Tuesday, August 14, 2012

Ottawa's Castle


I think a record's been set.

Just minutes after I scheduled clue #7 to be posted for Where In Ottawa, the challenge had been solved.

Congratulations to Matt Young, who correctly identified the location of the photo (and put the clues together: it was the clues, right?) as the Chateau Laurier. This photo was shot by the entranceway that is on MacKenzie Avenue. I stood directly under the archway and pointed my camera straight up (the last time I took an upward-facing shot for Where In Ottawa, I stumped you all for days).

Here's another angle, and a breakdown of the clues:
  1. Give the man a cigar... back!—one of the most famous residents of Ottawa's most-recognized hotels was world-renowned photographer, Yousuf Karsh. Karsh lived in the Chateau Laurier and also ran his studio there for almost 20 years. One of Karsh's most famous photographs, which appeared on the cover of Life, in 1941, during the early years of World War II, was of a scowling Winston Churchill. The story goes that just before Karsh shot the photo (in the Chateau Laurier, I might add), he removed Churchill's cigar from his mouth.
  2. That's some residence—not only did Karsh live at the Chateau Laurier, but Prime Minister R.B. Bennett lived there, while in office, from 1930 to 1935. It has been the home-away-from-home for other dignitaries, royalty, and entertainers.
  3. Eighty years on the air—from 1924 to 2004, the CBC broadcast English and French radio from studios at the top of the Chateau Laurier. I listened as All In A Day Host at the time, Brent Bambury, signed off from the hotel.
  4. Haunted?—the hotel is said to be haunted by the president of the Grand Trunk Railway, Charles Melville Hays, who commissioned construction of the Chateau Laurier. Less than two weeks before the scheduled opening of the hotel, Hays died in the sinking of the Titanic.
  5. Fit for a king, named for a PM—the name, Chateau Laurier, is contained in this clue: the word chateau is French for castle (where you'd find a king); the hotel is named after Canada's seventh prime minister, Sir Wilfrid Laurier.
  6. There's one in Orlando, too—in the Epcot Centre at the Walt Disney World Resort, there's a Canada pavilion, where the Hotel du Canada is modelled after the Chateau Laurier.
Not only do you now know the location of the Where In Ottawa photo, you're also better educated.

You're welcome.

1 comment:

  1. Cheryl and I did both think it looked like a chandelier but had no idea where it might be hanging. The clues were a big help. Looking forward to reading the book!

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