Chateau Laurier

How the Stage was Set HISTORY IN BRIEF 1912: Opening year of the hotel. 1999: The hotel became the Fairmont Château Laurier. HISTORY IN DETAIL 1907: Charles Melville Hays, the America-born GM of the Grand Trunk Railway of Canada, started to build the hotel. The style was French Renaissance, with blocks for the base, buff Indiana limestone for the walls and copper for the roof. 1912 12 April: Melville Hays drowned on the ill-fated Titanic, while returning from England with dining room furniture. His death came just days before the hotel was due to open, on 26 April. Only Paul Chevre, who sculpted the bust of Prime Minister Sir Wilfrid Laurier, and the women in Hays' party, including his wife Clara, survived the disaster. As a result of the tragedy, the inauguration had to be postponed. 12 June: The hotel was finally opened by its namesake Sir Wilfrid Laurier. 1924: When the Grand Trunk became part of the Canadian National Railway, the Château Laurier became one of CN's most important hotels. For years, the hotel thrived, playing host to royalty, heads of state, political figures, celebrities and members of Canada's elite. 1960s-70s: The construction of numerous competing hotels in the capital, as well as the closure of Union Station, led to a slow decline in the Château's fortunes. 1980s: Significant work was undertaken to refurbish and renovate the Château Laurier, however, thus restoring its position as Ottawa's preeminent hotel. 1988: The hotel was purchased, along with the other CN hotels, by the Canadian Pacific Railway. 1999: The hotel was renamed the Fairmont Château Laurier after CP bought the large American Fairmont chain and changed its name to Fairmont Hotels and Resorts.

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