Pointe Claire’s historical hotels

“It – Lakeshore – was the King’s Highway. It was the connecting link between Toronto and Montreal,” said Pointe Claire Mayor Bill McMurchie. “Presumably, with a horse and buggy you didn’t make that trip in six hours like you do today. So, it’s no surprise the hotel business was there.”

The Grove Hotel was built in 1812 by a man named Paul Urgèle Gabriel Valois originally as a clubhouse. He even attempted to set up a vineyard, but the crop failed due to the soil and weather. In 1888, a Montreal restaurateur, Frank Upton, bought the building and turned it into the Grove Pointe Inn. The annexe of the building was reserved for single men, while the terrace was for single women. The two could only socialize at the Grove Pointe Inn if they were properly chaperoned.

Business at the inn was booming during the 1920s, but it fell into hard times after the Depression set in and was taken over by the Montreal Loan and Mortgage Company in 1939. That same year, it reopened as the Grove Hotel and Yacht Club. It was then leased to the Beaconsfield Yacht Club in the 1970s until 2002.

For many long-time residents of Pointe Claire, the Maples Inn holds plenty of memories. It was originally built as a summer house in the 1890s, and converted into a gentleman’s club in 1902. A few years later, at least since 1914, the club was open to the public and featured events like ballroom dancing on Saturday nights. In 1930, the Maples Inn was the first place in Canada to have miniature golf. Years later, in the 1960s and 70s, the club played host to many rock bands who came to entertain patrons. At the same time, numerous residents campaigned to close the club due to disturbances in the neighbourhood. In February 1985, a serious blaze burnt the Maples Inn to the ground.

Another popular spot in Pointe Claire’s history was the Edgewater. In 1932, owner of the Mount Stephens Club in Montreal, W.P. Harlow, bought the property and opened up the Edgewater Beach Hotel. It soon became a very popular spot, and underwent major renovations in 1936 that included turning the terrace over the into an all-weather dancing area.

The club changed owners many times over the years, including the DeVitos, who ran the Edgewater for almost 30 years. In the 1960s, a fire burnt the club to the ground, and the Edgewater was run out of a tent for one summer.

Like the Maples, residents voiced their concerns about the Edgewater starting in the 1970s due to heightened crime and other incidents in the area. The bar closed in the late 1980s and was demolished years later. “(The Edgewater) is where you took your gal when you wanted to impress,” McMurchie said. “And that’s long before they got into the business of selling beer for a buck.”

The Canada Hotel was renting rooms to people at least since 1880. About 40 years later, in the 1920s, part of the building on Lakeshore was rented out to physician and pharmacist Jean-Baptiste Martin. Today, the old Canada Hotel building at 322-324 Lakeshore is home to a variety of small shops. According to McMurchie, even though the building was renovated in 1981, little about it has changed. “It looks almost exactly as it did in its original form,” he said.

One of the most popular current hang-outs in the village started off as a hotel, too. The Charlebois Hotel was established in the 1880s, and was sold to Léo Chenier in 1926. It was for this reason the establishment was often simply called Chénier’s, until 1947, when it was sold and renamed the Pointe Claire Hotel. Since the 1970s, the building at 286 Lakeshore Road has been home to a number of bars and restaurants, including the ever-popular Clydes.