The magnificent Banff Springs Hotel has been a wilderness palace for people from around the world and a playground for the rich and famous. The story of the building also tells many others; the growth of tourism, the building of the national railway, the maturing of Canadian art and the birth of a unique mountain culture. The Banff Springs is the legacy of one man; William Cornelius Van Horne, a brash, young American engineer who supervised the completion of the CPR. His influence was enormous, crossing boundaries of commerce and culture. The Banff Springs Hotel was his vision, and it changed the way the world viewed Canada.