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Location DB > Canada > Ontario > Cambridge > Preston Springs Hotel > Secrets of Preston Springs Hotel

Story Info
Sat, Aug 28th, 2004
posted by Silent Knight
Secrets of Preston Springs Hotel

Unlocking the Secrets of Preston Springs Hotel


The historic, 115-year-old Preston Springs Hotel has been a unique landmark building in Cambridge for many generations. Located at the intersection of King and Fountain Street, countless people have passed by this imposing structure on their short commute from downtown Preston to the city of Kitchener. It's also a stone's throw from the legendary Lulu's Roadhouse just up the hill where some of the world's most famous musicians and rock bands have performed over the years.

During the day the hotel is a very impressive sight, emerging majestically from its hillside boundary. It is impossible to overlook as you reach the traffic intersection - it dominates the corner and forces you to look up and admire the stylish European chateau exterior. At night, the
silhouette of the building towers against the sky, an unusual mixture of strange shadows and streetlight illumination. Walking past the hotel at night gives one the unsettling feeling that there are long-forgotten tourists peering out through the darkened windows at you. Horror novelist
Stephen King could have easily based one of his infamously creepy stories around its facade.

In the early 90s I worked the graveyard shift at a service station fifty yards down the street. The old hotel stubbornly defied the bright lights of the modern facility, remaining in darkness during my shift. Working outside around the station in the dead of night, I often found myself looking up the street at the darkened old building, and allowing my imagination to visualize grotesque and unearthly creatures slipping in and out of its walls. Rarely a day went past that I didn't walk by the place and wonder what the interior looked like. During the past year I'd made numerous attempts at getting permission to access the building to take photos - all of which were fruitless.

Yesterday I finally had the opportunity.

The old hotel has been undergoing a massive renovation in the past few years, having been purchased by a Guelph millionaire who has obviously made a major investment into the building. The entire appearance of the hotel has changed from the time I worked in the area. Gone are the distinctive old tattered black & white window awnings. The sagging upper terraces have been refurbished and repainted, the black now replaced with an eye-pleasing green. A new red metal truss roof has been added. The gabled windows on the upper floors have been completely overhauled, with new double-hung thermal windows added. The west end of the structure (originally a laundry area) has been rebuilt after much of it had collapsed.

Upon entering the old hotel, I was greeted by the sight of massive interior renovations. The main floor had been entirely gutted and rebuilt with new steel-stud walls. Construction material was everywhere...as if waiting for the workmen to return the next day. Hand and power tools along
with workman's hardhats littered the floors. Of the original features on the main floor, the only recognizable ones were the elegant front desk next to the stairs, the original stone fireplace and the glass doors that led in to the original dining area. Gone is the massive glass chandelier that once hung above the front door.

I had no idea just how much time I'd have to photograph the interior of the building before being discovered, so shooting as many pics as possible became my first priority. I moved around quickly with the camera and tripod, composing the best shots possible while at the same time keeping an ear tuned to any noises that might indicate another presence in the building. I made my way throughout the main floor, then down to the basement level and in to the sulphur spring bathing area...shooting photos as I went. I was rather surprised to find a string of workman's lights blazing in the basement ceiling. I was also rather thankful since it provided much-needed light in the darkened area. I wouldn't have gotten the photos I did in the basement without the lights having been left on.

The sulphur springs bathing areas in the basement were nothing more than a somewhat disappointing excavation, most of the flooring having been dug up, huge piles of debris everywhere. I saw dozens of large marble slabs leaned against a wall in an outer room - most likely stripped from the bathing areas. I tried to visualize what the place must have looked like back in the old days, but it was difficult at best.

After photographing the basement from every angle I could think of, I made my way back upstairs and continued on to the upper floors, checking out hallways, rooms and interesting features as I found them. There was evidence of graffiti and tagging in a few areas, and vandals had smashed the glass doors to several of the new firehose cabinets on several floors. Someone had tossed one of the firehoses down the elevator shaft - why I don't know. Each floor had an opening for the original elevator, although the doors were gone. The elevator car itself was stuck in the shaft below the main floor level. Although the original elevator was electric, it had to be manually cranked with a handle inside the car to get it started, with a lever to make it go up and down. It had an old-fashioned gateway across the car entrance rather than the contemporary styling of closed doors we now have on modern elevators.

The once elegant carpeting was also gone - in fact all the floors were mostly bare wood and poplar underlay (except for the brick tiling in the old kitchen areas).

One of the most noteworthy features I couldn't help noticing was the multitude of fibreglass shower stalls being installed in rooms on all the floors. They were literally everywhere. It was difficult taking photos that didn't include at least one shower enclosure somewhere in the shot. The fourth floor was crowded with showers, many of them stashed in places they didn't belong for storage. Oddly enough, there were no other bathroom fixtures like toilets, sinks or vanities visible anywhere.

The fourth floor provided a beautiful aerial view of King St. through the windows and since I'd already photographed most of the building by the time I reached the top floor, I decided to tempt fate and boldly stand in the windows to take several photos of the streets below. I figured if someone saw me at this point, what the hell - I had all the photos I wanted anyways. One other aspect I noticed about the top floor - the heat. With no open windows and a new metal truss/sheathing roof overhead, the summer sun was merciless. It was easily over 110F I estimated, very humid...and I found myself soaked in sweat by the time I packed the camera gear and headed back down the stairs.

After exiting the old hotel and making my way out to the sidewalk - I crossed over Fountain St. and walked to the car where my wife had been waiting in the Pines Restaurant parking lot. She proceeded to mention how a man from the building next door to the hotel had come out and met with a well-dressed woman who had pulled up in a red car in the laneway next to the hotel, and after talking for a few minutes he pointed towards the hotel...as if indicating that someone was in the place. But luckily for me neither of them ventured in to the building. Perhaps the guy had been asked by the owners to keep an eye on the place...I don't know. We never learned the full story behind it, and we left just as nonchalant as we'd arrived - with over one hundred photos to commemorate the infiltration.

My wife ('Scrunt') worked at Preston Springs as a young teen, back in the days when it was a retirement/nursing home (1949 - 1988). She has many stories and additional information about the place, filling in many of the historical blanks that photos can't reveal. She recalls how badly many of the retirees were treated just prior to the final closing of the place. And how one of the major food suppliers to the place came in and literally took the meat from the freezers and left the residents without food when the bills weren't paid on time. She tells me how the fourth floor was reputedly haunted, and how employees of the nursing home were forbidden by threat of termination to go up to the top floor for unknown reasons. And how she'd ride the dumb waiter car to the top floor anyways just to have a look around (forbidden fruit is always the most tempting).

There's a very satisfying and rewarding feeling one gets after finally being able to access and photograph a long sought-after location, especially when the experience is trouble-free and full of wonderous discovery. There's a twinge of disappointment in not finding more original artifacts from
a bygone era, however...its gratifying to see that someone has stepped up to the plate in an effort to once again refurbish a fabulous old building to its former glory. Whether restoration has come to a standstill, or just a temporary financial impasse remains to be seen.

Hopefully one day we'll get the chance to visit the place again once the restoration is complete - and who knows, maybe even stay there for a weekend vacation.


Silent Knight

(Aug/2004)

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