Built in the 1890s as the Del Monte Hotel in Cambridge Ontario, this beautiful building was used as the hotel until the 1920s, when it was sold to brothers who were doctors. They converted the hotel into a sanatorium/spa, boasting about the healing properties of the mineral springs in the area.
The hotel was world renowned for the mineral bath and many celebrities would come to enjoy them, including Lord Stanely, Lucy Montgomery and Babe Ruth.
In 1942 it was sold to the Royal Canadian Navy, who used it as a training center for the Womans Royal Canadian Naval Services. Then as barracks for rubber factory workers.
By the 1970s it was sold again and became the Preston Spring Garden Retirement Home, which was shut down in the 1990s due to health and safety issues.
It has sat empty and in a state of decay since then, and some people believe that it is haunted by abused retirement residents.
This week demolition of the building began and soon only the building footprints will remain.
Although my photos of the interior are limited (due to a dead hard drive), the video tour covers the whole building and history!
Video:
