Located along Front Street West, the hotel is situated at the southern end of the Financial District, in Downtown Toronto.

The Royal York was designed by Ross and Macdonald, in association with Sproatt and Rolph, and built by the Canadian Pacific Railway company.

Union Station, the city's main intermodal transportation hub, is located south of the hotel, across Front Street West.

The creation of the historic district was through the Ontario Heritage Act, and was enacted by Toronto City Council in July 2006.

The building was designed by a Canadian architectural firm, Ross and Macdonald, in association with Sproatt and Rolph.

[6] The plan saw the development of a towering central element, to distinguish itself from the buildings of the nearby Eaton's Annex.

The building's towering design also enabled most rooms and public spaces to face either the downtown core of the city or the Toronto waterfront and Lake Ontario.

[8] Along with traditional features found in most Chateauesque-styled hotels, the building also incorporated an Art Deco setback and Romanesque-inspired decor.

[6] The balanced design of the building (before the addition of the east wing) was achieved through the application of semi-neoclassical motifs, and groups of arcaded windows.

The building would lose the record the following year, with the erection of the nearby Canadian Bank of Commerce Tower on King Street.

The new east wing expansion was designed by the architecture firm Ross, Patterson, Townsend, & Fish, in association with Charles B.

[12] Restaurants located within the hotel include Benihana Japanese Steakhouse, and the Library Bar, the latter also offering afternoon tea.

[22] The hotel also operates a health club, which offers a number of amenities including an indoor pool with a skylight, a fitness centre, a whirlpool, a sauna, and steam rooms.

[15][23] In 1929, a tunnel was built under Front Street West, in order to provide guests of the hotel with direct access to Union Station.

"[30] After Winnett's death in 1925, his estate sold the Queen's Hotel to the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), run by then-president Sir Edward Wentworth Beatty.

[31] The completed hotel featured over 1,000 guest rooms, each equipped with radios, private showers, and bathtubs, a library, a 12-bed hospital, and a 20.1-metre-tall (66 ft) telephone switchboard.

[32] The building was officially opened on 11 June 1929 by the Viscount Willingdon, the Governor General of Canada, in "one of the most glittering social events in Toronto's history.

[37][38] On 7 September 1949, the lobby of the hotel was converted into a temporary field hospital following a fire on the cruise ship SS Noronic.

It attracted top musicians and performers to the hotel from the 1940s to the 1990s, including Anne Murray, Buddy Rich, Count Basie, Doug Henning, Duke Ellington, Eartha Kitt, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Marlene Dietrich, Pearl Bailey, Peggy Lee, Rich Little, Tina Turner, Tony Bennett, and Woody Herman.

[46] The official welcome and reception for the leaders of the 2010 G20 Toronto summit was held at the Royal York Hotel on 26 June 2010.

[47] Due to its usage, the hotel was included in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police's designated security zones for the G20 summit.

[49] In a joint venture, KingSett Capital Inc. and InnVest Real Estate purchased 80 percent of the Royal York property from Ivanhoé Cambridge in 2014.

The hotel frequently serves as a three-to-four-month home for members of the film industry or newcomers to the adjacent financial core.

[14] Other foreign dignitaries that have stayed at the Royal York include American Senator Robert F. Kennedy, and the 14th Dalai Lama.

The floors above and below the Royal Suite are vacated two weeks prior to the Queen's arrival and remain that way until her departure.

Furniture and hardware reserved for the royal family, including mattresses and toilets, are placed in storage when not in use.