Château Laurier was commissioned by Grand Trunk Railway president Charles Melville Hays, and was constructed for $2 million, between 1909 and 1912 in tandem with Ottawa's downtown Union Station (now the Government Conference Centre) across the street.
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Stories of the haunting began when Charles Melville Hays died on his return voyage on the RMS Titanic from Europe 12 days before the hotel's opening.
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Laurier's government was also subsidizing the Grand Trunk Railway's Pacific Line.
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The hotel was to be opened on 26 April 1912, but Hays, who was returning to Canada for the hotel opening, perished aboard the RMS Titanic when it sank on 15 April.
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The hotel is just metres away from some of the capital's most important landmarks including Parliament Hill, the Rideau Canal, the National Gallery of Canada, the Byward Market, the National War Memorial, the U.S. Embassy, and the Rideau Centre.
Following his victory in the dog derby at Ottawa's first Winter Carnival in February 1930, he was presented with a gold challenge cup and a cheque for one thousand dollars by the Mayor Frank H. Plant at a lavish reception in the Château Laurier.
The Rideau Centre also has a rooftop garden with views of part of the ByWard Market, the Rideau Canal, the Château Laurier, and the Parliament buildings.
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In Canada, especially in English, château usually denotes a hotel, not a house, and applies only to the largest, most elaborate railway hotels built in the Canadian Railroad golden age, such as the Château Lake Louise, in Lake Louise, Alberta, the Château Laurier, in Ottawa, the Château Montebello, in Montebello, Quebec, and the most famous Château Frontenac, in Quebec City.