$20.00 CAD
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Nice grouping of three postcards advertising the Walker House hotel that was located in downtown Toronto, corner of Front and York Sts.
The House of Plenty Walker House
Nice colourful artistic postcard with sunrise over lake, steamship, sailboat…
Multiple creases/folds. Smudges on back.
The Walker House Baby (1925)
Postmarked ‘TORONTO 1925’ mailed to USA
Some postmark ink on front. Crease LL corner.
Everybody loves the WALKER HOUSE
View from the Islands towards downtown Toronto
Published by Advertising Dept., Walker House
Some light creases
(Courtesy Toronto Public Library)
The Walker House was completed in 1873, the same year that the Grand Trunk Railway opened its station on the Esplanade, between York and Simcoe Streets. The Esplanade was constructed on landfill, created by dumping soil and rubble into the harbour south of Front Street. The Walker House was a short distance to the northeast of the station, constructed to accommodate travelers that arrived in the city by train. In 1873, the hotel advertised that guests would be met at the station and their luggage transported directly to the hotel’s lobby. In 1879, the hostelry hosted guests that arrived to attend Toronto’s first permanent Industrial Exhibition, a precursor of today’s Canadian National Exhibition (CNE).
The hotel was renown in the latter part of the 19th century for its fine dining room, which seated 170 people. Its New Year’s Eve banquets and Christmas-day dinners were always booked well in advance.. The Walker House was one of the first hostelries to install an elevator and electric call buttons to allow guests to connect with the front office.
It was sold and demolished in 1976.
https://tayloronhistory.com/2016/04/12/walker-house-hotel-demolished-front-and-york-streets/
