The Nealon House, 1888
Prior to the construction of the Nealon House hotel on the south side of King Street East between George and Frederick, the site was occupied for 27 years (1860–1887) by Thomas O’Connor’s two-storey grocery and retail shop. In 1888, James Nealon commissioned the hotel at a cost of $1,200. Following Nealon’s untimely death in 1890, Daniel and John Kennedy acquired the property. Five years later, John O’Connor assumed proprietorship of the hotel until 1914. By 1911, room rates were advertised at $1.50 per day. The Nealon House continued in operation until the 1930s.
In her book Toronto City of Commerce 1800–1960, Kate Taylor recounts how, in 1935, wrestling promoter—and then‐owner of Nealon House—Jack Corcoran, hired notorious criminal Norman “Red” Ryan as an “evening greeter”. Ryan, twice incarcerated at Kingston Penitentiary, deceived Corcoran and the public into believing he had reformed, only to be unmasked and killed during an attempted robbery.
The hotel reopened in 1938 under George Flett’s management and had a long run as the Riviera Hotel until 1871. It then became The Domed Stadium Hotel from 1972 to 1988.
Throughout nearly a century—from its founding in 1888 through the mid-1990s—197 King Street East operated continuously as a hotel and tavern. An antique shop called Beethoven Hall occupied the first floor from the mid-1990s into the 2000s. The building remains an important example of surviving 19th-century commercial architecture on King Street East, and is now once again a hotel, "Sonder by Marriott Bonvoy - The Nealon Apartments".
Prior to the construction of the Nealon House hotel on the south side of King Street East between George and Frederick, the site was occupied for 27 years (1860–1887) by Thomas O’Connor’s two-storey grocery and retail shop. In 1888, James Nealon commissioned the hotel at a cost of $1,200. Following Nealon’s untimely death in 1890, Daniel and John Kennedy acquired the property. Five years later, John O’Connor assumed proprietorship of the hotel until 1914. By 1911, room rates were advertised at $1.50 per day. The Nealon House continued in operation until the 1930s.
In her book Toronto City of Commerce 1800–1960, Kate Taylor recounts how, in 1935, wrestling promoter—and then‐owner of Nealon House—Jack Corcoran, hired notorious criminal Norman “Red” Ryan as an “evening greeter”. Ryan, twice incarcerated at Kingston Penitentiary, deceived Corcoran and the public into believing he had reformed, only to be unmasked and killed during an attempted robbery.
The hotel reopened in 1938 under George Flett’s management and had a long run as the Riviera Hotel until 1871. It then became The Domed Stadium Hotel from 1972 to 1988.
Throughout nearly a century—from its founding in 1888 through the mid-1990s—197 King Street East operated continuously as a hotel and tavern. An antique shop called Beethoven Hall occupied the first floor from the mid-1990s into the 2000s. The building remains an important example of surviving 19th-century commercial architecture on King Street East, and is now once again a hotel, "Sonder by Marriott Bonvoy - The Nealon Apartments".
