| 
by
Linda Aksomitis
 With
its twenty-foot walls and circular shape, the room was built for music. Each sound
produced by the three-piece jazz band was distinctive, yet blended to create a
rich symphony. I whispered to my husband, David, "I wonder if Louis Armstrong
played in this room when he was here? I bet it sounded awesome if he did."
The
Fort Garry - Winnipeg, Manitoba's first skyscraper - is a hotel approaching the
birthday of its first century. As well as Louis Armstrong, hotel guests over the
decades have included such well-known names as Harry Belafonte, Liberace, King
George VI and Queen Elizabeth, on their visits to this Canadian prairie province.
Built
between 1911 and 1913, the attention to detail and quality is still evident throughout
the hotel. The jazz band played in the lounge, an enormous European styled room
opening onto the hotel foyer. With its ceiling murals, three vertical rows of
windows dressed in elegant burgundy, and cream walls, the room's atmosphere spelled
elegance. However,
an assortment of soft armchairs and loveseats arranged in numerous different settings,
from a cozy spot for two, to space for a group of a dozen, added an inviting element.
Waiters and waitresses, in their high-necked grey tunics, wandered unobtrusively
among the guests, removing glasses and bringing refills. It
was just the place for David and I to relax after a hectic week. When temperatures
soared to 100 degrees, it brought startling reality to the cliché: "Working
under a burning prairie sun". I'd been doing photo shoots of the new foals
in the ranch pastures, so I was certainly looking for someplace cool to curl up.
 Getting
to The Fort Garry was a simple matter after arriving in Winnipeg. We stayed on
Portage Avenue enjoying the city sights, rather than exiting the car onto the
bypass. Taking a right turn onto Broadway, it was only a few blocks to the hotel.
With its majestic, chateau style, we could pick it out from several blocks away
even without the street address.
The
hotel, when it was built by the Grand Trunk Pacific Railway, was modeled after
Ottawa's Chateau Laurier.
It is the only example of the famed Gothic Chateau design of architecture in Manitoba.
The Grand Trunk Railway was the predecessor to Canadian National Railways, while
the hotel was first known as the Fort Garry Hotel, then later Hotel Fort Garry. (CONTINUE...)
|
