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| - I'm going to review it in terms of it's significance to Toronto instead of what a rip off it is to go tour. Course it's a rip off, this is Canada eh. $17 to see a big house. Blah.
But if you are a history buff and you like gossip, then Casa Loma is rife with it.
First of all, it's not even a castle, it's just a big house that Sir Henry Pellatt, listed on the website as a, "Toronto financier, industrialist and military man", built to live in.
Here's the skinny on Big Henry: He was a great entrepreneur who invested heavily in the railroad expansion, as well as several philanthropic endeavors. He toured Europe when he was a young man and was inspired by the castles he saw there.
So, in 1911, he started the build on his own. It took 3 years and 3.5mil (That's like a billion now)! But, he didn't even get to live in it for a decade, the thing was so expensive to keep open and you know, with the common folk taking ownership of electricity public, he didn't have that on his side either. So he, and his wife sold everything and moved out to their farm. She died almost immediately, clearly out of embarrassment.
If you go to the website, they have all their prices listed for photo shoots (weddings and otherwise) as well as rental for private functions, catering an movie shoots right there for public access.
It's actually really affordable to throw a party there (I've looked into it) considering it's a big, honkin' castle!
I wouldn't take a tour, but I would have a dope record release party there any day.
It's a great part of our local heritage. It's worth keeping and recommending to visitors.
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