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From Dupont subway station, it's just a couple of minutes' walk north up Spadina Avenue to the flight of steps that leads to Toronto's most bizarre attraction, Casa Loma , 1 Austin Terrace (daily 9.30am-5pm; $9), an enormous towered and turreted mansion built to the instructions of Sir Henry Pellatt between 1911 and 1914. Every inch the self-made man, Pellatt made a fortune by pioneering the use of hydroelectricity, harnessing the power of Niagara Falls to light Ontario's expanding cities. Determined to construct a house no one could ignore, Sir Henry gathered furnishings from all over the world and even imported Scottish stonemasons to build the wall around his six-acre property. He spent more than $3 million fulfilling his dream, but business misfortunes and the rising cost of servants forced him to move out in 1923, earning him the nickname of "Pellatt the Plunger". His legacy is a strange mixture of medieval fantasy and early twentieth-century technology: secret passageways and an elevator, claustrophobic wood-panelled rooms baffled by gargantuan pipes and plumbing. A free diagram of the layout of the house is available at the reception, as are audio-cassette tours. The clearly numbered route begins on the first floor in the Great Hall , a pseudo-Gothic extravaganza with an eighteen-metre-high cross-beamed ceiling, a Wurlitzer organ (of all things) and enough floor space to accommodate several hundred guests. Pushing on, the Library and then the walnut-panelled Dining Room lead to the Conservatory , an elegant and spacious room with a marble floor and side-panels set beneath a handsome Tiffany glass ceiling. Well lit, this is the perhaps the mansion's most appealing room and its worm-like network of steam pipes are original, installed by Pellatt to keep his flowerbeds warm in winter. On the second floor, Sir Henry's Suite has oodles of walnut and mahogany panelling, which is in odd contrast to the 1910s white-marble, high-tech bathroom, featuring an elaborate multi-nozzle shower. Lady Pellatt wasn't left behind in the ablutions department either - her bathroom had a bidet, a real novelty in George V's Canada. Of interest on the third floor is the Windsor Room , named after - and built for - the Royal Family in the rather forlorn hope that they would come and stay here. Of course they never did - Pellatt was much too parvenu for their tastes. When you've finished exploring the house, you can wander down the long tunnel that leads to the stables and the carriage room. Spare time also for the terraced gardens (May-Oct daily 9.30am-4pm; no extra charge), which tumble down the hill behind the house. They are parcelled up into several different sections including a water garden, a rhododendron dell and a meadow garden flanked by cool, green cedars.
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