UrbanToronto has partnered with Heritage Toronto to capture a moment in Toronto's past. On a weekly basis, we will both be highlighting a historic photo of the city's people, places and events, and will be telling the stories behind them.

Many thanks to both Gary Switzer of MOD Developements and Maya Bilbao for putting together the photos and research.

This week's photo:

Hotel Hanlan

One of the most popular hotels in Toronto was once located on Toronto Island. Hotel Hanlan was built on the western tip of the Island, then known as West Point. In the early years of Toronto, and still today, the Island provided city dwellers with a place to rest, relax, and keep cool in the hot summer months. Naturally a number of hotels on the Island sprung up, including Hotel Hanlan on what would later be called, Hanlan’s Point.
Hotel Hanlan was built in the 1870s by Island resident John Hanlan. It was built of wood and designed in the fashionable Second Empire style, seen in numerous Toronto buildings at the time. Featuring sloping roofs characteristic of the Second Empire style, the hotel was enlarged in the 1880s with a third storey and balconies, and was said to have a certain weightlessness to it. Hotel Hanlan was later operated by John Hanlan's son, Ned Hanlan who became a world famous oarsman and later Toronto politician. On Sundays, the Hotel bar was known around Toronto as a place where “boys” would come to drink.
Around the hotel was a popular amusement park with a merry go round, roller coaster, boat rentals, and a baseball stadium. Part of the hotel including the amusement park were decimated during a fire in 1909.

Sources
Canada. The country, its peoples, religion, politics, rulers, and its apparent future, 1886, p. 64
Lost Toronto, article on Hotel Hanlan.

This article was originally published in forum thread: Heritage Toronto Mondays started by interchange42