THE
BEGINNING OF A GREAT HOTEL
BY JACKIE GOLD SPECIAL TO THE CRAG & CANYON
When Tom Wilson, a former North West Mounted Police officer
and at the time a surveyor for the Canadian Pacific Railway,
first set eyes on Lake Louise in1882 he was not thinking of
tourism or hotels or ski chalets, but of the magnificent beauty
that surrounded him. “As God is my judge, I never in all my
explorations saw such a matchless scene,” Wilson said later.
Years later the area had become a popular destination for
hikers, and Cornelius Van Horne, general manager of the Canadian
Pacific Railway saw what Wilson had not that day, opportunity.
By 1890 Van Horne had built a one-story log cabin on the shores
of Lake Louise that he referred to as “a hotel for outdoor
adventurer and alpinist.” The original design had a central
gathering area that served as a dining room, office and bar,
as well as two small bedrooms, a kitchen and a verandah. Though
it's initial bookings were slim, with only 50 registered guests
in 1890, by 1912 over 50,000 guests had slept in the hotel.
Guests were hosted from different dining stations along the
railway line, which came into the Lake Louise area, as well
as day visitors from the Banff Springs Hotel, its sister hotel.
Due to the nature of the early building materials, fire was
a recurring theme in the past century, causing destruction
in both the Banff Springs Hotel as well as the Lake Louise
Hotel.
On July 3, 1924, a fire destroyed the wooden chalet at Lake
Louise however within the year, the CPR rebuilt a new eight-story
brick wing to join the Painter wing of 1913. It was then that
they decided to change the hotel name to Chateau Lake Louise.
By now the hotel had become a popular destination, having
hired guides to help hotel guests up into the mountains to
explore. These guides also had an influence on the surrounding
culture, as many of them were Swiss, and added their influence
to the architecture, cuisine and the mountain programs offered
at the Chateau.
As the Canadian Rockies began to make appearance on the Hollywood
circuit, more and more celebrities and dignitaries began coming
to the area, to relax, enjoy the view, and occasionally shoot
some movies. Lake Louise quickly began earning a reputation
as “Hollywood North,” as movies such as 1928's Eternal Love
staring John Barrymore (Drew Barrymore's grandfather), Betty
Grable and Carmen Miranda's Springtime in the Rockies and the
1944 Son of Lassie all shot at the beautiful location.
Many movie stars, both of the old black and white films, and
the newer movies seen on screen today have stayed at the Chateau,
including Alfred Hitchcock, Marilyn Monroe and Christopher
Reeve.
Royalty too seems to enjoy the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise,
as it is now called, after the Canadian Pacific became the
majority owner of Fairmont Hotel chain in 2000. The Chateau
has had a number of royal visits over the years including Prince
Rainier of Monaco, Queen Elizabeth II and Queen Noor of Jordan.
As the hotels web site boasts, “you never know who you might
see on a stroll around the lake.”
Georgia Engelhard Cromwell, niece of Georgia O'Keefe and a
well-known photographer and mountaineer said of the hotel in
1926, “ the interior was spacious and charming with the great
plate glass windows in the lounge which opened onto that marvelous
vista of lake and mountains. It was a friendly place
too.”
In World War II the hotel was forced to shut their doors to
the public due to gas rationing and patriotism. Scientists
from Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba came to the area in
that time however, to use the lake to develop “pykrete,” a
slow melting mixture of wood pulp and ice that was to be used
in a potential Allied invasion through Northern Europe.
The ice was to be made into platforms in order to transport
equipment, and was seriously considered as a potential weapon
before being abandoned for faster transportation methods.
Today the hotel is a highlight on the international ski circuit
and hosts the CIBC Lake Louise Winterstart World Cup every
November. For more information on the Fairmont Chateau Lake
Louise visit their web site at www.fairmont.com/lakelouise
.
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