Loma

Leading architect E.J. Lennox designed Casa Loma for the flamboyant Sir Henry Pellatt and Mary, Lady Pellatt as an enormous castellated mansion that overlooked the booming metropolis of Toronto. The first scholarly book dedicated to this Canadian landmark, Casa Loma situates the famous “house on the hill” within Toronto’s architectural, urban, and cultural history. Casa Loma was not only an outsized home for the self-appointed “Lord Toronto” but a statement of Canada’s association with empire, an assertion of the country’s British legacy. During and after the Pellatts’ occupation, Casa Loma was a major landmark, and it has since infiltrated the iconography and collective memory of the metropolis. The reception of Casa Loma, variously loved and abhorred by Torontonians, reflects many of Toronto’s major aspirations and anxieties about itself as a modern city. Across ten chapters, this book charts the history of Casa Loma from the purchase of the estate atop Davenport Ridge in 1903 and its construction from 1906, through to its sale and the dispersal of its contents in 1924, its subsequent life as a hotel, and finally its transformation into one of the city’s major entertainment venues. Casa Loma brings to light a wealth of hitherto unpublished archival images and documentation of the house’s visual and material culture, weaving together a textured account of the design, use, and life of this unique building over the course of the twentieth century.

From the arrival of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo in 1542 to the current world-class yachtsmen and women, San Diego's beautiful natural harbor hugs the peninsula of Point Loma and boasts a significant past. The strategic location of Point Loma has been home to both military defense and business genius. The fishing fleets of the Chinese and Portuguese communities earned the Roseville area of Point Loma the nickname "Tunaville." Today, Point Loma is one of San Diego's most historic neighborhoods; a destination for culture, fine dining, and sportfishing; and host to important military bases. Visitors from around the world enjoy spectacular vistas and waterfront views of the Pacific Ocean, harbor, city, and islands and mountains of Mexico from atop the peninsula at Cabrillo National Monument and Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery.

The fascinating story of industrialist Sir Henry Pellatt and his lavish Toronto home

In this fifth edition, with new photography showing Casa Loma in its newly restored state, Bill Freeman takes readers on a tour of every significant room in this dramatic hillside castle, including the towers, the gardens, the tunnel to the stables, the greenhouses and the garage. He also tells the fascinating and tragic story of the man who built the castle, and who ultimately lost it. Born in 1859, Henry Pellatt was an accomplished athlete as a young man who broke the world record for the mile in 1879. He was an entrepreneur who was adept in the worlds of finance and industry. He was a keen royalist and military enthusiast. Above all, Pellatt was a romantic whose interest in architecture inspired the medieval-style castle that is now a Toronto landmark. Casa Loma took three hundred workers three years to build at a cost of $43.5 million. Completed in 1914, the castle was enjoyed by the Pellatts for only ten years before bankruptcy forced the family to sell it. Today, Casa Loma is owned by the City of Toronto and managed by the Liberty Entertainment Group. It is one of the city's most popular attractions.

The Loma Prieta earthquake struck the San Francisco area on October 17, 1989, causing 63 deaths and $10 billion worth of damage. This book reviews existing research on the Loma Prieta quake and draws from it practical lessons that could be applied to other earthquake-prone areas of the country. The volume contains seven keynote papers presented at a symposium on the earthquake and includes an overview written by the committee offering recommendations to improve seismic safety and earthquake awareness in parts of the country susceptible to earthquakes.