Casa Loma (Spanish for "Hill House") is a

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

castle A castle is a type of fortification, fortified structure built during the Middle Ages predominantly by the nobility or royalty and by Military order (monastic society), military orders. Scholars usually consider a ''castle'' to be the private ...

-style mansion and garden in midtown

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 Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada, that is now a historic house museum and landmark. It was constructed from 1911 to 1914 as a residence for financier Sir Henry Pellatt. The architect was E. J. Lennox, who designed several other city landmarks. Casa Loma sits at an elevation of above sea level, above

Lake Ontario Lake Ontario is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is bounded on the north, west, and southwest by the Canadian province of Ontario, and on the south and east by the U.S. state of New York (state), New York. The Canada–United Sta ...

. Due to its unique architectural character in Toronto, Casa Loma has been a popular filming location for movies and television. It is also a popular venue for wedding ceremonies, and Casa Loma can be rented in the evenings after the museum closes to the public.

History

In 1903, financier Henry Pellatt purchased 25 lots from developers Kertland and Rolf. Pellatt commissioned architect E. J. Lennox to design Casa Loma, with construction beginning in 1911, starting with the massive stables, potting shed and Hunting Lodge (a.k.a. coach-house) a few hundred feet north of the main building. The Hunting Lodge is a two-storey house with servants' quarters. As soon as the stable complex was completed, Pellatt sold his summer house in

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

(burned down in the 1920s but the Lennox designed groundskeeper's home at 12 Courcelette Road remains) to his son and moved to the Hunting Lodge. The stables were used as a construction site for the mansion (and also served as the quarters for the male servants), with some of the machinery still remaining in the rooms under the stables. The house cost about $3.5 million (in 1910s CAD) and took 299 workers three years to build. Due to the start of World War I, construction was halted. At 98 rooms covering 64,700 square feet, it was the largest private residence in Canada. Notable amenities included an

elevator An elevator (American English) or lift (Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems suc ...

, an

oven upA double oven A ceramic oven An oven is a tool that is used to expose materials to a hot environment. Ovens contain a hollow chamber and provide a means of heating the chamber in a controlled way. In use since antiquity, they have been use ...

large enough to cook an ox, two vertical passages for

pipe organ The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurised air (called ''wind'') through the organ pipes selected from a Musical keyboard, keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single tone and pitch, the pipes are provide ...

s, a central vacuum, two

secret passage Secret passages, also commonly referred to as hidden passages or secret tunnels, are hidden routes used for stealthy travel, escape, or movement of people and goods. They are sometimes inside buildings leading to secret rooms. Others allow pe ...

s in Pellatt's ground-floor office, a pool, and three

bowling Bowling is a Throwing sports#Target sports, target sport and recreational activity in which a player rolls a bowling ball, ball toward Bowling pin, pins (in pin bowling) or another target (in target bowling). Most references to ''bowling'' are ...

lanes in the basement (the last two were never completed). Most of the third floor was left unfinished, and today serves as the Regimental Museum for The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada. Pellatt joined the regiment as a

rifleman A rifleman is an infantry soldier armed with a rifling, rifled long gun. Although the rifleman role had its origin with 16th century hand cannoneers and 17th century musketeers, the term originated in the 18th century with the introduction o ...

and rose through the ranks to become the

commanding officer The commanding officer (CO) or commander, or sometimes, if the incumbent is a general officer, commanding general (CG), is the officer in command of a military unit. The commanding officer has ultimate authority over the unit, and is usually give ...

. He was knighted for his dedication to the regiment. Pellatt later served as the honorary colonel and was promoted to major-general upon retirement. During the depression that followed the war, the City of Toronto increased Casa Loma's property taxes from $600 per year to $1,000 a month, and Pellatt, already experiencing financial difficulties, auctioned off $1.5 million in art and $250,000 in furnishings. Pellatt was able to enjoy life in the mansion for less than ten years, leaving in 1923. In late 1920s, investors operated Casa Loma for a short time as a luxury hotel. During

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic b ...

, it became a popular nightspot for wealthy Americans. The Orange Blossoms, later known as

Glen Gray Glenn Gray Knoblauch (June 7, 1900 – August 23, 1963), known professionally as Glen Gray, was an American jazz saxophonist and leader of the Casa Loma Orchestra.'' The Mississippi Rag'', "Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra," George A. ...

and the Casa Loma Orchestra, played there for eight months in 1927–1928. Shortly thereafter, they went on a tour of North America and became a major swing era dance band. The city seized Casa Loma in 1924 for unpaid taxes, and for years, the building was left vacant. In the 1930s, CFRB broadcaster Claire Wallace spent a night at Casa Loma to gather material for a story about

ghost In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...

s and supernatural phenomena, and she later broadcast an appeal to save the building from demolition. Her broadcast was heard by the vice-president of a local Kiwanis Club, and subsequently Casa Loma was leased in 1937 by the Kiwanis Club of West Toronto, later the Kiwanis Club of Casa Loma (KCCL), which began operating the mansion under a sole-source contract as a tourist destination. During World War II, the stables were used to conceal research and production of

sonar Sonar (sound navigation and ranging or sonic navigation and ranging) is a technique that uses sound propagation (usually underwater, as in submarine navigation) to navigate, measure distances ( ranging), communicate with or detect objects o ...

, and for construction of sonar devices (known as ASDIC) for

U-boat U-boats are Submarine#Military, naval submarines operated by Germany, including during the World War I, First and Second World Wars. The term is an Anglicization#Loanwords, anglicized form of the German word , a shortening of (), though the G ...

detection, according to a book about the "castle". The area was closed, behind an "Under Repairs" sign. The suggestion that the stables were under renovation allowed workers of the secret facility to come and go without suspicion. Casa Loma is often claimed to be the location of Station M that manufactured covert devices for agents, claiming that the book ''Inside Camp X'' provides this information. In 2015, however, author Lynn Philip Hodgson rejected this in an interview with the ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

''. "Nobody knows where Station M was. You won't read where it was in any book." KCCL managed Casa Loma for 74 years, until 2011. Its tenure was not without controversy, with Pellatt's great-grandniece Trelawny Howell starting a campaign for an open-tender lease process in 2005, and the organization disputing her relationship with Pellatt in 2010. A 2006 advisory committee led by former MPP Ron Kanter, and its subsequent reports, recommended that the city turn the mansion's management over to a new "Casa Loma Trust". However, a city manager's report in 2008 recommended extending the city's lease with KCCL for 20 years, and in July 2008, it was renewed. Meanwhile, from 1997 until 2012, the mansion underwent a 15-year, $33-million exterior restoration largely funded by the city, which also created a new board of trustees in 2008, including seven KCCL members and seven city appointees. The city's renewed management agreement included a stipulation that KCCL would use the mansion's net revenues to help pay for upgrades; however, the organization used the fund to cover operating shortfalls instead, and there was only $335,000 in the account by 2011, rather than the $1.5-million originally projected. As a result, in 2011, the city temporarily resumed management of Casa Loma and began welcoming bids from the private sector in its search for a new operator. In January 2014, the city entered a new long-term lease and operating agreement with Liberty Entertainment Group, led by President and CEO Nick Di Donato, which agreed to spend $7.4 million to continue the mansion's upgrades. The company's plans also included a fine dining facility. The restaurant, Blueblood Steakhouse, opened in summer 2017.

Architecture

Sir Henry imported artisans from Europe to design much of the furniture and other features of the mansion. Casa Loma has five acres of gardens. A

tunnel A tunnel is an underground or undersea passageway. It is dug through surrounding soil, earth or rock, or laid under water, and is usually completely enclosed except for the two portals common at each end, though there may be access and ve ...

connects Casa Loma to the Hunting Lodge and to the stables (garage, potting shed, stalls, carriage room, and

tack Thermoproteati is a kingdom of archaea. Its synonym, "TACK", is an acronym for Thaumarchaeota (now Nitrososphaerota), Aigarchaeota, Crenarchaeota (now Thermoproteota), and Korarchaeota (now Thermoproteota), the first groups discovered. They ...

rooms).

Oak Room

The Oak Room (originally called the Napoleon Drawing Room) is the most decorated room in the house, and was used for formal occasions. It is encased in wood panels in the style of

Grinling Gibbons Grinling Gibbons (4 April 1648 – 3 August 1721) was an Anglo-Dutch sculptor and wood carver known for his work in England, including Windsor Castle, the Royal Hospital Chelsea and Hampton Court Palace, St Paul's Cathedral and other London church ...

, which took three artisans three years to carve. The highly ornamented plaster ceiling was made by Italian craftsmen, and was enhanced by the use of indirect lighting in the ceiling. Among other fixtures, the room featured a high

Louis XVI style Louis XVI style, also called ''Louis Seize'', is a style of architecture, furniture, decoration and art which developed in France during the 19-year reign of Louis XVI (1774–1792), just before the French Revolution. It saw the final phase of t ...

faux-gilt carved light standard with 24 bulbs.

Other rooms

Other rooms in Casa Loma include The Conservatory, a room that showcases plant life. The Conservatory also includes a fountain at one end of the room. The Round Room is designed to fit beneath the mansion's tower; this room is notable for its doors and windows, which curve to follow the shape of the room.

Main floor

*Billiards Room *The Conservatory *Dining Room *Great Hall *Library *Oak Room *Peacock Alley *Sir Henry's Study *Serving Room *Smoking Room

Second floor

*Sir Henry's Suite *Sir Henry's Bathroom *Lady Pellatt's Suite *Lady Pellatt's Bathroom *Girl Guides Exhibit *Guest Suite *Windsor Room *Round Room

Third floor

* The Queen's Own Rifles of Canada Regimental Museum *The 2 Intelligence Company and Camp X Museum *Stairs to Towers *The Kiwanis Room *The Garden Room *Servant's Room *The Austin Room

Basement

*Gift Shop (Bowling lanes and shooting range - never completed) *Castle Café (Gymnasium - never completed) *Swimming Pool (Never completed) *Wine Cellar *Tunnel to Hunting Lodge and Stables

Stables

*Garage *Potting Shed *Standing Stalls with horses' names and box stalls *Carriage Room *Tack Rooms *Hunting Lodge

Exterior

* Gardens * Parking lots

Exhibits

Girl Guide exhibit

The Girl Guide Exhibit was opened on the second floor of Casa Loma in 1973. The relationship between the Girl Guides and Casa Loma extends back to Lady Pellatt, who frequently invited the

Girl Guides Girl Guides (or Girl Scouts in the United States and some other countries) are organisations within the Scout Movement originally and largely still for girls and women only. The Girl Guides began in 1910 with the formation of Girlguiding, The ...

to her home. Their first visit was in 1913, when 250 girls and their leaders toured the conservatories and stables, climbed the circular staircase to the top turret and then were served tea in the Palm Room. In March 1914, Lady Pellatt watched the Guides' annual fête from her bedroom window as she was too ill to leave her room. Rallies became an annual event at the house. Guides also skated on the house's

curling Curling is a sport in which players slide #Curling stone, stones on a sheet of ice toward a target area that is segmented into four concentric circles. It is related to bowls, boules, and shuffleboard. Two teams, each with four players, take t ...

rink in winter. Girl Guiding events have continued in recent years, including the 75th anniversary and the 100th anniversary celebrations of Guiding in Canada were held at Casa Loma.

Vintage car exhibition

, the garage and carriage room feature an exhibition of vintage cars from the early 1900s. File:1910 Maxwell Model Q2.jpg, 1910 Maxwell Model Q Standard File:1910 Maxwell Model Q Standard.jpg, 1910 Maxwell Model Q Standard File:1922 Ford Model T Woody.jpg, 1922

Ford Model T The Ford Model T is an automobile that was produced by the Ford Motor Company from October 1, 1908, to May 26, 1927. It is generally regarded as the first mass-affordable automobile, which made car travel available to middle-class Americans. Th ...

Woody File:Ford Model T 1924-1925.jpg, 1924-1925

Touring File:1929 Ford Model A.jpg, 1929 Ford Model A

Location

Casa Loma is located on Austin Terrace at Spadina Road, on an

escarpment An escarpment is a steep slope or long cliff that forms as a result of faulting or erosion and separates two relatively level areas having different elevations. Due to the similarity, the term '' scarp'' may mistakenly be incorrectly used inte ...

(Davenport Hill) above Davenport Road. Davenport runs along the bottom of the escarpment, which was the shoreline of Lake Iroquois, the predecessor of

(coordinates ). Casa Loma affords views down the escarpment and Spadina Avenue into the heart of Toronto. The stables are located at 330 Walmer Road and the Hunting Lodge at 328 Walmer Road. Casa Loma is served by St. Clair West Station and Dupont Station on the Yonge-University line of the

Toronto subway The Toronto subway is a rapid transit system serving Toronto and the neighbouring city of Vaughan in Ontario, Canada, operated by the Toronto Transit Commission (TTC). The subway system is a rail network consisting of three heavy-capacity rai ...

Film location

Casa Loma is a popular location for use in film and television. It has served as a location for movies such as ''

X-Men The X-Men are a superhero team in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer/editor Stan Lee and artist/co-plotter Jack Kirby, the team first appeared in Uncanny X-Men, ''The X-Men'' #1 (September 1963). Although initial ...

'', '' Strange Brew'', ''

Chicago Chicago is the List of municipalities in Illinois, most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, it is the List of Unite ...

'', '' The Tuxedo'', '' Scott Pilgrim vs. the World'', '' Warehouse 13'', '' Crimson Peak'', '' Twitches'', ''

Twitches Too ''Twitches Too'' is a 2007 American fantasy drama film released as a Disney Channel Original Movie. It is the sequel to the Disney Channel Original Movie '' Twitches'', released in 2005. The film began production in late April 2007 and was rele ...

'', '' The Pacifier'', and ''

Titans In Greek mythology, the Titans ( ; ) were the pre-Twelve Olympians, Olympian gods. According to the ''Theogony'' of Hesiod, they were the twelve children of the primordial parents Uranus (mythology), Uranus (Sky) and Gaia (Earth). The six male ...

'' where it stands in for

Wayne Manor Wayne Manor is a fictional mansion appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. It is the home of Bruce Wayne, owner of Wayne Enterprises, who is also the superhero Batman. The house is depicted as a large mansion on the outskirts ...

. Comic books and children's novels that have used it include the Scott Pilgrim series and Eric Wilson's murder mystery ''The Lost Treasure of Casa Loma''. In the

CBC Television CBC Television (also known as CBC TV, or simply CBC) is a Television in Canada, Canadian English-language terrestrial television, broadcast television network owned by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, the national public broadcasting, p ...

show ''

Being Erica ''Being Erica'' is a Canadian comedy-drama television series that aired on CBC Television, CBC from January 5, 2009, to December 12, 2011. Created by Jana Sinyor, the series was originally announced by the CBC as ''The Session'', but was later r ...

'', the episode "Mi Casa, Su Casa Loma" features Casa Loma prominently as the place where main character Erica Strange works. It also appeared in the television adaptation of R. L. Stine's '' Goosebumps'' series' ''A Night In Terror Tower''. Casa Loma also features prominently in the biography-documentary of Sir Henry Pellatt, ''The Pellatt Newsreel: the Man who Built Casa Loma'', which was nominated for a 2009 Gemini for Best Biography Documentary. TV show '' Hemlock Grove'' was also filmed there as well as '' The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones'' and related '' Shadowhunters.'' Exterior shots of the building were used in the Gothic TV show '' Strange Paradise''. It is also the filming location of the 2016 TV film '' The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do the Time Warp Again'', where scenes at Dr. Frank N. Furter's castle and the movie theatre where the audience participated were filmed. Ivy Levan's performance of the song " Science Fiction Double Feature" was filmed at Casa Loma (a movie theatre marquee was placed at the front entrance of the castle for filming). In 2018, Casa Loma served as a filming location for the 2019 American

black comedy Black comedy, also known as black humor, bleak comedy, dark comedy, dark humor, gallows humor or morbid humor, is a style of comedy that makes light of subject matter that is generally considered taboo, particularly subjects that are normally ...

thriller '' Ready or Not''.''Ready or Not'' - Filming & Production / IMDB
/ref> In 2022, Casa Loma was the filming location of the music video for '' Wait for U'' by

Future The future is the time after the past and present. Its arrival is considered inevitable due to the existence of time and the laws of physics. Due to the apparent nature of reality and the unavoidability of the future, everything that currently ex ...

and

Drake Drake may refer to: Animals and creatures * A male duck * Drake (mythology), a term related to and often synonymous with dragon People and fictional characters * Drake (surname), a list of people and fictional characters with the family ...

. In 2025, Top Chef: Destination Canada filmed the Episode 4 Elimination challenge at Casa Loma.

References

External links

*
BlueBlood Steakhouse at Casa Loma

Casa Loma Trust
{{Toronto landmarks Houses in Toronto Castles in Canada Scouting and Guiding in Canada Gothic Revival architecture in Toronto Scottish baronial architecture in Canada E. J. Lennox buildings Museums in Toronto Historic house museums in Ontario Tourist attractions in Toronto Queen's Own Rifles of Canada City of Toronto Heritage Properties Reportedly haunted houses