As mentioned in Note 49, we decided on a relaxed sightseeing day in Toronto following our day in Niagara Falls. We used the Hop-on Hop-off (HOHO) bus to get an overview of Toronto’s various districts and use it as our transportation to Casa Loma and back.

Casa Loma History

The HOHO stop is about a 5-minute walk uphill to the entrance of Casa Loma (Spanish for Hill House). Built by financier Sir Henry Pellatt from 1911-14, it sits at an elevation of 460 feet about 5 kilometers from the shore of Lake Ontario. The property, which he bought for its hill-top view, contains gardens, a hunting lodge, coach house and stables, and the 98-room Gothic Revival castle-like mansion. The mansion cost $3.5 million (Canadian) when construction was halted due to WWI which left parts of the 3^rd floor interior unfinished.

Falling on hard times after the war, Sir Henry and wife, Lady Mary, had to auction off their belongings and the property was seized for unpaid taxes by the city in 1923-24. It operated as the Casa Loma Hotel from 1926-29. It sat vacant again through the early depression years. Then from 1937-2011, the Kiwanis Club operated it as a tourist attraction and event venue. Due to the mismanagement of funds, the city assumed control again in 2011 and in 2014 signed Liberty Entertainment Group to a long-term lease to manage the property.

Today, over 650,000 visitors come to Casa Loma annually, making it one of Toronto’s main attractions.

Approaching the Castle

As we walked up the hill to the entrance, we admired the rock wall surrounding the property with each rock individually mortared into place. I think our guide said there were over 100,000 stones in the wall. We then caught our first glimpse of Toronto’s castle.

First Floor

The main rooms on the first floor are the Great Hall, the Library, Dining Room, Serving Room, Sir Pellatt’s Study, and the beautiful Conservatory. The BlueBlood Steakhouse, one of the top Toronto steakhouses, is located in the ornate Oak Room, which took 3 years to carve. Access to the Garden Terrace is available from both the Great Hall and the Library. I love the ceiling details and stained glass!

Second Floor

On the second floor are Sir Pellatt’s and Lady Pellatt’s suites, along with the Windsor Room, designed to host any royalty that visited, another guest room, and the Round Room below one of the towers. We were privileged to find Sir Henry and Lady Mary in their suites when we visited! Lady Mary also had a fondness for Meissen porcelain – as seen in the chandeliers in her suite.

The second floor also has terraces with views towards Lake Ontario and downtown Toronto.

Third Floor

Today, the 3^rd floor is a museum dedicated to military artifacts and artwork representing campaigns involving Canadian forces. Sir Henry was knighted for his service with the Queen’s Own Rifles. During WWII the stables (officially described as under repair) were used by the military while developing U-boat sonar detectors. It reminded me of the WWII activities hidden in other notable “mansions” such as Biltmore in North Carolina and Bletchley House in England.

The most interesting piece of local history that I learned was about the Fenian Raid and Battle of Ridgeway in June 1866. I didn’t realize the Fenian’s were “militarily” active at this time outside of Ireland and England. The painting below, representative of WWI, is called It is Written by Brian Lorimer.

From the third floor, you can take the stairs to the attic and then up narrow spiral staircases to the tower lookouts. It was quite warm and I decided I really didn’t want to climb up and down those staircases. The views from the patio terrace would have to suffice for me!

Basement

Casa Loma has been used for a filming location in countless movies and TV shows from Chicago to X-men. Many house-related movie posters line the corridor in the basement which now contains a gift shop, a café, public bathrooms, the original wine cellar, a vault, and a theater/swimming pool. An underground tunnel runs from the basement of the mansion to the Hunting Lodge and on to the coach house and stables. There are also several hidden passageways in the house.

Coach House & Stables

We followed the 850-meter tunnel to the stables, noting the option to go to the hunting lodge along the way. A furnace and mechanical room were also located off the tunnel. Along the walls was an exhibit called Toronto’s Dark Side displaying large photos of the darkest days from Prohibition, The Great Depression, The Plague, the Great Toronto Fire, and the first plane crash in Toronto.

When you come up out of the tunnel at the stables, you find yourself in a foyer separating the tack room from the carriage room and stalls. There is also an antique car garage and potting shed on a wing off of the stalls wing. The architecture of the stables complements the mansion with its own tower.

Garden Terrace

We returned to the mansion and went out onto the garden terrace overlooking the grounds and the city of Toronto. Of course, with the growth of the city over the last century, the views of Lake Ontario are now blocked by all the skyscrapers, but it is still an impressive view of the city.

Our visit completed, we walked back down the hill to wait for the next HOHO bus to finish the circuit and return to our hotel. It was an impressive house with an interesting history and I’d recommend going there on any visit to Toronto, preferably on a cool day!