The Ritz-Carlton, Montreal ★★★★★

The Night of 31 December 1912, and Everything Since

It opened on the last night of 1912, and it was the first hotel anywhere permitted to put the Ritz-Carlton name on its door. That fact has held the building in a particular position ever since: not the newest luxury hotel in Montreal, not trying to be, and the only one on Sherbrooke Street the city calls the Grande Dame without irony. An extensive restoration brought the interiors to a contemporary standard without arguing with them. What remains is the scale of the public rooms, the height of the ceilings, and a lobby people still cross for reasons other than checking in.

Why It Works

Three things make the case. The first is the room count: ninety-six rooms and thirty-three suites is small for a grand hotel, so the arithmetic of staff to guests is different from the towers down the hill. The second is Maison Boulud, which is not a hotel restaurant with a borrowed name but one of only two kitchens Daniel Boulud runs in this country. The third is that the house has kept its rituals, from the afternoon tea it invented to the Palm Court and its champagne bar. Heritage here is practised rather than displayed.

Why This Location

Sherbrooke Street West is the museum and gallery axis of Montreal, and the hotel sits on the stretch that matters. The Montreal Museum of Fine Arts is a short walk, and so are the dealers and the luxury shops that have grown up around it, Holt Renfrew included. McGill's campus and the slope of Mount Royal rise behind. Downtown proper, with Sainte-Catherine and the office district, lies a few minutes below. The address puts you above the noise quite literally: Sherbrooke runs along the terrace, and the city drops away from it.

Fast Facts

• Price: Luxury

• Vibe: grande dame, ceremonial, unhurried

• Rooms: 96 rooms and 33 suites, deluxe categories from 400 square feet, up to a Royal Suite of 4,700 square feet across twelve rooms with a dining room and a butler's pantry

• Best For: anniversaries and occasions, travellers who care about hotel history, gallery and museum weekends on Sherbrooke

• Our Favorite Thing About the Hotel: the Palm Court, which holds Canada's first Dom Pérignon champagne bar

• Dining: Maison Boulud, 130 covers, French cooking on Quebec produce from one of Daniel Boulud's only two Canadian kitchens, with a list of more than 600 wines; afternoon tea, invented in this building

• Amenities: Spa St. James; a heated rooftop saltwater pool with a view over downtown; pets welcome

• Attractions: the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and the Sherbrooke galleries on foot, Holt Renfrew and the luxury shops nearby, McGill and Mount Royal above

Four Hundred Square Feet at the Bottom, Four Thousand at the Top

The spread between the smallest and the largest room here is unusual even by grand hotel standards. A deluxe room starts at four hundred square feet, which in a 1912 building means proportion rather than volume: tall windows, a real entrance hall, mouldings that were not added later. At the other end, the Royal Suite runs to four thousand seven hundred square feet across twelve rooms, with a dining room and a butler's pantry, and is the largest hotel suite in the city. Most guests land somewhere in between, and the useful question is which side of the building you want.

Maison Boulud, and the Tea That Started Here

Daniel Boulud keeps two kitchens in Canada and this is one of them. Maison Boulud seats a hundred and thirty, cooks French with Quebec produce, and carries a list of more than six hundred wines, a number that changes how you order. In the Palm Court the hotel still serves the afternoon tea it invented, now copied at every Ritz-Carlton in the world, alongside the first Dom Pérignon champagne bar in Canada. It is entirely possible to spend a weekend here without eating outside the building, and a fair number of guests do.