Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth(French:Fairmont Le Reine Élizabeth) is a historicgrand hotelinMontreal,Quebec,Canada. With 950 rooms[1]and 21 floors it is the largest hotel in Quebec, and the second largestFairmont hotelin Canada after theFairmont Royal YorkinToronto.Located at 900René Lévesque BoulevardWest, inDowntown Montreal,it is connected toCentral Stationand to theunderground city.The hotel is known for being the location forJohn LennonandYoko Onorecording "Give Peace a Chance"in Room 1742 during their 1969 anti-warBed-In.
| Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth | |
|---|---|
Fairmont Le Reine Élizabeth | |
 Queen Elizabeth Hotel, withMary, Queen of the World Cathedralin the foreground | |
 | |
| General information | |
| Address | 900, boulevard René-Lévesque Ouest Montreal,Quebec H3B 4A5 |
| Coordinates | 45°30′02″N73°34′04″W/ 45.5006°N 73.5678°W |
| Opening | April 15, 1958 |
| Owner | Ivanhoé Cambridge |
| Management | Fairmont Hotels and Resorts |
| Technical details | |
| Floor count | 21 |
| Other information | |
| Number of rooms | 950 |
| Number of suites | 100 |
| Number of restaurants | 2 |
| Website | |
| Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth | |
History
editThe Queen Elizabeth(French:Le Reine Élizabeth) opened on April 15, 1958.[2]The hotel was built and owned by theCanadian National Railwayand operated byHilton Hotels International,though it was never branded as a Hilton.
Canadian National Railway selected leading architects and designers to give the interior decoration a "New France" theme, using Quebec handicrafts. The artists includedAlbert Edward Cloutier(carved wooden panels),Jean Dallaire(wall hanging),Marius Plamondon(stained glass mural),Claude Vermette(ceramic tiles) andJulien Hébert(bronze elevator doors).[3]Cloutier painted a mural for the main dining room of the Salle Bonaventure in the hotel.[4]
There was controversy over naming the hotel: Quebec nationalists wanted it called Château Maisonneuve in honour of Montreal's founder,Paul Chomedey de Maisonneuve.CN's president,Donald Gordon,insisted it be named for the queen, who had unexpectedly come to the throne in 1952 while the hotel was still on the drawing board. The French name,Le Reine Élizabeth,may appear startling, because of the use of the masculine articlele,but the article does not actually apply to the feminine nounReine.Instead, it applies to the implied masculine nounHôtel(as inLe Ritz).
Many famous guests have stayed there, includingQueen Elizabeth II(four times) and theDuke of Edinburgh,Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother,Prince Charles,Fidel Castro,who was the first head of state to visit the hotel,Charles de Gaulle,andPrincess Grace of Monaco,duringExpo '67,Indira Gandhi,Jacques Chirac,Nelson Mandela,theDalai Lama,Sadiq Raji,Mikhail Gorbachev,Jimmy Carter,Henry Kissinger,Perry Como,Joan Crawford,John Travolta,Mikhail Baryshnikov,andGeorge W. Bush.[5]
The hotel reached worldwide fame whenJohn LennonandYoko Ono,who had been refused entry into the United States, conducted theirBed-Inin Room 1742 at the hotel between May 26 and June 2, 1969. "Give Peace a Chance"was recorded in this room on June 1 by André Perry. This song is the first solo single issued by Lennon and became ananthemof the Americananti-war movementduring the 1970s. It peaked at #14 on theBillboardHot 100and #2 on theBritish singles chart.
TheNHL Entry Draftwas also held at the hotel ten times between 1963 and 1979.
In 1970, theGovernment of Quebecmoved its centre of operations into the Queen Elizabeth in the midst of theOctober Crisis.
CN Hotels assumed direct management of the hotel on January 1, 1984, when the contract with Hilton ended.[6]CN Hotels was sold toCanadian Pacific Hotelsin 1988. In 2001, Canadian Pacific Hotels was rebranded asFairmont Hotels and Resorts,following their purchase of that smaller chain. The hotel was renamedFairmont The Queen Elizabeth.
In 2010, six doormen of the hotel were arrested on charges of racketeering and extortion.[7]
From June 17, 2016, to July 10, 2017, the hotel was closed for aCA$140 millionrenovation.[8]
See also
editReferences
edit- ^""Fairmont The Queen Elizabeth" - Luxury Hotel in "Montreal" - Fairmont, Hotels & Resorts ".www.fairmont.com.RetrievedApril 8,2021.
- ^"Hilton Hotels, 1958 Annual Report".digitalcollections.lib.uh.edu.
- ^Lerner, Loren R. & Williamson, Mary F. (1991).Art and Architecture in Canada: A Bibliography and Guide to the Literature.Toronto: University of Toronto Press. p. 852.ISBN978-0-8020-5856-0.RetrievedJuly 22,2014– viaGoogle Books.
- ^Lerner & Williamson (1991),p. 961.
- ^Hustak, Alan (March 16, 2008)."Landmark has opened its doors to politicians and pachyderms".Montreal Gazette.RetrievedSeptember 14,2021.
- ^"Canadian National Annual Report 1982"(PDF).digital.library.mcgill.ca.Archived fromthe original(PDF)on November 29, 2021.RetrievedMarch 18,2021.
- ^"Doormen at famed hotel accused of bullying cabbies".CTV News.Bell Media. November 19, 2010.RetrievedSeptember 5,2021.
- ^"Fairmont the Queen Elizabeth hotel reopened its doors today in Montreal".
External links
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