Learn a little of Toronto's history as told through its plaques.

The Gladstone Hotel

Photos by Alan L Brown - September 2006

There on the north-east corner of Queen and Gladstone, where the Dufferin buses turn the corner and the Queen streetcar rumbles by sits the Gladstone Hotel. The undated Toronto Historical Board plaque attached to it says:

Named after British Prime Minister Wm. E. Gladstone, this 60 room hotel was built in 1889 adjacent to the Parkdale train stations. The original owner, Mrs. Susanna Robinson, had been left a widow with 13 children. It was designed in a decorative Romanesque style by G.M. Miller, a distinguished Toronto architect. Its three-storey steeple dominated the skyline until the 1940's. Accredited by the Royal Winter Fair, it was considered "the only safe place for one's Great Aunt to stay alone." It was originally used mostly by commercial travellers based in the heavy industry in the area. The building was restored by the Appelby family in 1989 in memory of their late father.

Related Toronto plaque pages
King Edward Hotel
Royal York Hotel
Rupert Hotel Fire

Plaque Location Co-ordinates: 43.642574 -79.426947

More hospitality buildings

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