A  B R I E F  H I S T O R Y

The soldier, financier, industrialist and incurable romantic behind this castle was Sir Henry Mill Pellatt. The Eldest of six children, he graduated from Upper Canada Collage and went off to see the world. He was fascinated by art, antiques, military tradition and especially castles, which he sketched, measured and memorised. At 17 he joined his father's stock brokering business. At 18 he joined the Queen's Own Rifles, Canada's second oldest regiment of which he later became commanding officer. At 20 he won the North American Champion Mile Race, finishing the last 100 yards in 12 seconds a feat not equalled until 1930 by Jesse Owens. Then Henry married Mary Dodgson, a well-connected society girl, and proceeded to make his fortune.

Henry's Midas touch began at age 20 when he formed the Toronto Electric Light Company. Henry expected immigrants to pour into Canada, so while no one else believed in the West, he invested heavily in the Northwest Land Company and the Canadian Pacific Railway. His accurate speculation paid him approximately $4,000,000 which he reinvested in Canadian Multi-national power companies. He organised the Electric Development Company of Ontario and had the first Canadian Generating Station built at Niagara Falls. For the latter, he was knighted by King Edward VII. Sir Henry was ready to build his castle.

Edward Lennox, the famed architect of Toronto's Old City Hall, combined all Sir Henry's favorite castle sketches into one colossal medieval structure, and construction began in 1911. Sir Henry personally interviewed each of the several hundred workmen. Stonemasons imported from Scotland cut and laid the grey sandstone from the Credit River. It was Henry's final intention to leave the castle to the city as a historical and military museum. To this end the main floor was constructed of reinforced concrete covered with teakwood to support the heaviest military equipment then known. The basement was made large enough to drill a regiment. Henry had planned to build his castle for $250,000. In fact the wall surrounding the castle ended up costing him that. The first building permit for the foundation alone cost $30,000.

In June 1914 the Pellatts moved in and began living somewhat uncomfortably amidst the largely unfinished interior. World War One broke out soon after, delaying construction indefinitely. By the 1920s the costs of upkeep skyrocketed. Taxes were $12,000 a year, the heating bill $25,000 a year and the 40 servants required to maintain the castle cost 22,000 a year. Meanwhile Henry's investment business suffered with the difficult economic times. In 1923 the Home Bank went bankrupt with Henry's firm owing $1,700,000. Lady Pellatt died of a heart attack shortly there after, and Sir Henry gave up his castle, never to return as a resident. In a five-day auction the $1,500,000 furnishings went for $250,000.

As for Sir Henry, the genius who had earlier amassed a fortune of 17,000,000: he died in 1939 at age 80 with $35,000 to his name. His funeral was the largest in Toronto's history.