page_title: Fairmont Royal York
section_title: Architecture
hierarchical_section_title: Fairmont Royal York / Design / Architecture
caption_attribution_description: Elevator lobby -- The Fairmont Royal York Hotel Toronto Canada
context_page_description: The Fairmont Royal York, formerly and commonly known as the Royal York, is a large historic luxury hotel in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located along Front Street West, the hotel is situated at the southern end of the Financial District, in Downtown Toronto. The Royal York was designed by Ross and Macdonald, in association with Sproatt and Rolph, and built by the Canadian Pacific Railway company. The hotel is presently managed by Fairmont Hotels and Resorts.
  Opened on 11 June 1929, the Châteauesque-styled building is 124-metre-tall, and contains 28 floors. It is considered one of Canada's grand railway hotels. After its completion, the building was briefly the tallest building in Toronto, as well as the tallest building in the country, and the British Empire, until the nearby Canadian Bank of Commerce Tower was built the following year. The building has undergone several extensive renovations since it first opened, with its first major renovation in 1972. An underground walkway linking the hotel with the Royal Bank Plaza and Union Station form part of the Toronto's PATH underground city system.
context_section_description: Shortly after acquiring the property, Canadian Pacific Hotels, a division of the Canadian Pacific Railway, announced its plan to demolish the Queen's Hotel in order to construct a new hotel. The building's was designed by a Canadian architectural firm, Ross and Macdonald, in association with Sproatt and Rolph. Both firms had designed buildings for Canadian Pacific Hotels prior to the Royal York Hotel.
   
  The building design went through several drafts before its final draft, "H plan," was adopted. The plan saw the development of a towering central element, in an effort to distinguish itself from the buildings of the nearby Eaton's Annex. The building's towering design also enabled most rooms and public spaces to face either the downtown core of the city, or the Toronto waterfront and Lake Ontario. Completed in 1929, the Châteauesque-styled hotel includes a row of pointed arches on the third story, and a small peaked roof with tiny dormers at the top of the pitched roof. In addition, grotesques shaped as griffins are present at various corners of the hotel. The building's exterior is made of Indiana Limestone, which encases the hotel's 28-story steel frame.
  Along with traditional features found on most Chateauesque-styled hotel, the building also incorporated an Art Deco setback and Romanesque-inspired decor. The balanced design of the building (prior to the addition of the east wing) was achieved through the application of semi-neoclassical motifs, and groups of arcaded windows. The interior of the building was largely created in an Edwardian architectural style. Its interior features a number of crystal chandeliers, and a hand-carved wood lobby ceiling.
  The building stands 124-metre-tall (407 ft), containing 28 floors primarily made up of guest rooms and other hotel amenities. After the building's completion, it was briefly the tallest building in the British Empire, and Canada. The building would lose the record the following year, with the erection of the nearby Canadian Bank of Commerce Tower on King Street.
  Work to enlarge the hotel commenced in 1957, and was completed in 1959. The new east wing expansion was designed by the architecture firm Ross, Patterson, Townsend, & Fish, in association with Charles B. Dolphin.
caption: Elevators near the main lobby. The interior of the hotel was originally designed in an Edwardian style.
exif: {"Image Make": "NIKON CORPORATION", "Image Model": "NIKON D50", "Image Orientation": "0", "Image XResolution": "300", "Image YResolution": "300", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Ver.1.00", "Image DateTime": "2007:05:26 12:49:00", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Co-sited", "Image ExifOffset": "208", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "28659", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5044", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/25", "EXIF FNumber": "19/5", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2007:05:26 12:49:00", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2007:05:26 12:49:00", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "37/10", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Tungsten (incandescent light)", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire", "EXIF FocalLength": "22", "EXIF SubSecTime": "30", "EXIF SubSecTimeOriginal": "30", "EXIF SubSecTimeDigitized": "30", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "Uncalibrated", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2256", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1496", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "28535", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CVAPattern": "[0, 2, 0, 2, 2, 1, 1, 0]", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Custom", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Manual", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "33", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "Low gain up", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Soft", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "6ebeb577ae4421c0e0cea82523f4c62d"}