Inn on the Park
Inn on the Park was a luxury hotel which was formerly located on a hill overlooking Leslie Street and Eglinton Avenue in North York, Ontario. It was an early editing to the Four Seasons Hotel chain.
In 1961, the newly founded company Four Seasons Hotels opened its first hotel, the Four Seasons Motor Inn on Jarvis Street in Toronto. Three years later, the company built The Inn on the Park on former farmland in North York for $4 million, This was the company's first hotel outside of downtown Toronto, and was more upscale than the company's earlier properties.
The site was chosen for its proximity to the Don Valley Parkway and services focused on the company's emphasis of resort and business travel. The hotel was surrounded by 600 acres (2.4 km2) of parkland, and included Café Discotheque, Canada's first disco. There were Olympic-sized pools, a small golf course and a ballroom.
The original building, with a six-story central section and two-story wings, was designed by architect Peter Dickinson, who had built the Four Seasons Motor Inn. The building had the shape of a parallelogram. When seen from the air, the building resembled a Star of David.
After the completion of the Inn on the Park, Four Seasons began to build more luxurious hotels, including one in London, England, also at first called Inn on the Park. In line with this change in corporate strategy, in 1971 the Inn was enlarged by the addition of a 23 story tower designed by Venchiarutti Gagliardi Architect, with 269 rooms. A 30,000-square-foot (2,800 m2) convention area, a restaurant and a lounge were also added. The building of the Four Seasons Yorkville shortly after the expansion of the Don Mills property put a financial strain on the company.
The Inn hosted many celebrity guests, including Pierre Trudeau and Nikita Khrushchev. In 1974, the Queen Mother attended a meeting at the Inn. Pianist Glenn Gould had a studio there at one time. Soviet minister Alexei Kosygin's visit touched off a large rally urging the USSR to allow emmigration of Jews.
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