The York, constructed in 1897-1898 as the Canadian Hotel, soon became a popularly frequented lodging house in the growing city of Cranbrook. In the spring of 1929, original owner Joseph Brault sold the business to the partnership team of Bigatinni and Zilli who, as with each successive owner, left their own particular stamp on the place, visible or otherwise.

The following decade saw a gradual change in the character of the building. Scenes of violence, all too common in many of the hotels and rooming houses of the day, did little for the hotel’s reputation. So too did the lean years of the Great Depression and WW II take their toll on the enterprise. A number of local hotels suffered from the long economic downturn and never truly recovered. The Cross Keys, Wentworth (Allan) and Cranbrook Hotels on Baker Street gradually became shadows of their once proud selves, as did the Imperial (Windsor Arms) Hotel on 9th Ave.

The fortunes of the Canadian Hotel changed in 1938 when Fred Gnucci, co-owner of the Star Stage Bus Lines, purchased the building and immediately undertook a series of renovations. Alterations to the beer parlour and lobby, a coat of exterior stucco and a general overhauling of the place greatly revitalized the business. While the building remained the ‘home of the workingman,” the presence of the nearby Star Theatre and Auditorium ensured its ongoing popularity as a local social melting pot, while the location of the nearby Police Dept. in the basement of City Hall ensured a certain decorum amongst the guests. The longstanding tradition of an accompanying Chinese eatery continued as Mah Moke reopened his dining room in the building in 1942, later followed by the popular Stop & Go Inn.

n 1946, Mr. Gnucci put the building through another series of renovations. He subdivided the former centre rotunda area of the hotel and utilized the larger section as the “Ladies and Escorts” area of the beer parlour with the two drinking areas connected by a wide archway. The greatly reduced lobby contained a hotel desk enclosure of black with chrome trim, red and white entrance walls, and a white enameled ceiling. The newly added “Ladies and Escorts” featured red mottled floor lino, red wainscoting with white tile, and gray upper walls. Pedestal style bar tables, chrome and leather chairs, mirrored walls, venetian blinds, and fluorescent lighting completed the ‘modern’ look of the interior renovation. The second floor hallways, in a colour scheme of cream and green with the ubiquitous red battleship linoleum flooring, led to 17 rooms, three of which contained double beds. Removal of older disused sections of the building and some old sheds at the rear allowed for an improved rear courtyard. The Pearson Barbershop remained onsite.

In 1952, Mr. and Mrs. Adolph Sperka took over the building from Messrs. Golden and Belkin who purchased it three years earlier. It was the Sperkas, in May 1952, who rechristened it the “York Hotel,” (named after the “York Coffee Shop” formerly operated in Calgary by Mr. Sperka). The move upset many locals with its flagrant disregard for local tradition. Of course, that was when locals were pretty naïve to the way of such things. Nowadays flagrant disregard of local tradition appears largely compulsory. On the other hand, the big “York Hotel” neon sign looked cool.

That year also saw the popular Armond movie theatre replace the old Auditorium across the street. That, coupled with the destruction of the nearby Norbury and Queen’s Hotels in 1959, proved a further boon to the fortunes of the few ‘respectable’ hotels remaining downtown.

The year 1958 saw the addition of a characterless cinder-brick dining room and lounge at the southern rear of the building as hoteliers realized the value of offering onsite-dining and lounge service in order to capitalize on new laws allowing for the serving of alcohol with meals.

Yet another ‘facelift’ in 1961 covered the lower section of the building in a combination of orange and white brickwork and mosaic tiles. A narrow red canopy placed along the entire face of the hotel hinted at the former second story balcony removed many years before.

The building has seen numerous owners since over the years, the Mazurs, Cristalls, Reimers and Bishops (who rechristened it the “All Right Inn”), Each have done their bit to find ways of rewrapping what has gradually become a large wooden box. The 113 years of history are still there of course, somewhere in the timbers behind the walls, under the floors, in the whispers down the corridors of days gone by.

Comments, photos, questions, or stories? Contact Jim Cameron at janusthenandnow@shaw.ca.