The OMNI King Edward Hotel, also known as the "King Eddy", is a historic luxury hotel in

Downtown Toronto Downtown Toronto is the main city centre of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Located entirely within the district of Old Toronto, it is approximately 16.6 square kilometres in area, bounded by Bloor Street to the northeast and Dupont Street to the nor ...

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. The hotel is located at 37 King Street East, and it occupies the entire block bounded by King Street on the north, Victoria Street on the east, Colborne Street on the south and Leader Lane on the west.

History

The King Edward Hotel was designed by Toronto architect

E.J. Lennox Edward James Lennox (September 12, 1854 – April 15, 1933) was a Toronto-based architect who designed several of the city's most notable landmarks in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, including Old City Hall (Toronto), Old City ...

for developer George Gooderham's Toronto Hotel Company, and was granted its name by namesake King Edward VII. Construction began in 1901, with the demolition of the Walker Building on the site. Built at a cost of , the hotel opened in 1903 with 400 rooms and 300 baths, and it claimed to be entirely fireproof. In 1921, an 18-storey tower, costing , designed by Chicago architect Henry Ives Cobb, with 530 additional rooms was added to the east of the original eight-storey structure, replacing the Sullivan Hotel on the site. On the two top floors of the tower is the Crystal Ballroom, that until the late 1950s was the most fashionable in the city. The room was closed in the late 1950s due to stricter fire codes and was not restored during the 1979-81 renovation. When the Omni Hotel chain invested in the hotel in 2013, restoring the ballroom was one of its announced goals. The ballroom re-opened in April 2017 after a closure of 38 years. Throughout the years, the hotel has passed through the hands of a number of owners. The

Metropolitan Life Insurance Company MetLife, Inc. is the holding corporation for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MLIC), better known as MetLife, and its affiliates. MetLife is among the largest global providers of insurance, annuities, and employee benefit programs, w ...

became owners in 1933 when it foreclosed on the mortgage. Between 1941 and 1950, the hotel passed between C. A. Ripley and Vernon Cardy. Cardy's Hotel chain also owned the Mount Royal Hotel in

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, the Royal Connaught Hotel in

Hamilton, Ontario Hamilton is a port city in the Canadian Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario. Hamilton has a 2021 Canadian census, population of 569,353 (2021), and its Census Metropolitan Area, census metropolitan area, which encompasses ...

, the General Brock Hotel in

Niagara Falls Niagara Falls is a group of three waterfalls at the southern end of Niagara Gorge, spanning the Canada–United States border, border between the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Ontario in Canada and the state of New York (s ...

, the Prince Edward Hotel in

Windsor, Ontario Windsor ( ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada. It is situated on the south bank of the Detroit River directly across from the U.S city of Detroit, Detroit, Michigan. Geographically located within but administratively independent of Esse ...

and the Alpine Inn in Sainte-Adèle, Quebec. In 1950, Sheraton purchased Cardy's hotels and assumed management of the property, renaming it ''The King Edward Sheraton''. The hotel dropped the Sheraton name in 1975, after the opening of the brand new Four Seasons Sheraton Hotel nearby, becoming the ''King Edward Hotel'', but it remained part of Sheraton for another three years, until 1978. After a number of years of decline, it was bought by Trans Nation, Inc., a partnership of Emilio Valentini and John Franciotti, in 1979 for $6.3 million and closed on September 2, 1979, for a $30 million restoration designed by Stanford Downey Architects Inc. The property reopened May 7, 1981, as part of Trusthouse Forte Hotels, which bought the hotel outright on December 23 of that year. When Forte acquired hotels from

Air France Air France (; legally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France, and is headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. The airline is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and is one of the founding members ...

in 1994, the King Edward was rechristened '' King Edward''. The chain was involved in several other acquisitions and mergers between 1996 and 2003 when the brand came under the ownership of Lehman Brothers Holdings. For the hotel's 100th anniversary, the Ontario Heritage Trust unveiled a commemorative plaque on May 8, 2003. Starwood purchased the brand from Lehman in 2005 and the hotel was renamed, dropping ''Royal'', to become simply '' King Edward''. In 2009, a consortium purchased the structure but retained to manage it. The new owners announced a major restoration that included creating 140 condominiums on the third through fifth floors which had been unused for a number of years. In 2012, Skyline Hotels & Resorts, one of the owners, assumed management and marketing from and the hotel became ''The King Edward Hotel''. Omni Hotels assumed management on August 1, 2013, when the hotel was renamed ''The Omni King Edward Hotel''. After managing the hotel for two years, Omni Hotels bought it outright on November 24, 2015.

Guests

Notable dignitaries and luminaries who stayed at the hotel have included

Rudolph Valentino Rodolfo Pietro Filiberto Raffaello Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguella (May 6, 1895 – August 23, 1926), known professionally as Rudolph Valentino and nicknamed The Latin Lover, was an Italian actor who starred in several well-known sile ...

Louis Armstrong Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several era ...

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the ...

Margaret Thatcher Margaret Hilda Thatcher, Baroness Thatcher (; 13 October 19258 April 2013), was a British stateswoman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1979 to 1990 and Leader of the Conservative Party (UK), Leader of th ...

Britney Spears Britney Jean Spears (born December 2, 1981) is an American singer. Often referred to as the "Princess of Pop", she has sold over 150 million records worldwide, making her one of the world's best-selling music artists. Cultural impact of Brit ...

, and

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway ( ; July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer and journalist. Known for an economical, understated style that influenced later 20th-century writers, he has been romanticized fo ...

who had lived in the hotel for a period.

The Beatles The Beatles were an English Rock music, rock band formed in Liverpool in 1960. The core lineup of the band comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are widely regarded as the Cultural impact of the Beatle ...

stayed at the hotel's royal suite during their first visit to Toronto, in 1964, and caused the hotel's biggest commotion to date, when 3,000 fans packed the streets and flooded the lobby. In 1969,

John Lennon John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer-songwriter, musician and activist. He gained global fame as the founder, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's ...

and

Yoko Ono Yoko Ono (, usually spelled in katakana as ; born February 18, 1933) is a Japanese multimedia artist, singer, songwriter, and peace activist. Her work also encompasses performance art and filmmaking. Ono grew up in Tokyo and moved to New York ...

stayed in the same royal suite a day before their bed-in for peace began. In February 1964, "moralists picketed" when Liz Taylor and

Richard Burton Richard Burton (; born Richard Walter Jenkins Jr.; 10 November 1925 – 5 August 1984) was a Welsh actor. Noted for his mellifluous baritone voice, Burton established himself as a formidable Shakespearean actor in the 1950s and gave a memor ...

stayed in a suite together; they were not married to each other at the time, causing a

scandal A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way a ...

In film

The King Edward has not only housed film stars but also film sets, from the mellow,

Leonard Cohen Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian songwriter, singer, poet, and novelist. Themes commonly explored throughout his work include faith and mortality, isolation and depression, betrayal and redemption, soc ...

’s 1983 musical '' I am a Hotel'', to the melodramatic,

Jamie Foxx Eric Marlon Bishop (born December 13, 1967), known professionally as Jamie Foxx, is an American actor, comedian, and singer. Known for his work in both the screen and music industries, his accolades include an Academy Award, a Grammy Award ...

’s film '' Bait'', which, during a stunt mishap, caused an explosion that shook the building and shattered windows. The hotel and the surrounding streets were used extensively in the filming of American Psycho (film). The opening scenes of The Boys season 4 took place at the hotel.

Gallery

OMNI hotel entrance, downtown Toronto.jpg, OMNI King Edward VII hotel entrance, Toronto Entrance stairwell, King Edward VII hotel.jpg, Hotel entrance stairs with Queen Elizabeth II portrait OMNI King Edward VII hotel foyer.jpg, King Edward VII portrait in the OMNI hotel Consort bar, downtown Toronto.jpg, Mary of Teck portrait in the Consort Bar

References

External links