This week we looked at one of Toronto’s historical landmarks; Casa Loma or “House on the Hill.” Many students recognized the famous turret roof tops visible from Spadina Road and Davenport Road. We looked at the fascinating history behind this historical landmark which all began with Sir Henry Pellatt…
Henry Pellatt was born to his British parents in Kingston, Ontario on January 6, 1859. When Henry Pellatt was just twenty he married Mary Dodgeson and at twenty-three became a full partner in his father’s stock brokerage firm Pellatt and Pellatt. At this time, All of Sir Henry’s investments turned very profitable; he founded the Toronto Electric Light Company and for a while enjoyed a monopoly on the supply of street lighting to the city of Toronto. In 1892 Sir Henry invested in the Canadian Pacific Railroad and in the North West Land Company, which were very profitable as well. By 1901, Sir Henry Pellatt was chairman of twenty-one Canadian companies with interests in mining, insurance, land and electricity. In 1902, he and his partners won the rights to build the first Canadian hydro-generating plant at Niagara Falls. He was knighted in 1905 for his military service with the Queen’s Own Rifles.
In 1911, armed with a fortune of $17M, Sir Pellatt drew up plans with Canadian architect E.J. Lennox to build his dream home, a castle in the city of Toronto. Casa Loma took 300 workers a day for three years and $3.5M to build.
After the castle was built, not only did the Pellatt’s host grand social events but they were involved in a number of philanthropic projects including Trinity College, Grace Hospital and the St. John’s Ambulance Brigade. Lady Pellatt, in spite of her frail health, played an active role in the promotion of Girl Guides of Canada. The Pellatt’s only lived in the castle for ten years, after which the one sure source of income from the monopoly of electrical power vanished when political decisions allowed for public ownership of electricity. After the war the economy slumped and Pellatt and Pellatt declared bankruptcy. Pellatt would always claim that it was the extraordinary high property taxes that went from $600 per year to $1000 a month that was the final straw that would force the Pellatts to move to their farm in King township in 1924. Lady Pellatt passed away later that year at the age of sixty-seven.
After Sir Henry Pellatt left Casa Loma in 1924. architect William Sparling put forward a proposal to convert the Casa Loma house to a Toronto luxury hotel; The Casa Loma Hotel which was open from 1926 – 1929. With the onset of the Depression, Casa Loma once again remained vacant from 1933 – 1937 and the City of Toronto even considered demolishing Casa Loma. Instead The Kiwanis Club of West Toronto began operating Casa Loma as a tourist attraction in 1937. This agreement continued until 2011. In August 2011, the new Casa Loma Corporation was formed. The City of Toronto remains the sole owner of the property.
Today, each year over 500,000 visitors tour Toronto’s Casa Loma and the historic estate gardens. In today’s class student’s were inspired by the unique blue grey stonework and terracotta coloured roof tops and created their own version of “Casa Loma.” First, students sketched out the base structure of the castle and used blue chalk pastels for the sky. To create the castle walls, students used a scraping technique with old gift cards and then added detail work including turret roofs and parapets with fine acrylic brushes and paint. 
Great work to all the future architects in the class!