Ottawa — Bytown, Parliament & the Rideau Canal
Château Laurier
Listen at the stop, then read the transcript and follow the sources behind the story.
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Transcript
The Château Laurier opened in 1912 as a railway hotel, built by the Grand Trunk Railway beside its downtown station. Like Québec's Château Frontenac, it used romantic architecture to turn rail travel into an experience.
The hotel was named for Sir Wilfrid Laurier, Canada's first French-Canadian prime minister.
Its opening became entwined with tragedy. Charles Melville Hays, president of the Grand Trunk and a driving force behind the project, died in the sinking of Titanic shortly before the hotel opened.
Legend note: claims that Hays's ghost haunts the hotel are folklore, not verifiable history. The factual connection is that he died in April 1912 and the hotel opened that June.
The building sits at a powerful intersection: railway, canal and Parliament. Ottawa's national image was assembled by putting transportation and ceremony within sight of each other.