The Delta Hotels Bessborough, formerly and commonly known as the Bessborough (), is a historic hotel in

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Hig ...

, Saskatchewan, Canada. The hotel is within the

Central Business District A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

, a commercial district in Saskatoon. The Bessborough was designed by

Archibald and Schofield Archibald and Schofield was a collaborative relationship between Canadian architects John Smith Archibald and John Schofield. They designed for the Canadian National Hotels for the Canadian National Railway. John Smith Archibald (1872–1934) f ...

for

Canadian National Hotels Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

, a division of

Canadian National Railway The Canadian National Railway Company (french: Compagnie des chemins de fer nationaux du Canada) is a Canadian Class I freight railway headquartered in Montreal, Quebec, which serves Canada and the Midwestern and Southern United States. CN i ...

. Opened in 1935, the

Châteauesque Châteauesque (or Francis I style,Whiffen, Marcus, ''American Architecture Since 1780: A guide to the styles'', The MIT Press, Cambridge, MA, 1969, p. 142. or in Canada, the Château Style) is a Revivalist architectural style based on the ...

-styled building is , containing 10 floors. The building is considered one of

Canada's grand railway hotels Canada's grand railway hotels are a series of Hotel#Railway hotels, railway hotels across the country, each a local and national landmark, and most of which are icons of Canada, Canadian history and architecture; some are considered to be the gra ...

. After its completion, the building was the tallest building in Saskatoon, until the nearby Marquis Tower was completed in 1966. The hotel is owned by Leadon Investment Inc., although it is managed by

Delta Hotels Delta Hotels by Marriott is a four-star brand of hotels and resorts located primarily in North America. Canadian institution Beginnings In June 1962, William Pattison and his business partners opened the 68-room Delport Inn in Richmond, BC. Tha ...

, a hotel chain brand of

Marriott International Marriott International, Inc. is an American multinational company that operates, franchises, and licenses lodging including hotel, residential, and timeshare properties. It is headquartered in Bethesda, Maryland. The company was founded by ...

Location

The Delta Bessborough is located at 601 Spadina Crescent East at the southeastern end of the

, the commercial centre of Saskatoon. The hotel property is bounded by a roadway, and a natural waterway, and parkland. To the east of the hotel lies the South Saskatchewan River, a major waterway that runs through the city. The property is bounded to the north and south by Kiwanis Park, with the property bisecting the park into two areas. To the west, the hotel is bounded by Spadina Crescent East. The hotel is the eastern terminating vista for 21st Street East, and the view terminus on Spadina Crescent from points south of the hotel. The hotel is situated near a number of attractions located within the Central Business District. Southwest of the hotel lies a

performing arts centre Performing arts center/centre (see spelling differences), often abbreviated as PAC, is used to refer to: * A multi-use performance space that is intended for use by various types of the performing arts, including dance, music and theatre. :The ...

, the Remai Arts Centre, and an

art gallery An art gallery is a room or a building in which visual art is displayed. In Western cultures from the mid-15th century, a gallery was any long, narrow covered passage along a wall, first used in the sense of a place for art in the 1590s. The lon ...

Remai Modern Remai Modern is a public art museum in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. The art museum is situated along the west bank of the South Saskatchewan River, at the River Landing development in Saskatoon's Central Business District. The museum's bui ...

. Situated northwest of the hotel is Midtown Plaza shopping centre, and a convention centre, TCU Place. Broadway Bridge, an

arch bridge An arch bridge is a bridge with abutments at each end shaped as a curved arch. Arch bridges work by transferring the weight of the bridge and its loads partially into a horizontal thrust restrained by the abutments at either side. A viaduct ...

over the South Saskatchewan River, is located south of the hotel. Saskatoon station, a former railway station and a

National Historic Site of Canada National Historic Sites of Canada (french: Lieux historiques nationaux du Canada) are places that have been designated by the federal Minister of the Environment on the advice of the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada (HSMBC), as being ...

is located on the northwest of the hotel, just outside the Central Business District.

Design

Architecture

The Delta Bessborough is one of

built for

. The hotel was initially designed John S. Archibald, although John Schofield would take over after Archibald's death. The building was designed in a

-style, with further inspiration drawn from castles in

Bavaria Bavaria ( ; ), officially the Free State of Bavaria (german: Freistaat Bayern, link=no ), is a state in the south-east of Germany. With an area of , Bavaria is the largest German state by land area, comprising roughly a fifth of the total l ...

. The heavy use of the Châteauesque architectural style on a number of early grand railway hotels in the country eventually led to its recognition as a distinct Canadian architectural style by the 1920s. In an effort to capitalize on this sentiment, the designs for the hotel were made to emphasize its Châteauesque features, through the increased use of medieval elements. Châteauesque features found on the hotel include

oriel window An oriel window is a form of bay window which protrudes from the main wall of a building but does not reach to the ground. Supported by corbels, brackets, or similar cantilevers, an oriel window is most commonly found projecting from an upper f ...

s, rounded

turret Turret may refer to: * Turret (architecture), a small tower that projects above the wall of a building * Gun turret, a mechanism of a projectile-firing weapon * Objective turret, an indexable holder of multiple lenses in an optical microscope * M ...

quoin Quoins ( or ) are masonry Masonry is the building of structures from individual units, which are often laid in and bound together by mortar; the term ''masonry'' can also refer to the units themselves. The common materials of masonry con ...

string course A belt course, also called a string course or sill course, is a continuous row or layer of stones or brick set in a wall. Set in line with window sills, it helps to make the horizontal line of the sills visually more prominent. Set between the fl ...

s, and

machicolation A machicolation (french: mâchicoulis) is a floor opening between the supporting corbels of a battlement, through which stones or other material, such as boiling water, hot sand, quicklime or boiling cooking oil, could be dropped on attackers at ...

s on the hotel's walls. The roof of the hotel features

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

dormer A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable spac ...

s with carved tympana are spread throughout. A variety of different

grotesque Since at least the 18th century (in French and German as well as English), grotesque has come to be used as a general adjective for the strange, mysterious, magnificent, fantastic, hideous, ugly, incongruous, unpleasant, or disgusting, and thus ...

are also spread throughout the building. Materials used in construction were of Canadian origin, including Tyndall stone from

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

, brick from the

Claybank Brick Plant The Claybank Brick Plant National Historic Site, located near Claybank, Saskatchewan at the foot of the Dirt Hills The Dirt Hills and neighbouring Cactus Hills, are an arcuate moraine and the largest glacial push in the world. The hills ...

in Claybank, Saskatchewan, and tiles from

Estevan Estevan is the eighth-largest city in Saskatchewan, Canada. It is approximately north of the Canada–United States border. The Souris River runs by the city. This city is surrounded by the Rural Municipality of Estevan No. 5. History Th ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

. The interior of the hotel features ceiling moulds, plaster

reliefs Relief is a sculptural method in which the sculpted pieces are bonded to a solid background of the same material. The term '' relief'' is from the Latin verb ''relevo'', to raise. To create a sculpture in relief is to give the impression that th ...

, and

terrazzo Terrazzo is a composite material, poured in place or precast, which is used for floor and wall treatments. It consists of chips of marble, quartz, granite, glass, or other suitable material, poured with a cementitious binder (for chemical bind ...

floors.

Facilities

The hotel includes 225 guest rooms and suites. Suites at the hotel includes the ''Vice Regal Suite'', a suite located on the third floor of the hotel, facing towards the Central Business District. Several areas in the hotel are occupied by three restaurants and other food-based services. Restaurants located within the Bessborough Hotel include the a

Japanese restaurant Japanese cuisine encompasses the regional and traditional foods of Japan, which have developed through centuries of political, economic, and social changes. The traditional cuisine of Japan (Japanese: ) is based on rice with miso soup and other ...

known as ''Samurai'', and ''Garden Court Cafe'', a restaurant featuring locally sourced food. In addition to food-services and lodgings, the hotel also includes a fitness centre, pool, and a spa. The hotel also features of event space, used for conferences, weddings, and other social events. The hotel property also features a of private waterfront gardens backing into the South Saskatchewan River. The gardens hosts large functions and are commonly used a number of social events, most notably the Saskatchewan Jazz Festival.

History

After the

Canadian Pacific Railway The Canadian Pacific Railway (french: Chemin de fer Canadien Pacifique) , also known simply as CPR or Canadian Pacific and formerly as CP Rail (1968–1996), is a Canadian Class I railway incorporated in 1881. The railway is owned by Canad ...

built a railway hotel in Regina in 1926, the Saskatoon business community lobbied

to build one in Saskatoon. On December 31, 1928, Sir Henry Thornton, President of the Canadian National Railway, announced that it would build a similar hotel in Saskatoon. In February 1930, the excavation of the site began using a steam thawer and gasoline excavator. In exchange for building a "chateau" style hotel with a minimum of 200 rooms, the city exempted the railway from

property tax A property tax or millage rate is an ad valorem tax on the value of a property.In the OECD classification scheme, tax on property includes "taxes on immovable property or net wealth, taxes on the change of ownership of property through inher ...

on the hotel for 25 years. Bessborough Construction

On May 30, 1931, Walter Pratt, General Manager of Hotels, Sleeping and Dining Cars of the Canadian National Railway, announced that

His Excellency Excellency is an honorific style given to certain high-level officers of a sovereign state, officials of an international organization, or members of an aristocracy. Once entitled to the title "Excellency", the holder usually retains the ri ...

The 9th Earl of Bessborough, 14th

Governor General of Canada The governor general of Canada (french: gouverneure générale du Canada) is the federal viceregal representative of the . The is head of state of Canada and the 14 other Commonwealth realms, but resides in oldest and most populous realm ...

, had given his consent for the hotel to be formally named "The Bessborough." The Earl and the Countess visited the hotel under construction in 1932. Construction was completed in 1932 but the difficult financial times of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

prevented the hotel from opening until Horace N. Stovin became the first official registered guest, on December 10, 1935. In 1972, Donald, Dick, and Marc Baltzan purchased the Bessborough. The Baltzans sold the Bessborough to

in 1989 and it was renamed Delta Bessborough. The hotel was acquired by the Legacy Hotels Real Estate Investment Trust in 1998, and in 1999, a $9,000,000 restoration was completed to return many of its historical features. The hotel underwent a major renovation in 2003. The hotel remains under the

management banner, which was acquired by

in 2015.

References

External links

* {{Canada's railway hotels Canadian National Railway hotels Hotels in Saskatchewan Buildings and structures in Saskatoon Buildings and structures completed in 1932 Châteauesque architecture in Canada Hotel buildings completed in 1932 Hotels established in 1935 Terminating vistas in Canada Tourist attractions in Saskatoon 1935 establishments in Saskatchewan