Toronto Guide
Toronto
Casa Loma
Address: 1 Austin Terrace; Subway: Dupont
Opening time: Daily 9.30am–5pm, last admission 4pm
Price: $16, parking $2.75 per hour
Toronto's most bizarre attraction, a folly to outdo almost every other folly, Casa Loma is an enormous towered and turreted mansion built for Sir Henry Pellatt between 1911 and 1914. Every inch the self-made man, Pellatt made a fortune by pioneering the use of hydroelectricity, harnessing the power of Niagara Falls to light Ontario's expanding cities. Determined to construct a house no one could ignore, Sir Henry gathered furnishings from all over the world and even imported Scottish stonemasons to build the wall around his six-acre property. He spent more than $3m fulfilling his dream, but business misfortunes and the rising cost of servants forced him to move out in 1923, earning him the nickname of "Pellatt the Plunger". His legacy is a strange mixture of medieval fantasy and early twentieth-century technology: secret passageways and an elevator, claustrophobic wood-panelled rooms baffled by gargantuan pipes and plumbing.
Before you leave, spare time for the terraced gardens (May– Oct daily 9.30am–5pm; no extra charge), which tumble down the ridge at the back of the house. They are parcelled up into several different sections and easily explored along a network of footpaths, beginning on the terrace behind the Great Hall.