As hordes of people filled churches across the city on a Sunday morning in the winter of 2011, my beautiful wife ninja IX and I began our own little pilgrimage to a heaven spot. The goal was to infiltrate, explore and ascend the original tower of the abandoned hotel adjacent to Pearson International Airport in Toronto.
The Regal Constellation Hotel was built in 1962 and contained 90,000 square feet of convention space, a Chinese Restaurant, a 6 storey atrium and two 15 storey towers. Renovations took place in 2001, too little too late, I guess, as the Regal Constellation Hotel was closed in 2003 due to a decline in business. The SARS outbreak and its devastating impact on Toronto's tourism industry was the final blow to the hotel.
After missing the off-ramp and circling the building like vultures, we parked at the gas station across the street to the west. A marked vehicle sat between us and the tower that hovered over us with the REGAL CONSTELLATION sign atop it. And so we walked around the property, wind blistering cold, thighs already frozen. On the opposite side of the building than the marked vehicle, and on the other side of the fence, we scurried along the jagged crushed rock and bent re-bar of what used to be part of the hotel's garage. The building was destroyed and wide open on the eastern side, but all ground level P.O.E.'s were fenced off. Snow covered everything which made entry from this side difficult but still do-able with some resourcefulness. Once on the second floor, we were still outside, in the shell of what were once conference rooms. The track for the retractable room dividers was still on a surviving overhead beam, with one lonely divider still hanging. Its like a bomb went off here, or a 9/11 happened, its mangled. A small piece of wallpaper remained, clinging to a brick wall fully exposed to the elements, an intricate pattern of reds and browns. The concrete floor was covered in sheer ice in many places, hidden under snow, and made for some awkward negotiations and deathly dangerous sliding fun on the overhanging edges...
jermalism: Abandonment Issues: Regal Constellation Hotel
The Regal Constellation Hotel was built in 1962 and contained 90,000 square feet of convention space, a Chinese Restaurant, a 6 storey atrium and two 15 storey towers. Renovations took place in 2001, too little too late, I guess, as the Regal Constellation Hotel was closed in 2003 due to a decline in business. The SARS outbreak and its devastating impact on Toronto's tourism industry was the final blow to the hotel.
After missing the off-ramp and circling the building like vultures, we parked at the gas station across the street to the west. A marked vehicle sat between us and the tower that hovered over us with the REGAL CONSTELLATION sign atop it. And so we walked around the property, wind blistering cold, thighs already frozen. On the opposite side of the building than the marked vehicle, and on the other side of the fence, we scurried along the jagged crushed rock and bent re-bar of what used to be part of the hotel's garage. The building was destroyed and wide open on the eastern side, but all ground level P.O.E.'s were fenced off. Snow covered everything which made entry from this side difficult but still do-able with some resourcefulness. Once on the second floor, we were still outside, in the shell of what were once conference rooms. The track for the retractable room dividers was still on a surviving overhead beam, with one lonely divider still hanging. Its like a bomb went off here, or a 9/11 happened, its mangled. A small piece of wallpaper remained, clinging to a brick wall fully exposed to the elements, an intricate pattern of reds and browns. The concrete floor was covered in sheer ice in many places, hidden under snow, and made for some awkward negotiations and deathly dangerous sliding fun on the overhanging edges...
jermalism: Abandonment Issues: Regal Constellation Hotel
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