The first hotel on this site was called Farmer's Hotel and, later, Bowman House. It was constructed in 1835, destroyed in a 1850 fire and rebuilt, and then destroyed again in another fire in 1889.

The current building was constructed after the second fire and opened in 1890 as Zimmerman House. The rear part of the building off Erb Street (pictured, far right) is about 10 years older than the front building on King.

The Canadian Bank of Commerce opened their first Waterloo branch in the building in 1889.

The hotel became The Lewis Hotel in 1904 and was the home of the Waterloo Men's Club from 1920 to 1935. It was club manager Stanley Chadder who bought the building and named it Hotel Waterloo.

From the 70s through the 90s, the building alternated between run-down and renovated phases. The CIBC bought the building for $1.4 million in 1989 and planned to move their King Street branch back into its initial home from a century earlier. It wasn't to be. The building was given landmark status in 1990 and was boarded up and for sale for most of the years from 1990 to 1997.

In January 1997, the CIBC was finally able to sell the building. It is again a hotel, the Waterloo Hotel. Its once-popular downstairs bar, The 'Loo, also returned but closed down in 2001.

Written by Gary Will
gary@garywill.com

Text and photographs copyright © 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 by Gary Will. All rights reserved.