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The Fairmont Banff Springs Resort Hotel

The Banff Springs Hotel is a luxury hotel that was built during the 19th century as one of Canada's grand railway hotels, being constructed in Scottish Baronial style and located in Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada. The hotel was opened to the public on June 1, 1888.[1] Presently, The Fairmont Banff Springs resort hotel is owned by OMERS and operated by Fairmont Hotels and Resorts of Toronto.

 

The original building was designed by American architect Bruce Price.[2] It was built between spring 1887 and spring 1888 by the Canadian Pacific Railway at the instigation of its president, William Cornelius Van Horne.

 

The hotel is located within a spectacular setting in the Rocky Mountains, just above the Bow Falls, close to thermal springs. The main view from the hotel is across the valley and toward Mount Rundle, which frequently is cited in geology books for its exposed and tilted ancient seabeds. The hotel is within walking distance of the resort community of Banff.

 

Starting in 1911, a wholly new structure was built in stages to replace the 1888 hotel. Price's Shingle style-influenced wooden structure was replaced with a new building of concrete and faced with stone.[3] The new building was designed by another American architect, Walter S. Painter. [...].

 

Banff Springs Hotel is also reputedly haunted. Stories suggest a woman dressed in her wedding gown lost her life on the staircase. There were candles on the staircase when the bride was walking up them, when suddenly her dress caught fire, in a panic she tripped and fell down the stairs, dying from a broken neck. Many people have reported seeing her ghost in full wedding gown, often dancing in the ballroom. Wikipedia

 

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Uploaded on August 13, 2018