the 1980s and 1990s, over $100 million was spent in renovating the hotel back to its 1920s splendor.<\/p>\n

Photos from Wikimedia<\/a>, wvs<\/a>, the Toronto Archives (Fonds 1231, Item 1116),<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Every Thursday, Spacing will bring you a snapshot of Toronto’s past, looking into what took place that day in the city’s history. Throwback Thursday will address how the city has evolved, with an emphasis on issues that remain relevant for development in Toronto today. – – – – – – – – – – –Continue reading “Throwback Thursday: A city within one city block – The Royal York”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4071,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22,21759,24],"tags":[12400,457,7854,9484,12398,12394,12395,38,316,12397,12396,8880,12399,98,19,3251,647,8046,391,496],"class_list":["post-4581","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-architecture","category-features","category-history","tag-british-commonwealth","tag-canada","tag-canadian-opera-company","tag-canadian-pacific-railway","tag-crystal-ballroom","tag-foot-long-telephone-switchboard","tag-massive-hotel","tag-montreal","tag-queen","tag-queens-hotel","tag-ross-and-macdonald","tag-royal-york-hotel","tag-the-hotel","tag-throwback-thursdays","tag-toronto","tag-toronto-harbour","tag-union-station","tag-united-kingdoms-commonwealth-day","tag-usd","tag-york"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nThrowback Thursday: A city within one city block - The Royal York - Spacing Toronto<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/11\/throwback-thursday-the-royal-york-turns-80\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Throwback Thursday: A city within one city block - The Royal York - Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Every Thursday, Spacing will bring you a snapshot of Toronto’s past, looking into what took place that day in the city’s history. Throwback Thursday will address how the city has evolved, with an emphasis on issues that remain relevant for development in Toronto today. – – – – – – – – – – –Continue reading "Throwback Thursday: A city within one city block – The Royal York"\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/11\/throwback-thursday-the-royal-york-turns-80\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Spacing Toronto\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-06-11T16:05:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-01-21T20:22:43+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/5\/55\/Front_of_Royal_York_Hotel.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jake Schabas\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Spacing\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jake Schabas\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/11\/throwback-thursday-the-royal-york-turns-80\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/11\/throwback-thursday-the-royal-york-turns-80\/\",\"name\":\"Throwback Thursday: A city within one city block - The Royal York - Spacing Toronto\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/11\/throwback-thursday-the-royal-york-turns-80\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/11\/throwback-thursday-the-royal-york-turns-80\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/5\/55\/Front_of_Royal_York_Hotel.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-06-11T16:05:43+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-01-21T20:22:43+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/787924a448d867d13cb2a446dd615f0e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/11\/throwback-thursday-the-royal-york-turns-80\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/11\/throwback-thursday-the-royal-york-turns-80\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/11\/throwback-thursday-the-royal-york-turns-80\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/5\/55\/Front_of_Royal_York_Hotel.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/5\/55\/Front_of_Royal_York_Hotel.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/11\/throwback-thursday-the-royal-york-turns-80\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Throwback Thursday: A city within one city block – The Royal York\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/\",\"name\":\"Spacing Toronto\",\"description\":\"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Toronto Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/787924a448d867d13cb2a446dd615f0e\",\"name\":\"Jake Schabas\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/767188a3b1d28ead8defca8d096ba92f?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/767188a3b1d28ead8defca8d096ba92f?s=96&d=blank&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Jake Schabas\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.spacing.ca\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/author\/jakeschabas\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Throwback Thursday: A city within one city block - The Royal York - Spacing Toronto","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/11\/throwback-thursday-the-royal-york-turns-80\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Throwback Thursday: A city within one city block - The Royal York - Spacing Toronto","og_description":"Every Thursday, Spacing will bring you a snapshot of Toronto’s past, looking into what took place that day in the city’s history. Throwback Thursday will address how the city has evolved, with an emphasis on issues that remain relevant for development in Toronto today. – – – – – – – – – – –Continue reading \"Throwback Thursday: A city within one city block – The Royal York\"","og_url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/11\/throwback-thursday-the-royal-york-turns-80\/","og_site_name":"Spacing Toronto","article_published_time":"2009-06-11T16:05:43+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-01-21T20:22:43+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/5\/55\/Front_of_Royal_York_Hotel.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Jake Schabas","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@Spacing","twitter_site":"@Spacing","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jake Schabas","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/11\/throwback-thursday-the-royal-york-turns-80\/","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/11\/throwback-thursday-the-royal-york-turns-80\/","name":"Throwback Thursday: A city within one city block - The Royal York - Spacing Toronto","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/11\/throwback-thursday-the-royal-york-turns-80\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/11\/throwback-thursday-the-royal-york-turns-80\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/5\/55\/Front_of_Royal_York_Hotel.jpg","datePublished":"2009-06-11T16:05:43+00:00","dateModified":"2013-01-21T20:22:43+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/787924a448d867d13cb2a446dd615f0e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/11\/throwback-thursday-the-royal-york-turns-80\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/11\/throwback-thursday-the-royal-york-turns-80\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/11\/throwback-thursday-the-royal-york-turns-80\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/5\/55\/Front_of_Royal_York_Hotel.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/upload.wikimedia.org\/wikipedia\/commons\/5\/55\/Front_of_Royal_York_Hotel.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/2009\/06\/11\/throwback-thursday-the-royal-york-turns-80\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Throwback Thursday: A city within one city block – The Royal York"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#website","url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/","name":"Spacing Toronto","description":"Canadian Urbanism Uncovered | Toronto Architecture, Urban Design, Public Transit, City Hall, Parks, Walking, Bikes, Streetscape, History, Waterfront, Maps, Public Spaces","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/787924a448d867d13cb2a446dd615f0e","name":"Jake Schabas","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/767188a3b1d28ead8defca8d096ba92f?s=96&d=blank&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/767188a3b1d28ead8defca8d096ba92f?s=96&d=blank&r=g","caption":"Jake Schabas"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.spacing.ca"],"url":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/author\/jakeschabas\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4581","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4071"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=4581"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4581\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4656,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4581\/revisions\/4656"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=4581"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=4581"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacing.ca\/toronto\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=4581"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}