[URBAN NOTE] "The fall of Sir Henry Pellatt, king of Casa Loma"

[rfmcdonald]

Spacing Toronto's Chris Bateman tells the story of how Henry Pellatt, the magnate who built Casa Loma, lost his wealth.

Trouble began to surface as the first world war drew to a close. Pellatt’s business debts were mounting and land he had bought in the Cedarvale area had failed increase in value. By 1923, less than 10 years after moving into Casa Loma, Pellatt owed $1.7 million ($24.2 million, 2015) to the Home Bank, which went bankrupt that year amid financial irregularities.

The property tax alone on the mansion was $1,000 a month. Fuel costs were $15,000 a year and the total annual cost of servicing the property was $22,000—$313,000 in 2015. With the couple’s cash flow drying up, Lady Pellatt died of a heart attack in April 1924. A short time later, Henry cut his loses and allowed the City of Toronto to seize his dream home for backed taxes. The contents he decided to auction off in an effort to cover his debts.

The collection of luxury items, valued at $1.5 million, was snapped up for roughly $250,000. The $75,000 pipe organ that once graced the property, fetched just $40, although the auctioneer did serenade the crowd with a rendition of Auld Lang Syne.

Countless works of art went for a song, as did bolts of fabric, Chesterfields, arm chairs, Chippendale furniture,

“It is a sale that breaks my heart,” Pellatt told the Toronto Star. “The process is something like getting a tooth pulled—once over, one proceeds to forget all about it.”