The Old Mill Toronto is an event venue with a
boutique hotel
Boutique hotels are small-capacity Hotel, hotels that provide more personalized service than typical hotels. They typically have fewer than a hundred rooms, and are considered more "trendy" and "intimate", often due to their location in urban ar ...
, spa and restaurant, in
The Kingsway neighbourhood of
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
, Ontario, Canada. It includes facilities for business meetings, conferences, celebrations and weddings, with an on-site chapel and wedding garden. Its restaurant has served afternoon tea since it opened in 1914 and serves Sunday family brunch and dinner buffets.
The facility is located on Old Mill Road north of
Bloor Street
Bloor Street is an east–west arterial road in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Bloor Street runs from the Prince Edward Viaduct, which spans the Don River (Ontario), Don River Valley, westward into Mississauga where it ends at Central Parkway. East ...
, just west of the
Humber River. The
Old Mill subway station is a short distance away.
History
The Old Mill is near the site of Toronto's first
sawmill
A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a facility where logging, logs are cut into lumber. Modern sawmills use a motorized saw to cut logs lengthwise to make long pieces, and crosswise to length depending on standard or custom sizes ...
, built c. 1793. A series of mill complexes were built on the site, all of which were destroyed by fire. The last of these was built in 1848 by William Tyrell and burned in 1881. Its multi-storey ruins stood until the year 2000.
The Old Mill Tea Garden restaurant was founded by Robert Home Smith in 1914, next to the mill's ruins. It was part of the Kingsway residential development by Smith.
Over the ensuing decades, 16 banquet rooms were added. In the 1980s, a wedding chapel was built adjacent to the historic mill's ruins. These ruins were demolished in the year 2000, and a modern hotel was built on the site, in the architectural style of the adjacent 1914 restaurant.
The Tea Garden was a place for dancing to
big band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and ...
music in the 1920s, and still today this tradition carries on.
It was designated as a heritage property in 1983 by the former city of Etobicoke and retains that designation with Toronto. An historical plaque of
Étienne Brûlé
Étienne Brûlé (; – c. June 1633) was the first European colonization of the Americas, European explorer to journey beyond the St. Lawrence River into what is now known as Canada. He spent much of his early adult life among the Wyandot peop ...
is near the main entrance.
It has changed owners three times, and was bought by the Kalmar family in 1991.
In 2015, the property was sold to OMT Hospitality.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Old Mill Toronto
Hotels in Toronto
City of Toronto Heritage Properties
1914 establishments in Ontario