Sir Henry Pellatt

Sir Henry Pellatt was a Toronto financier and soldier who made his fortune in part by bringing hydroelectric power from Niagara Falls to Toronto for the first time. With the architect E. J. Lennox he built Casa Loma on the hill above the city, a private castle of 98 rooms and the largest private house in Canada, with towers, battlements, stables and a long tunnel.

He lived in it for less than ten years. After the First World War his finances failed, and the City of Toronto raised the property taxes from $600 a year to $1,000 a month. He auctioned off his art and furniture, left in 1923, and the city seized the house for unpaid taxes the next year. On our Toronto walk, Casa Loma is the last stop; give yourself time for the tunnel to the stables and for the towers, which can close early.