Banff Springs Hotel

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View of Banff Springs Hotel from the top of Sulphur Mountain in Banff, Alberta, Canada.

Banff Springs Hotel, Banff, Alberta. Tunnel Mountain is behind the hotel.

Banff Springs Hotel, October 1929.

The Banff Springs Hotel is a former railway hotel in the Scottish Baronial style, located in the Banff National Park, Alberta, Canada. The hotel, designed by architect Bruce Price ^[1], was built over a century ago by the Canadian Pacific Railway, at the instigation of its President, William Cornelius Van Horne, and rebuilt in the 1920s after a fire.

Under the stewardship of its current owner, Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, the hotel has recently had an extensive renovation which, however, has not changed its original grandeur. A significant feature of the change has been the addition of a world class spa. An original construction flaw, the siting of the entrance and lobby on the river side, has also been corrected in this renovation. (The architect is said to have declared "you built my hotel backwards!")

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

The original wooden hotel burnt down in 1926, and was rebuilt larger and in its current form in 1928. In 1968, the hotel was winterized and has been open year-round since. ^[2]

The Banff Springs Hotel is one of the premier resort hotels of the world, built at a level of craftsmanship that has not been exceeded since. The golf course in the river valley is also noted worldwide.

Halfway up the internal staircase closest to the Bow Falls may be found a noted painting of William Davidson felling trees on the Miramichi River in colonial times. Davidson was the first European settler in that area, and grew up in Moray, close to Banffshire, Scotland.