Casa Loma

What does a city get when a rich guy goes bankrupt?

The city gets all the rich guys things!

The story of Casa Loma is the story of Sir Henry Pellatt and his business ingenuity. He is said to have been really good at what he did and over achieved at every thing he did. He was the first to supply the city of Toronto gas powered lighting for streets and basically made his fortune from that endeavour. He also dabbled in many other businesses and made money in all of them.

In 1911 he decided to build a lavish home for himself and his family “Casa Loma” which means “House on the Hill” or something like that. He originally started with $17 million for this palacial home but soon ran out of money considering all the unique things that were being out into the house.

His firm went into more and more debt and he eventually lost all his money during the World War when he tried to make rich people buy homes near his castle and did not succeed. He also lost his monopoly on the electricity supply when the government decided to open up the market so to speak.

So, the place was put up for auction. I think it is currently owned by the city of  Toronto and operated by the Kiwanis Club of Casa Loma. It’s a big tourist attraction now. People come there from all over to see what you can do if you have tons of money.

The rooms in the castle are themed and all are different. The bathrooms all have hot and cold running water. The heating is done with coal of course, tons of it were used every year.

There are stables on the outside and a greenhouse and a garage. But you don’t have to go to them from the outside through the cold and the snow. You can use the 800 foot tunnel that connects all these areas to the house. This also helps if you have unwanted guests. Other hidden passages allow a person to quickly disappear from the ground level study and appear in a first floor bedroom, but only if you are petite.

There was also a heated pool that was closed off from the public. But the drawings of the pool were nice. The whole place was full of kids on school trips. there were shows and stuff and the kids coul dress up in costumes and pretend to be old people.