In the late 19th century, Queen Victoria was desirous of a railway network across her then-dominion of Canada that would connect settlements on either coast for the first time<\/p>\n
But canny Canucks didn\u2019t just want cheap freight lines; they had far grander designs.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of them are haunted. Every single one.\u201d <\/p>\n
Podcaster Craig Baird<\/p>\n
The railroad would drive tourism from coast to coast, while offsetting the enormous cost of construction.<\/p>\n
To lure travelers, hotels were built as pilgrimage-worthy landmarks.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIf someone gets off in the middle of a journey, and spends the day in the hotel? It\u2019s more revenue for the company,\u201d said architectural historian Hal Kalman, who wrote the definitive history of these hotels.<\/p>\n
Most were deliberately designed in a mash-up of styles that nodded back to Europe. <\/p>\n
\u201cIt was to show we were a serious nation,\u201d added Craig Baird, host of the\u00a0\u201cCanadian History Ehx\u201d podcast.\u00a0\u201cThey were created in a uniquely Canadian style, perfect for making posters to encourage people from Britain to come here.\u201d<\/p>\n
The network of palace-style properties expanded rapidly across the country from Nova Scotia to British Columbia, with dozens dotting the route by World War II. They fell from favor as car ownership became widespread in the 1950s, and many were demolished or repurposed for other commercial uses. A few managed to dodge the wrecking ball, though, and survive into this century; Baird says around a dozen are still operating across the country.<\/p>\n
Below, we\u2019ve rounded up the seven best \u2014 all of which today fly a Fairmont flag, save for the Marriott-managed Algonquin Resort in St. Andrews) \u2014 with cheat sheets, as well as a primer on the unauthorized guests you\u2019re likely to encounter.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll of them are haunted. Every single one,\u201d said Baird.\u00a0<\/p>\n
One of 757 rooms inside the property the Ghost Bride calls home. Fairmont Banff Springs<\/p>\n
Date opened:\u00a01888<\/p>\n
Vibe:\u00a0Scottish Lord on the prairie<\/p>\n
Quick hit:\u00a0The 757-room property was built after railway workers discovered natural hot mineral springs here, inside what became Banff National Park. With its own bowling alley, five tennis courts and a 40,000-square-foot spa, it\u2019s arguably the most famous of the former railway hotels.<\/p>\n
Need to know:\u00a0No, you\u2019re not imagining it: The building doesn\u2019t make the most of the views across the valley to Mount Rundle. The original architect snafued on the orientation, designing the H-shaped structure backwards.<\/p>\n
Spook factor:\u00a0You might spot the Ghost Bride, who supposedly tripped on her dress and fell down a marble staircase to her death in the 1920s; or bellman Sam McCauley, the helpful ghost of the Scottish head bellman who died 50 years ago.<\/p>\n
This property sports 28 stories in downtown Toronto. Fairmont Royal York<\/p>\n
An icon of the Jazz Age, Toronto\u2019s the Royal is built like a city unto itself. Fairmont Royal York<\/p>\n
Date opened:\u00a01929<\/p>\n
Vibe:\u00a0Jazz Age giant<\/p>\n
Quick hit:\u00a0The limestone-clad, 28-story skyscraper sits right across from Union Station, in a prime perch downtown. With more than 1,000 rooms, plus its own concert hall and hospital, it had underground walkways to funnel guests to the train.<\/p>\n
Need to know:\u00a0This is where boldface confabs take place in Canada, from hosting the 2010 G20 summit to a luxe crash pad for celebs during the film festival each fall.<\/p>\n
Spook factor:\u00a0Idle on the eighth floor and you may spot the hotel\u2019s most frequent spectral guest: an older man with gray hair, wearing a maroon smoking jacket, who glides silently along the hallway in the dormitory tower.<\/p>\n
Fairmont\u2019s Le Ch\u00e2teau Frontenac is a European-style fairytale castle. Re\u0301gion de Que\u0301bec \u00a9 GouvQc Se\u0301bastien Dion<\/p>\n
Date opened:\u00a01893<\/p>\n
Vibe:\u00a0Urban fairytale<\/p>\n
Quick hit:\u00a0The imposing, turreted wedding cake of a building dominates the skyline of Quebec City with its Loire Valley-inspired design. You might recognize it as the location of the final scene of Hitchcock\u2019s 1953 movie \u201cI Confess.\u201d<\/p>\n
Need to know: The C\u00e9line Dion Suite, which honors French Canada\u2019s beloved songbird, is decorated with images taken by her own family photographer.<\/p>\n
Spook factor:\u00a0The namesake French nobleman, an early governor of New France in the 1680s, allegedly sits and stares out the window here, yearning for his never-to-arrive fianc\u00e9e, more than three centuries later.<\/p>\n
This Calgarian hotel was an instant landmark. Fairmont Palliser<\/p>\n
Pioneer John Palliser lends his name to this Calgary rest stop. Fairmont Palliser<\/p>\n
Date opened:\u00a01914<\/p>\n
Vibe:\u00a0Old-school skyscraper<\/p>\n
Quick hit:\u00a0The four-star, 407-room hotel was named after Captain John Palliser, who surveyed Western Canada in the 1850s and was an instant landmark, helping to establish Calgary\u2019s rep as more than just a pioneer town.<\/p>\n
Need to know:\u00a0Margaret\u2019s Hope, the cuppa served at afternoon tea here, is the hotel\u2019s own signature blend. It\u2019s grown in Darjeeling in a plantation named after the expat British owner\u2019s daughter who died on her way home from India to England.<\/p>\n
Spook factor:\u00a0Look for a man dressed in a railway conductor\u2019s uniform wandering the halls or a socialite scampering down the stairs in 1940s dress to the former drawing room.<\/p>\n
History lives in this typically English outpost. New Brunswick Tourism<\/p>\n
Date opened:\u00a01889<\/p>\n
Vibe:\u00a0Henry VIII on holiday<\/p>\n
Quick hit:\u00a0Baird says this smaller, 233-room hotel is \u201cthe really beautiful, overlooked one,\u201d sitting right on New Brunswick\u2019s Bay of Fundy. The existing structure is a replacement for the OG, which burned down 25 years after it opened; this incarnation opened a year later. It\u2019s part of Marriott\u2019s Autograph Collection.<\/p>\n
Need to know:\u00a0Of course, there\u2019s great golf in the Canadian town named after its spiritual home. The game has been played here since 1894, but the par-72 you can play today was set out in the last decade by Rod Whitman.<\/p>\n
Spook factor:\u00a0Want a few sleepless nights? Ask for rooms 308 and 373, where strange phenomena has been noticed. Or book room 473, where you might hear the sobs of the Jilted Bride. Stood up at the altar, she jumped out the window.<\/p>\n
Connecting East and West, the Empress is still the go-to sleep station in British Columbia\u2019s capital. Fairmont Empress<\/p>\n
Date opened:\u00a01908<\/p>\n
Vibe:\u00a0Versailles in the Highlands<\/p>\n
Quick hit:\u00a0The farthest west of the railway palaces, the 431-room property sits right on Victoria\u2019s Inner Harbour with a wide veranda to maximize the views of the water. It was aimed not only at railway travelers but also steamship arrivals from Asia and beyond, connecting across to the east coast by train.<\/p>\n
Need to know:\u00a0It escaped demolition via a 1960s fundraising effort nicknamed Operation Teacup, after its famed afternoon tea \u2014 always served, so WAGs report, on cups wide enough that genteel ladies could gossip behind them without their mouths being seen.<\/p>\n
Spook factor:\u00a0Francis Rattenbury, the architect behind the original building, was murdered by his wife\u2019s lover at his home in England, but is reputed to roam his beloved hotel as an apparition. Ask for room 712 if you fancy company.<\/p>\n
Dusk falls on the Fairmont Ch\u00e2teau Laurier. Fairmont Ch\u00e2teau Laurier<\/p>\n
Date opened:\u00a01912<\/p>\n
Vibe:\u00a0Neuschwanstein on the Ottawa<\/p>\n
Quick hit:\u00a0Baird calls this outpost \u201cthe most famous\u201d of the hotels, sitting right next to Parliament, with more than 400 rooms across six stories. Its debut wasn\u2019t without controversy \u2014 the prime minister, after whom it\u2019s named, had approved the use of public parkland to build the hotel.<\/p>\n
Need to know:\u00a0It opened just weeks after the death of the man who built it, and so many other of these landmark properties: Grand Trunk Railway magnate Charles Melville Hayes, who perished on the Titanic.<\/p>\n
Spook factor:\u00a0Sure, some staff have claimed to see Hayes haunting the halls of the hotel he never saw, but more common reports suggest a little girl here who\u2019s likely behind the breaking of furniture and opening doors that happen without human help.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In the late 19th century, Queen Victoria was desirous of a railway network across her then-dominion of Canada…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":108706,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[17,38327,38328,226,38329,241,3405,48,38330,237],"class_list":["post-108705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-canada","tag-canada","tag-ghosts","tag-haunted-houses","tag-lifestyle","tag-luxury-hotels","tag-quebec","tag-tea","tag-toronto","tag-trains","tag-travel"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=108705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/108706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=108705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=108705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/canada\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=108705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}