Iconic Victorian Architecture
Hotel Hochelaga was designed by Power and Sons, a company led by Joseph Power and his father John Power. They are responsible for the architectural design of a lot of Kingston’s buildings constructed between 1845 and 1890.
This three-storey red brick building features elaborate wood and brick decoration. It is set behind a limestone wall topped by a decorative iron railing. The gateway is flanked by cast iron lights. The house rests on a high limestone base in the historic and heritage Sydenham ward of Kingston. Its corners, including those of its tall central tower, have brick quoins. All the eaves are heavily bracketed. The façade is asymmetrical, yet balanced.
Victorian
architecture
is
known
as
being
a
large
mix
of
designs
and
influences
from
time
periods
coming
together
coming
together.
The
outdoor
lights
and
metal
work
carries
a
gothic-styled
design,
a
very
common
part
to
Victorian
architecture.
The
doorway,
located
at
the
base
of
the
tower,
is a
double-leafed
with
glazing
and
panels.
It
is
recessed
behind
an
arch
with
a
limestone
keystone.
The
entranceway
is
decorated
by
wood
pilasters
and
a
flat-topped
hood
supported
by a
pair
of
elaborate
wood
brackets.
A
full-height,
slightly-arched
window
is
located
in
the
tower’s
second
storey.
Above
this,
a
wide
wooden
moulding
and
brackets
support
a
roof
with
hipped
corners.
At
the
third-storey
level,
the
tower
becomes
octagonal
with
a
broad
band
of
leaded
glass
casement
windows
around
it.
Above
this
level
the
steeply
pitched
octagonal
roof,
broken
on
four
sides
by
small
gable-roof
dormers,
rises
to a
small
flat
top
decorated
by
iron
filigree
and
supported
by a
wide
wooden
moulding
John McIntyre & Harriet McIntyre Emblem on front door
This gorgeous section of stained glass on the original interior front doors is stunning. These are original to the construction in 1879 and features different coloured panels filled with different artistic renditions of nature, all around a beautifully calligraphed “JM” & “HM” for “John McIntyre”, & “Harriet McIntyre”. We believe that the pictures in the panels represent the original inspiration of the property, lush gardens and true nature on a property that boasts a beautiful Victorian Mansion. Although this property has had many different purposes and owners over the past 140+ years, we at ACE Kingston Hospitality Inc. are excited to touch back on the original inspiration of Nature and incorporate it more into the wonderful Hotel Hochelaga.
Blueprints & Drawing
1879
Power and Sons Architectural Drawing
A building like this isn’t your typical home. It takes a multitude of planning a preparation. Joseph Power was the brain behind the architectural plans, and we are lucky enough to have possession of his original architectural drawing. We choose to display this drawing in our hallway by the front door. As you know, building doesn’t always go exactly as planned and sometime additions are added in later years, can you spot some major differences between the architectural drawing and the building itself?
1907
Bank of Montreal Blueprints
When Bank of Montreal (BMO) purchased the property in 1907, they had a few renovation plans of their own. With that in mind, they went ahead and had a professional and proper blueprint of the entire building drawn-up. We choose to display this blueprint in our hallway by the front door.
Iconic features
Outdoor Woodwork
When looking at the detailed woodwork for inside and out, it is hard to believe these days that it was all by done by hand. Even if you are just passing by, feel free to take a moment to see the detailed woodwork that covers the outside of the building.
Bank of Montreal Coat of Arms
On our original front doors, we have the Bank of Montreal (BMO) Coat of Arms etched into the glass. This, and the name “Hochelaga” pays homage to the few decades that BMO owned this property between 1907-1933. The original owner, John McIntyre, sold the property to BMO in 1907. BMO used the property for the Kingston Manager’s house and executive retreat for those travelling between Montreal, Ottawa, and Toronto. There are a few other iconic moments to do with the Bank of Montreal on this property.
Radiator Covers
It was only the woodwork that show’s immaculate hand work, but also the Radiator covers. There are still original radiator covers cast out of metal and designed by hand topped with a marble top. Amazing that radiator heat has the ability to heat an entire building of this size.
Hand-carved Fireplace
This immaculate wooden fireplace screams wealth Victorian. The intricate details are incredible, and even more incredible when you remember that it is entirely carved by hand. The mantle is now a focal point in our dining room that shows the essence and historical charm that is captured all over the building. Another beautiful note on this piece is the final decoration of panels showcasing carved flowers and Chinese Tiles.
Chinese Tiles
There is a total of five Chinese tiles on the property; three on the fireplace in the Dining Room, and two on the fireplace in the Library Suite. Back in 1879, purchasing something like Chinese tiles in Kingston wasn’t a cheap task. Purchasing Chinese tiles and decorating homes with them was a way to represent wealth.
Staircase Grape Mouldings
Above the entrance to the major staircase in the Hochelaga Inn, there are two hand-made mouldings in each corner. These are mouldings of leaves and grapes. In the culture at the time, grapes represented abundance and fertility. These mouldings were placed to bless Mr. & Mrs. McIntyre for, well… abundance and fertility. Unfortunately, they did not have any children and their specific family line ended with them.
Double Sided Fireplace
Our beautiful fireplace in the dining room is double-sided and serves as a fireplace in our lounge. This wasn’t in the original design, and you can see that the mantel on each side is not the same at all. The fireplace and original mantel were on the north wall making the Dining room and Lounge one large “drawing” room. It was the Bank of Montreal that cut out the fireplace and chimney and moved it to the middle of the room to make it a double-sided fireplace. A really impressive and amazing feat to be done in the early 1900’s. You can still see the cut lines in the crown moulding where the chimney used to be.
Library Suite
Naming the Library Suite wasn’t a very creative idea on our end. This room was originally the library for the house and hosted hundreds, if not thousands of books for the McIntyre family. This room also has a magnificent and impressively hand-carved wooden fireplace mantel that is like the one found in the Dining room.
Spire Room
The Spire room was (believe it or not), the original Dining room of the mansion. The wall configuration was a little different than what you see today, and the room would have been quite a bit larger. The room has a massive 60-foot squared window that faces East. There have been other buildings constructed in the sight lines, but you can still see some of the Spire Church down the street. The reasoning for this large window was so that they could sit for dinner and look at the church and say grace.
Drawing Room
The current Dining room and Lounge were originally one large room, and it was called the Drawing room, or the Parlour room. Back in the late 1800’s large drawing/parlour rooms were used for social gatherings. Often enough the owners of these would host cocktail or other types of parties and would have a large room made just for that.
Innkeeper Suite
204, our Innkeeper Suite is currently a beautiful and quiet room that has windows at each end of the room. This room is on the second floor, but oddly down a few steps from the rest of the rooms on this floor. This is because the McIntyre’s had an innkeeper or housemaid that lived with them and helped take care of the home and the family. It was truly a different time; this room was for the innkeeper or housemaid to live in, and the reason it was down a few steps was because in these times, they weren’t allowed to have a bedroom on the same level as the wealthy, i.e., the Master bedroom for the McIntyre’s down the hallway.
Master Bedroom
The Harriet Suite is a beautifully large room right at the top of the stairs on the second floor. This room was originally the Master bedroom. However, we believe that the wall configuration has changed, and the adjacent room, the Sydenham Ward Lodge was a part of the master bedroom as well. This would have been a massive and beautiful bedroom that spanned the entire front (South facing) of the mansion on the second floor. With massive and beautiful Arch windows spanning from across the front and around the corner on the West side, this room would have been an amazingly bright a large master bedroom.
Tower Bedroom
Tower’s in a mansion were a wanted commodity in the late 1800’s. Looking down Sydenham Street, the largest mansions from that era all had a tower. The Hochelaga Inn is lucky to have a large and very accessible one with amazing views. Our Sydenham Tower Suite up on the third floor is a 3-tier room with having easy access to the very top of the Tower. Stories have it that John McIntyre did most of his work up there. He was a prominent lawyer in Kingston and with having the Court House across the street, he used this to his advantage. He would sit up there working and keep tabs on who was walking in and out of the Court House, try to keep an advantage on the likely political games that were taking place. The top of the turret has 4 windows, facing each direction. When it was constructed before most of what we see today, it would have provided wonderous views, Lake Ontario to the South, Queen’s University to the West, Downtown Kingston to the East, and great agricultural land to the North.
Horse Stables
Our current parking lot was always used as storage for travel, however back in 1879, this would have been horses and Carriages. This can be found on the back of the property which is on West Street. The McIntyre family had a few horses and staff to take care of the horses and prep the buggies for travel. Today, we use this space as our covered parking lot.