Title: Artist's sketch of Chateau Qu'Appelle
Date: ca. 1915
Retrieval Number: CORA-B-559
Extent: 1 B&W print; 20.5 cm x 25 cm
Scope and Content Note: Artist's sketch of Chateau Qu'Appelle, the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway hotel planned for Regina that was never built. Was planned for the corner of Albert Street and 16 th Avenue (now College Avenue ) where the Royal Saskatchewan Museum now stands.
Access Restrictions: None
Photographer: Unknown
Parent fonds/collection: CORA Photograph Collection
Historical Note: The pilings for the Chateau Qu'Appelle were sunk, and the hotel's girders were already up when construction was halted on the grand railroad hotel. World War I had broken out, and the combination of labour shortages and material rationing meant that the lavish hotel's construction would be delayed until after the war. Construction was never to resume, however. In 1919, the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway went bankrupt. The Canadian National Railway, a government-owned venture, would eventually buy up the GTP's lines, but the construction project was never completed. The skeleton of the Chateau Qu'Appelle became an embarrassing eyesore for the town. The land was eventually given back to the city, and the girders were dismantled. The steel beams from the project were eventually used in the construction of Regina 's new lavish railroad hotel, the Hotel Saskatchewan.