Signs 2

Joining Tom at Signs2.
Wordless Wednesday Wordless Be There 2day
Gay NYC Dad

Continuing with pit stops...
a stop (as during a trip) for fuel, food, or rest or for use of a restroom.

This time we'll step back in time and visit an historical bathroom at Casa Loma in Toronto.

Click here to see the ground floor.

Casa Loma is one of the top ten tourist attractions and hospitality venues in Toronto. With its unique architecture and enchanting gardens, Casa Loma is one of the grandest residences ever constructed in Canada. At 98 rooms, it is also the largest residence in Canada.

At the time the castle was built, there were 30 bathrooms complete with all gold plated fixtures. In fact, one of the most remarkable rooms in Casa Loma is Sir Henry's private, all marble, gold-fixture bathroom. This amazing bathroom has proven to be ahead of its time with a custom-designed shower complete with an 18 inch diameter showerhead intended to fully surround the body with water. He did not even have to turn around in his shower in order to be thoroughly washed.

Cee's Fun Foto Challenge

This week's challenge at Cee's Fun Foto Challenge.

Pick a Topic from this Photo

For the next five weeks, she will be posting a photo for each week and you can pick a topic from the photo. You can pick colors, or objects from the photo. She will post the photo a week prior to the each challenge.

Week 1 – Possible topics, geometry, bushes, window, brick, curtain, green, tan, wall, building, dark red, tree

Windows is my choice

At the aquarium

From Casa Loma

Distillery District

Thursday Doors

Linking up at Norm's Thursday Doors.

Some historical Toronto doors.


Casa Loma part 1   part 2

The Old Post Office

Mackenzie House

Enoch Turner Schoolhouse

Campbell House

Friday My Town Shoot Out - Stained Glass Feb 28

I'm posting over here this week.

Stained Glass

October 2013 - Toronto On

These photos were taken on a cloudy autumn afternoon. I plan on going back in the spring to see the gardens.


Casa Loma (Spanish for Hill House) is a Gothic Revival style house and gardens in midtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, that is now a museum and landmark. It was originally a residence for financier Sir Henry Mill Pellatt. Casa Loma was constructed over a three-year period from 1911–1914.

The house cost approximately $3.5 million and took a team of 300 workers three years to build from start to finish. Unfortunately, due to the start of World War I, construction on the house was halted. At 98 rooms covering 64,700 square feet (6,011 m2), it was the largest private residence in Canada. Notable amenities included an elevator, an oven large enough to cook an ox, two vertical passages for pipe organs, a central vacuum, two secret passages in Sir Henry's ground-floor office, along with a pool and three bowling alleys in the basement (the last two were never completed).

One of the most beautiful rooms, to me, is the conservatory. The floor marble is Italian but the side panels are of Ontario marble. Covering the Conversatory is a beautiful stained glass dome. Steam pipes kept the flower beds warm in the winter.

Saturday Snapshot - Casa Loma Part 2

October 2013 - Toronto ON

Other Casa Loma posts:
Weekly Top Shot
Saturday Snapshot Part 1

Check back to last week's post to see the ground floor and some background.
As a servant in this house you had a very good position. The house had indoor plumbing for the servants and had central heating, much like Dundurn Castle outside Toronto.
Another house that was a good position for servants was Campbell House.

Sir Henry's Suite: The walls are mahogany and walnut. A secret storage area beside the fireplace was used to store confidential documents.

A cast-iron winged creature holds a lamp in beak and sits on a lighted globe which is positioned on a pedestal and lit base. The pendant shade is made of cut red and green glass. This lamp was owned by Sir Henry Pellatt prior to and during the time he lived at Casa Loma. At some point it was purchased by Toller Cranston, the noted Canadian figure skater and was acquired by Casa Loma at the Toller Cranston Auction of 1991.

Sir Henry's Bathroom: The shower was structured to completely surround the body with spray manipulated by using 6 taps that controlled 3 levels of pipes. All the walls are outfitted with white Carrara marble. Now this room blew me away!!!!

Lady Pellatt's Suite: The walls are painted in Lady Pellatt's favourite colour: Wedgwood blue.

Lady Pellatt's Bathroom:Smaller than Sir Henry's, it had a bidet, a rare feature in Canadian homes at the time.

Guest Suite: One of several such elegant rooms, adjoined by maid's quarters. Continue through the Guest Suite to the stairway to the third floor.

Queen's Own Rifles Museum: Sir Henry was a dedicated supporter of the Queen's Own Rifles achieving the rank of Major General. The regiment's band was often engaged to entertain guests at the castle. In 1910, Sir Henry took the entire 600 man regiment to England for military games at his expense.

The Towers: For the adventurous climbers there are two towers available for viewing. The Scottish Tower to the east is enclosed and offers the highest view from the property. The Norman Tower on the west is open and provides a breathtaking view of the city. Access to the upper portions of the towers is by spiral staircase only.


My husband took the camera up.

The stables from the tower.

Me, waiting, I don't do narrow spiraling staircases!

Windsor Room: Sir Henry had hoped to have the Royal Family as guests in this room. it never happened.

Round Room: Designed to fit the space below the tower, this Adams-style room has custom shaped doors to fit the curved walls.

The pool beneath the Conservatory was never properly finished. The original plans called for the pool to be surrounded by cloisters, marble arches and gold swans around the edge. In fact, the pool and the entire basement of Casa Loma were used mainly for storage.

The horse stalls are constructed of mahogany while the floors are covered with Spanish tiles. In the stables each horse's name was displayed in a gold leaf at the head of each stall.

A large room where past and present Casa Loma gardeners plant material for use throughout the grounds.

We leave the castle and drive over to the stables, 800 feet away from the house connected by the tunnel.