Inn on the Park
Encyclopedia
North York, Ontario
North York is a dissolved municipality within the current city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Geographically, it comprises the central part of the northern section of Toronto. As of the 2006 Census, it has a population of 635,370. The official 2001 census count was 608,288...
.
Urban Resort
The Inn on the Park was built three years after (1963) the founding of the parent company Four Seasons and the Four Seasons Motor Inn. This site marked the first attempt to build a hotel outside of downtown Toronto. Surrounded by 600 acres (2.4 km²) of parkland.The site was chosen as it was located not far from the Don Valley Parkway
Don Valley Parkway
The Don Valley Parkway is a controlled-access six-lane municipal expressway in Toronto connecting the Gardiner Expressway in downtown Toronto with Ontario Highway 401, the Macdonald–Cartier Freeway. North of Highway 401, it continues as Ontario Highway 404. The parkway runs through...
and focused on the company's emphasis of resort and business travel.
Built on what was still farmland in North York, the first phase consisted of the hotel's lower building, built by architect Peter Dickinson
Peter Dickinson (architect)
Peter Allgood Rastall Dickinson, , was a British-born architect responsible for many modernist buildings in Toronto....
, who built the first Four Seasons hotel in 1961. From the air the hotel appeared as the Star of David
Star of David
The Star of David, known in Hebrew as the Shield of David or Magen David is a generally recognized symbol of Jewish identity and Judaism.Its shape is that of a hexagram, the compound of two equilateral triangles...
, a tribute to founder Isadore Sharp's
Isadore Sharp
Isadore "Issy" Sharp, OC is a Canadian businessman and founder and chairman of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.In 1952, he graduated from Ryerson University with a diploma in Architectural Technology...
Jewish origins.
Growth and Focus on Luxury
Four Seasons began to change their corporate strategy with focus on luxury starting in 1971. At the Inn on the Park a taller tower, at 23 storeys and having 269 rooms, was added in 1971. A 30000 square feet (2,787.1 m²) convention area and two restaurants (Harvest Restaurant and The Terrace Lounge) were also added.Decline and Demise
A decade after the expansioon, the Inn on the Park suffered a setback. The second wing suffered a fire involving loss of six lives in January 1981, including Canadian television producer and director Cecil "Cy" True.The building of the Four Seasons Yorkville in the same year as the expansion of the Don Mills property lead to financial crisis for the company in 1974.
By the 1980s the chain's focus went global and the Don Mills hotel was getting tired and did not attract the same customers as the Yorkville site. The site was sold in the 1980s.
The hotel was converted to a Holiday Inn
Holiday Inn
Holiday Inn is a brand of hotels, formally a economy motel chain, forming part of the British InterContinental Hotels Group . It is one of the world's largest hotel chains with 238,440 bedrooms and 1,301 hotels globally. There are currently 5 hotels in the pipeline...
(signage replace the Inn on the Park on the lower tower) and later by new owners Rowntree Enterprises as Toronto Don Valley Hotel. The final owners saw little potential for running a run down hotel and opted to re-developing. The hotel ceased operating in 2005 and the original hotel, restaurants and convention centre were demolished in 2006 to give way to a Lexus
Lexus
is the luxury vehicle division of Japanese automaker Toyota Motor Corporation. First introduced in 1989 in the United States, Lexus is now sold globally and has become Japan's largest-selling make of premium cars. The Lexus marque is marketed in over 70 countries and territories worldwide, and has...
dealership. The iconic stone wall was retained at the site. The 1981 tower was retained and plans are to converted it into a seniors' residence.
In 2009, Four Seasons
Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts
Four Seasons Hotels, Inc. is a Canadian-based international ultra-luxury, five-star hotel management company. Travel + Leisure magazine and Zagat Survey rank the hotel chain's 84 properties among the top luxury hotels worldwide...
has since opened another luxury hotel in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
, the chain's third.