Recreating the Mettawas Hotel: A labour of love and memories for Kingsville's Loop brothers

By Mark Ribble

KINGSVILLE — If you were to take a walk through Jim Loop’s collection of model buildings and sailing vessels, you’d be taking a walk through Jim’s childhood, growing up in Kingsville.

Jim now lives in Michigan and his brother, Bob, still lives in Kingsville. Bob recently spoke to the Sun about Jim’s incredibly-built models — in particular, the one he recently completed of the iconic Mettawas Hotel.

“He’s an engineer,” said Jim about his younger brother. “He made every one of these from photographs.”

The Loops grew up along the harbourfront in Kingsville, where they lived in the big white house at the top of the hill overlooking the Kingsville dock. They played in the remnants of the old Mettawas Hotel when they were children.

Former Kingsville resident, Jim Loop, poses with his replica of Kingsville’s famous Mettawas Hotel. Photos submitted

Jim's brother Bob Loop.

Photos submitted

“We climbed on that stone retaining wall that sat at the very end of Lansdowne,” said Bob. “That’s all that was left of the building back then.”

The Mettawas Hotel was torn down in 1903 or 1904, depending on which accounts you read. It was designed and built by Mason and Rice Architects of Detroit, for Hiram Walker, in 1890, at a cost of about $250,000.

Walker died in 1899 and the hotel was eventually purchased by W.P. Beyer, who promptly got into a tax dispute with the town and ordered it torn down.

Jim Loop remembers a story his grandfather told him.

“My grandfather was a commercial fisherman, and he told us of seeing a bunch of men on the roof of the hotel back then,” said Jim. “He thought they were re-roofing, but in fact, they were tearing it down.”

The hotel was a little over a decade old. The neighbouring casino stayed until after World War II, before meeting the wrecking ball, and a small hotel was built on the site, which eventually became the Lakeshore Terrace Hotel.

A familiar ship to many in this area, was the Steamer Columbia, which ferried many Americans to Bob-Lo Island from Detroit. The Columbia and its sister ship, The Ste. Claire, were sold in 1991, two years before Bob-Lo closed to the public. This is Jim Loop’s replica.

The Loops, however, became interested in all of the things along the waterfront, and Jim has produced numerous models of ships, buildings and his newest creation — The Mettawas.

Working from black and white photos he found online, and from memory of certain remnants on the property, he was able to construct a very convincing replica.

A more recent addition to Loop’s collection of homebuilt replicas, is the Pelee Islander II. Loop has made replicas of all of the Pelee Island ferries.

“I wasn’t sure of the colour,” he said. “I saw an old postcard where it was a terracotta colour, but I suspect it was green.”

When painting his model, he decided to go with the terracotta colour because it went well with the other colours of the model.

He estimates it took about four-to-five months to build the Mettawas replica.

The Mettawas replica sits in the grass in Jim Loop’s back yard.

“I was a draftsman before I was an engineer,” he said. “With a knack for drawing, I was able to draw the hotel on paper on a large scale and work with the drawings and the wood.”

Jim’s talents go beyond the iconic Kingsville landmark. He’s also produced models of the original Kingsville Public School, the Kingsville Lighthouse and “almost every boat that ever docked in Kingsville.”

Jim Loop even built a replica of his father’s commercial fishing boat, the Bill-K.

The Mettawas as it looked at the turn of the 20th century. Jim Loop worked from photos like this one to create his model.

A colourized postcard shows the Mettawas Hotel above the Kingsville Harbour.

He has the original Pelee Island Ferry, as well as the Pelee Islander, The Jiimaan and the Pelee Islander II.

Several ships that came into the harbour in Kingsville also adorn his collection, plus the Bob-Lo Island boats, the Queen’s yacht, Britannia, the White House and also the Presidential yacht, the USS Sequoia.

The Loop brothers have very good memories of growing up along the Kingsville waterfront, and you can hear it in their voices. As they speak about the fisheries, the harbour and their hometown, you can tell they have deep-seated roots in the community that continue to this day.