Guild Inn, Art colony building in Scarborough, Canada
The Guild Inn is a building in Scarborough, Ontario, situated on 88 acres of parkland on the Scarborough Bluffs, featuring gardens, woodlands, and architectural fragments from Toronto's past. The grounds contain event spaces, walking trails, and viewing points that overlook Lake Ontario.
The property was built in 1914 as Ranelagh Park for Colonel Harold Bickford and became an artists' colony in 1932 under Rosa Breithaupt Hewetson and Herbert Spencer Clark. This shift transformed the estate into a center for artistic creation and creative community.
The sculpture garden displays salvaged fragments and facades from demolished downtown Toronto buildings, functioning as an outdoor museum of the city's architectural past. Walking through the grounds, visitors encounter these stone remnants and gain insight into how Toronto's streetscapes once looked.
The property offers guided tours, parking facilities, and multiple walking trails at different difficulty levels. Visit during dry weather to safely navigate the bluffs and trails while enjoying the best views of the lake.
During World War II the grounds served as a base for the Women's Royal Naval Service and later housed a hospital for military personnel. This lesser-known wartime history adds another layer of significance to the estate that many visitors overlook.
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