The King Edward Hotel

The King Edward Hotel opened in 1903 on King Street East near St. Lawrence Market, financed by George Gooderham, head of the Gooderham and Worts distilling family, and designed by architect E.J. Lennox, the same architect behind Old City Hall and Casa Loma. Known to generations of Torontonians simply as the "King Eddy," it was the city's first purpose-built luxury hotel, with a marble-columned lobby and rooftop garden that made it the default venue for the city's grandest social occasions for decades.

Decline and restoration

Like many grand downtown hotels, the King Edward fell into disrepair through the mid-20th century as newer hotels opened elsewhere in the city, and it has passed through multiple owners and restorations since. Its guest list over the decades includes Ernest Hemingway, who stayed there while working as a Toronto Star correspondent in the 1920s, and the Beatles, who stayed at the hotel during a 1960s Toronto stop. It remains an operating hotel today, one of the oldest continuously run in the city.

Sources

• Wikipedia — King Edward Hotel (Toronto)
• The Canadian Encyclopedia — E.J. Lennox

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