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The back of The King Edward on Colborne Street
is calmer than the more ostentatious
main entrance aptly located on King Street.
The hotel takes up a full square block, with King St. and
Colborne St. north to south, and Victoria St. and Leader Lane
east to west. It is also only a block away from Leader Lane
to the Anglican St. James Cathedral on Church and King.
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Here below is some architectural background and royal history (of sorts - Hollywood/celebrity and British) about the King Edward hotel, which is now part of the Le Méridien hotel chain.
Built in 1903, the King Edward was Toronto’s first luxury hotel. New York City had the Waldorf-Astoria, Paris had The Ritz and soon enough, a group of Toronto elites decided it was time for their city to join the ranks.About the Le Méridien hotel chain:
They formed the Toronto Hotel Company in 1899 with this goal in mind. After going through two architects and near-bankruptcy, the King Edward was opened in 1903 with eight floors and 400 rooms.
It was built to impress from the onset, boasting a barber shop, a mahogany cigar bar, a drug store, a bank, separate parlours for men and women, and a golden-coloured ballroom.
“It’s pretty amazing, from the columns to the ceiling,” said Tim Reardan, the hotel’s general manager. “It’s pretty breathtaking to see the attention to detail in the architecture.”
The Crystal Ball Room came just in time for the roaring 20′s, part of an 18-story, 500-room addition to the hotel in 1921.
The room hosted many special occasions including King George VII’s appearance at a state dinner, a reception for actress Jean Harlow, and an announcement to Canadian doctors and nurses that a cure for polio was found.
Other memorable figures followed.
“The Beatles, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton…all of that happened at the hotel, which is impressive,” Reardan said, adding his favourite famous check-in was when John Lennon and Yoko Ono stayed a night during their bed-in for peace.
But with the rise of the Great Depression came the fall of the hotel’s golden years. Several near-bankruptcies, dramatic changes to the original interior from frequently-shifting ownership, a falling occupancy rate and even a demolition proposal in 1974 threatened to end the King Edward’s reign.
Fortunately for the hotel, the City of Toronto named it a heritage site to preserve the building, yet the interior continues to change. Recent purchasers Mishorim Development Ltd. began renovations this year and are converting three floors into condos.
The Crystal Ball Room is next, but hotel staff said it will be to transform the room into a place suited for weddings, receptions and the like.
They added Mishorim is the first owner of the King Edward in 40 years that plans to take on the costly retrofitting of the room so it can stand up to modern fire codes.
The Le Méridien brand was established in 1972 by Air France "to provide a home away from home for its customers." The first Le Méridien property was a 1,000-room hotel in Paris — Le Méridien Etoile. Within two years of operation the group had 10 hotels in Europe and Africa. Within the first six years the number of hotels had risen to 21 hotels in Europe, Africa, the French West Indies, Canada, South America, the Middle East and Mauritius. By 1991, the total number of Le Méridien properties had risen to 58.Currently it is:
[A]n international hotel brand with a European perspective, formerly headquartered in the United Kingdom, with 130 properties. It is owned by Starwood Hotels Resorts Worldwide.
Le Méridien is a global hotel chain with a portfolio of more than 120 hotels in over 50 countries worldwide. The majority of its properties are located in cities and resorts throughout Europe, Africa, the Middle East, Asia Pacific and the Americas.
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The main entrance, with the royal crowns on the doors
Here is a pdf file (50 pages) which relates the history of the hotel. There are many vintage photos and drawings of:
- Famous guests and royalties
- The hotel (internal and external)
- Vintage banquet invitations and photographs of banquets
- Vintage posters, advertisements and postcards through the decades
- Services and attractions for the Edwardian ladies and gentlemen
- Murals of Canadian history
- Various hotel services (such as bellboys, liveried drivers and doormen, and kitchen staff)
- Original architectural drawings
- Newspaper clippings from as far back as 1903
- The 1921 skyscraper expansion
- Toronto's King Street in the 1920s, with cars and pedestrians
- Popular dance and jazz bands performing in the hotel ballroom
- The CKGW radio station studio in the hotel from 1928 - 1933
- Toronto's Centennial celebrations in 1934
- As well as some more contemporary accounts of the hotel's history
The Ontario Heritage Trust has placed an historical plaque in front of the building.