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4. THE ONTARIO HOUSE HOTEL |
| The Ontario House Hotel of the late 1830s was impressive in both location and design. Situated on the northwest corner of Market (now Wellington) and Church Streets, it offered visitors a wonderful view of the harbour(1). It was first built as the family home of Peter MacDougall, a French Canadian from Niagara(2). Sensitive to fashionable architecture, the MacDougall home was tastefully designed to reflect the trends in Common American Architecture of the period. From domestic to commercial, the home emerged as the Ontario House Hotel in 1829 through the efforts of John Brown(3). Brown, a Niagara Falls hotelkeeper, then sold the hotel to David Botsford in 1830(4). The hotel changed hands several times throughout the years 1830-1845, with one of the more prominent landlords being William Campbell [site 36]. The Ontario House Hotel was the grand hotel of early Toronto. Its location was ideal for the traveller as it sat directly across from both the stagecoach office [site 3] and the steamboat wharf. The many visitors to Niagara Falls were enticed to cross the lake by steamer in order to explore Toronto and to stay in the luxurious Ontario House Hotel(5). Like today another role of the hotel was to serve the community as a meeting place and public venue. For instance, during the election riot of 1841, Reformers began their victory procession from Ontario House(6). In 1845 the Ontario House Hotel became the Wellington Hotel, under the ownership of Russel Inglis who later rented the two upper storeys of the coffin block [site 3](7). The early hotels of Toronto, whether in name, custom or legend, are testimony to the young city’s energy, growth and the culture of everyday life. |
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| © Town of York Historical Society, 2006- All rights reserved. |