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It took three years,
$3,500,000 and more than 300 workers to build Casa Loma between 1911 and
1914. With stately towers, soaring battlements, secret passageways and
sweeping terraces, the medieval style castle is a product of Sir Henry
Pellatt's boyhood dreams.
Casa Loma is the
unique legacy of Sir Henry Mill Pellatt, a prominent Canadian financier,
industrialist and military officer of the early twentieth century. An
unabashed romantic, Sir Henry engaged the noted architect E.J. Lennox to
help him realize a life-long dream - the creation of a 'medieval' castle
on the brow of a hill overlooking Toronto. Based on a life-long
fascination with European castles, Sir Henry borrowed the most pleasing
elements of Norman, Gothic and Romanesque styles to create Casa Loma.
Unlike many homes built during this time, Casa Loma was designed with
several technological features we take for granted today. The house was
wired for electric power; fitted for a central vacuuming system; and had
its own telephone exchange with 59 telephones. (The stories tell that
frequently, more telephone calls were made in one day at Casa Loma than in
the entire city of Toronto at that time.) Also, the castle's original
ovens in the kitchen were so big that they could cook an entire ox.
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