In 1915 the Bigwin Inn Company Ltd. was formed, and Shaw hired John Wilson of Collingwood as archetect. John Wilson was responsible for the Hotel Britannia, located on Lake of Bays. A 350 guest resort, it was one of the most biggest and most beautiful resorts in Muskoka at the time, and was exactly what Shaw was looking for in design. From then on Shaw and Wilson worked closely in designing the inn together. As Douglas McTaggart states in Bigwin Inn, "While the White Star Line had built the Titanic to be enormous, luxurious, and unsinkable, Shaw and Wilson designed Bigwin Inn to enormous, luxurious, and fireproof." Bigwin Inn was to be an archetectural masterpeice, combining various schools of design - Classical, Mediterranean, Dodecagon, Craftsman, Tudor and Victorian. Key elements in the hotel design that Shaw wanted were: Use of the natural shoreline and landscape in placing buildings, enormous size of buildings (still unparalled in size today), use of natural sunlight, all connected with covered, lit walkways.
As soon as delays disappeared from the result of WWI, construction began. Most construction took place during the winter, as the ice made it easier to transport supplies to the island (usually by horses and sleigh). The dining hall, being located over water, had its cribs built on the ice, and submerged when the lake thawed in the Spring. Shaw wanted absolute perfection, and it wasn't rare to see him out in the cold harsh weather testing the mixing and setting of cement himself to ensure absolute quality.
On June 26, 1920, Bigwin Inn opened to the public. Bigwin Inn's reputation blossomed rapidly, and it would become difficult to make a reservation within a one year period of booking. This proved well financially, as the inn paid for itself in only it's first 7 years of operation. Key buildings were the Indian Head Dining Room, which could seat up to 750 guests at one time, the Dance Pavilion and the beautiful Rotunda. By 1930, the smaller Marine Dining Room and the less elaborate Tea House were built, along with the ferry house to store the many boats that serviced Bigwin. During the 20 years that Shaw was owner, Bigwin Inn was only for the elite, and never experienced an operating loss. But everything changed on December 3, 1942, when Charles Orlando Shaw died of a heart attack. Bigwin Inn was host to a few owners after Shaw before closing, including Cardy-Bigwin Limited, which had owned among other the King Edward Hotel in Toronto, and the General Brock in Niagra Falls. In 1949, after unsuccessful attempts at trying to profit from Shaw's success, Bigwin Inn was sold to Frank Leslie, who remained owner for 15 years.
Frank Leslie was ALMOST the second C.O. Shaw, and attracted guests by attracting a lot of big name entertainers to Bigwin Inn through his connections in Toronto. The Leslie cottage, which still stands today, was built on the old WaWa hotel property to accomodate Leslie's family, and although smaller than Bigwin of course, was also beautifully designed. Who designed it - none other than John Wilson.
After Leslie sold the hotel due to illness in the 60s was when Bigwin Inn really started to get in trouble. There were many reasons for this, including changing tastes of guests, old facilities, weak tourism in general, growing popularity of cottages, poor access, short operating season, high operating costs and poor management.
Bigwin Inn closed its doors in 1968, and in 1969 the East Lodge was converted into condominiums, the first condo project in Muskoka. That's all that remains in operation today, however the new golf course is scheduled to open soon, and mabe, just maybe, the other buildings will be renovated in some form to accomodate something. If not, every attempt should be made to preserve the inn's buildings that were once claimed to have been part of the most luxurious and biggest summer resort in the British Commonwealth.
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