Lennox for developer George Gooderham's Toronto Hotel Company, and was granted its name by namesake King Edward VII.

[5] Built at a cost of CA$2,000,000 (equivalent to $71,912,478 in 2023), the hotel opened in 1903 with 400 rooms and 300 baths, and it claimed to be entirely fireproof.

[6] In 1921, an 18-storey tower, costing CA$2,500,000 (equivalent to $39,275,000 in 2023),[7] designed by Chicago architect Henry Ives Cobb, with 530 additional rooms was added to the east of the original eight-storey structure, replacing the Sullivan Hotel on the site.

The Le Méridien chain was involved in several other acquisitions and mergers between 1996 and 2003 when the brand came under the ownership of Lehman Brothers Holdings.

[13] Starwood purchased the brand from Lehman in 2005 and the hotel was renamed, dropping Royal, to become simply Le Méridien King Edward.

In 1969, John Lennon and Yoko Ono stayed in the same royal suite a day before their bed-in for peace began.

In February 1964, "moralists picketed" when Liz Taylor and Richard Burton stayed in a suite together; they were not married to each other at the time, causing a scandal.