Château Laurier celebrates its 100th birthday with an amnesty program for memorabilia

Did grandma steal silverware from the Fairmont Château Laurier? Perhaps greatgrandpa kept a bill from the castle’s early days when rooms cost $2 per night?

The landmark hotel, located next to the Parliament Buildings in Ottawa, is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year by launching an amnesty program for Château memorabilia, including menus, dishes, furniture, matchbooks and pins.

“We’re looking for not only items that grandma may have slipped in her purse as a souvenir but also stories that go along with it,” says Deneen Perrin, a spokesperson for the hotel, which opened on June 1, 1912.

Information about the amnesty is on the hotel website, and people have been dropping off memorabilia of their own accord. So far, items collected include a photo of someone’s greatgrandfather working on the hotel’s roof, a beer stein and a brass key.

“We had someone call from Vancouver: ‘My grandfather passed away. We were going through his items and we found a beautiful brass key.’ It’s the key chain that is interesting because it actually has the indent in the brass of the outline of the hotel,” Perrin says.

The amnesty was inspired by the hotel’s 90th anniversary program. Hotel management put out a plea to Canadians requesting the return of a Dog Derby trophy that once sat in an ornate custom-built cabinet in the hotel lobby.

The trophy, awarded to the winners of a dog race which began in 1930, had been missing for a few decades. Anyone who returned it would receive a complimentary overnight stay in a presidential suite with dinner and breakfast – no questions asked.

“It was returned to us from Toronto two days before the 90th anniversary. The person never claimed their prize.”