The Gladstone Hotel. Named after British Prime Minister Wm. E. Gladstone, this 60 room hotel was built in 1889 adjacent to the Parkdale train stations. The original owner Mrs. Susanna Robinson had been left a widow with 13 children. It was designed in a decorative Romanesque style by G.M. Miller, a distinguished Toronto architect. Its three-storey steeple dominated the skyline until the 1940’s. Accredited by the Royal Winter Fair, it was considered “the only safe place for one’s great aunt to stay alone”. It was originally used mostly by commercial travellers based in the heavy industry in the area. The building was restored by the Appelby family in 1989, in memory of their late father.
