The majestic Preston Springs and Kress hotels dominated the view from King Street West towards Fountain Street at the turn of the century.
That historic view is depicted in a postcard below, featuring a band marching in a Dominion Day parade circa. 1907.
Constructed by Robert Walder around 1888 in the architectural style of the Hotel Del Monte in Monterey, California, and called Del Monte Hotel before it was renamed the Preston Springs Hotel in the 1920s, the newest pride of the Preston took advantage of the mineral springs that bubbled up on the grounds.
It quickly became a tourist destination that attracted the likes of UK politician and Stanley Cup namesake Lord Stanley, Anne of Green Gables author Lucy Maud Montgomery and baseball great Babe Ruth.
A grand staircase to three floors, a great room fireplace and five acres of terraced gardens and orchards added to the opulence.
In his book, A Part of Our Past, author and former city archivist Jim Quantrell wrote that "the primary attraction was the mineral baths in the basement. The high sulphur content was believed to cleanse the body and treat arthritis and rheumatism."
The hotel doubled in size soon after the turn of the century with the building extending south along Fountain Street.
The nearby Sulphur Springs Hotel opened in the mid-1890s to compete with the Del Monte, becoming the third "healing hotel" in Preston.
The North American Hotel, built in 1840, was the first to take advantage of the area's sulphur spring. Located on the east corner of the historic intersection, it was renamed the Kress Hotel in 1900.
The EngageWR page on Preston Springs references Quantrell's book to chronicle how Toronto Doctors J. Edwin and Gordon Hagmeier transformed part of the Del Monte into a private sanitarium and clinic in the early 1920s, and renamed it the Preston Springs Hotel.
Kitchener philanthropist A. R. Kaufman took possession of the hotel in 1943 and "turned the building over to the federal government to be used to house some to the naval trainees at the Women’s Royal Canadian Naval Training Establishment (HMCS Conestoga) in Galt."
Preston Springs became a retirement care facility, until it was closed in 1990.
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Boarded up and left vacant for 30 years while in development limbo, Preston Springs was eventually demolished in December 2020 after the City of Cambridge deemed it unsafe.
It had been designated under the Ontario Heritage Act for its outstanding architecture and significance to local history.
A salvage plan undertaken prior to demolition saved the entry fountain, door, lobby fireplace, select millwork and tiles that the city hopes can be incorporated into a proposed residential tower on the property.
The sulphur spring that was still flowing on the property, and infiltrating the city's sewer system at a rate estimated to cost about $250,000 annually, was capped in the spring of 2021, following the demolition.
The barren properties where the hotels once stood are now the subject of development proposals that promise to return some grandiosity to King and Fountain over the next decade.
Those proposals, one from Haastown Group for Preston Springs, and another for the land once occupied by the Kress Hotel, are expected to return to council with public meetings and eventual recommendations from city staff sometime this fall or early in the new year.
Landmarks is an occasional feature of CambridgeToday, using Juxtapose to display old and new photos to help tell the story of Cambridge; a city that will celebrate its 50th anniversary in 2023. Old photo submissions are welcome at [email protected].
