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Telemann, Air a l’Italien, Suite in a-
It doesn’t get much better than this! While workmen tinkered away unseen in an adjacent room on the top floor of Toronto’s historic King Edward Eddy Hotel, I discovered that I essentially had this abandoned ballroom all to myself – and what a sweet place it was to wander around and record in, undisturbed as the afternoon sun slanted in through these 15-foot windows. I was understandably a little on edge with my clandestine tour, so I kept this little visit to a minimum, efficiently grabbing a few long shots of the room and discreetly recording a few appropriately elegant, classical selections as homage to the forlorn splendour of the place.
I had been tipped off by a close friend about a month ago that he had once wandered through this amazing ballroom years ago, and he and I wondered if it was still accessible. What a terrific, storied and forgotten space, a real treasure tucked away atop this splendid downtown edifice. Seemingly forgotten by time, I was afraid the doorways to this eloquent time-capsule would be barred after an article – by chance – appeared in the National Post a couple of weeks after I had been given my top secret instructions for potential infiltration; I figured King Eddy management would have read the same article and shut down access el pronto. Apparently not!
As much as I love traipsing around with TLR, infiltrating hidden, desolate spaces like GE in the The Junction or the old Firestone factory in Hamilton, I find there is a different magic in the air when the expedition is conducted solo. To paraphrase a respected fellow urban-explorer, you can almost hear the voices and laughter – or in this case, the parties of years gone past – in the very walls!
So is it the King Eddy or the The Royal York that is haunted? All the more reason to go back – the discarded chandelier says it all!
