Guild Inn
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Guild Inn is a historic hotel in the Guildwood neighbourhood of Toronto. Built in 1914 as Ranelagh Park for Colonel Harold Child Bickford. The Georgian-style home has 33 rooms.
In 1921, the home was sold to the Foreign Missionary Society of the Roman Catholic Church and renamed China Mission College. It was soon abandoned and remained so until 1932], when it was purchased by Rosa Breithaupt Hewetson of the Hewetson Shoes Company fame. Ms. Hewetson married Herbert Spencer Clark and continued to reside in home and added status as a museum. During World War II, it became The Guild of All Arts.
Additions were added in 1941 to 1942, then it was ceded to the federal government as a military hospital and renamed HMCS Bytown II by the Womens' Royal Naval Service or WRENS.
After the war, it remained as a hospital for nervous disorders and renamed as Scarborough Hall.
By 1947, the federal government returned the home to the Clarks and re-established as the Guild of All Arts. But the Clarks' stay was short and sold the home to the municipal government of Metro Toronto in 1953.
A 6 storey 100 room east wing was added in 1965 and other renovations completed in 1968. A minor ownership change saw the inn handed over to the Metropolitan Toronto and Region Conservation Authority in 1978.
In 1993, control over the run down property returned back to the Municipality of Metropolitan Toronto. The park and the property was used for private functions, namely for wedding photo shoots.
By 2001, the run down property was abandoned, but Guildwood Park remains open to the public.
