Stable Sonics

Atop a hill in a Toronto residential area stands a stolid, stone anachronism, Casa Loma. A mixture of 17th Century Scotch baronial and 20th Century-Fox, the castle rears its turrets as a memento to one Canadian's short-lived dream of glory. Starting in 1911, financier Sir Henry Pellatt poured an estimated $3,000,000 into the old-world battlements, wine cellars, secret stairways and tunnels; into the new-world trimmings, tiled swimming pool, modern plumbing (solid gold & silver fixtures), bowling alley, shooting galleries. Before Casa Loma's 100 rooms were completely finished or furnished, Sir Henry found the upkeep too expensive, quit.

Attempts to make it a swanky hotel, with imported bands, failed (Glen Gray's Casa Loma orchestra was named after the castle). Eventually, the Kiwanis Club rented it on a share-the-profit plan, used the big ballroom for dances and receptions. This, plus 75,000 tourists a year, netted the council an annual $12,000.

Last week Torontonians were startled to learn that Casa Loma had been the hush-hushest of all Canadian war plants. In 1942, when the Germans bombed out an English plant making supersecret sonic submarine detectors, the British Admiralty picked the engineering works of William Gorman, in Toronto, to do the job. Bill Corman picked an unlikely spot: the huge Casa Loma's stables.

Employes staggered working hours, entered and left singly. Windows were boarded up, parts were shipped in mainly by private cars. Doors were guarded night & day. Only two Kiwanis officers were in the know. Sometimes as many as 1,000 tourists a day swarmed over the castle and poked through Sir Henry's 40-by-60-foot bedroom (Louis XIV style). They passed within a few feet of the stable, were told it was closed because it was "undergoing repairs."

In a year and a half, 500 detectors, 4,800 transmitting and receiving sets were turned out, installed in ships, helped lick U-boats. Corman filled the last of $2,000,000 worth of orders on V-E day.

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