The Algonquin

The Algonquin Resort
The Algonquin Resort
General information
Location	St. Andrews, New Brunswick, Canada
Coordinates	45°04′49″N 67°03′17″W / 45.08028°N 67.05472°W / 45.08028; -67.05472Coordinates: 45°04′49″N 67°03′17″W / 45.08028°N 67.05472°W / 45.08028; -67.05472
Opening	June 1889
Owner	Charlotte County Hospitality Partnership
Management	New Castle Hotels & Resorts
Height
Top floor	4
Technical details
Floor count	4
Lifts/elevators	2
Other information
Number of rooms	234
Number of restaurants	2
Website
www.algonquinresort.com

The Algonquin Resort is a coastal resort hotel in the Tudor Revival style, in St. Andrews, New Brunswick. An architectural icon of New Brunswick, the hotel is the most famous symbol of St. Andrews and one of the most photographed buildings in the province.

The original Algonquin hotel was a massive wooden Shingle Style building built in 1889 by the St. Andrews Land Company, established in 1883 by American businessmen. Designed by a Boston architecture firm, it contained 80 guest rooms and opened in June of that year. By the late 19th century, the residents of St. Andrews and businessmen from Montreal and New England helped to develop the summer tourism that the hotel was creating among residents of humid inland cities of North America. The entire hotel, except for two later wings built in 1908 and 1912, succumbed to a 1914 fire and was destroyed. It was replaced on its same footprint by the present four-story Tudor Revival concrete replacement with a faux half-timbered façade and red slate roof. The architects of the 1914 hotel (which is essentially what is considered the present-day Algonquin) were Barott, Blackadder & Webster of Montreal. Large additional wings were added in the early 1990s and in the early 2010s.

One of the original Algonquin's best known attractions was its saltwater baths. Saltwater was pumped from Passamaquoddy Bay to the hotel atop the hill overlooking St. Andrews and held in water tanks in the hotel attic. Guests used bathtubs designed with four taps, two for fresh water and two for saltwater.

In addition to the saltwater baths, the air offered by the Bay of Fundy, along with the local "Samson Spring" were believed to offer healing properties to guests. Advertising proclaiming "No hay fever here" and "A general air of restfulness" attracted many wealthy tourists, some of whom established elaborate summer "cottages" in the town of St. Andrews and its surrounding countryside.

The New Brunswick Railway operated the rail line serving St. Andrews. One of the principal private shareholders of the NBR was also the first president of the CPR (1881–1888), George Stephen. Stephen started the process which would see CPR purchase the NBR, as well as build a line across Maine from southern Quebec to connect with the rail network - what would be known as the International Railway of Maine. In 1888, Stephen retired and was replaced by William Cornelius Van Horne, who on July 1, 1890, oversaw the Canadian Pacific Railway's lease of the NBR for 990 years.