CHIC LE MOUNT STEPHEN BRIDGES TWO WORLDS
The new Le Mount Stephen hotel in downtown Montreal is a highsociety marriage of an architectural aristocrat with a sexy new supermodel.
Jack Sofer and Mike Yuval, co-founders of Tidan Hospitality and Real Estate Group, made the match, adding a sleek 11-storey tower to the revered Mount Stephen Club, an exquisite heritage site that dates to the 1880s. (Tidan also owns Hôtel Mont Gabriel and Château Versailles.)
Le Mount Stephen is boutique in spirit, but it is sizable and full service. It has a Clefs d’Or concierge, valet parking, a fitness area and 90 modern, deluxe rooms and suites. You can dine and drink at Bar George, a stylish restaurant and bar with a British accent, and indulge in beauty and body treatments at MBiospa, a tiny two-room sanctuary.
The hotel launched this month with a party for nearly 1,000, and it aims to be a serious venue for entertaining — especially at the Elizabeth Grand Ballroom, which can handle up to 400 revellers.
“We saw a jewel and we decided to polish it,” said Yuval. “And we wanted to complement the beauty and legacy of the George Stephen House with the finest materials and the most modern operational systems.” Old/new: To start, the opulent interiors and stately exterior of the Mount Stephen Club were restored. The mansion was originally the home of Lord Mount (George) Stephen, president of the Bank of Montreal and Canadian Pacific Railway, and eventually it became an exclusive gathering place for the swells of the Golden Square Mile.
In the building’s third incarnation, Le Mount Stephen is still a destination for a select crowd, but this time it’s youthful and hip.
Now the treasured building is home to Bar George. This antique wing represents patrician grandeur, with ornate carved woodwork, precious stained glass windows, crystal chandeliers, a coat of arms and Lord Stephen’s own period furniture.
In contrast, the modern 11-storey tower is a crystalline world, with angled glass roofs giving the penthouse suites a dramatic view of the city skyline. This new section houses the hotel’s stunning lobby, the front desk and the guest rooms.
Le Mount Stephen’s two wings, old and new, connect via a short passageway, and the time travel between them is sensational. Interiors: On the modern front, the lobby shimmers with goldflecked marble floors and an opalescent mural on glass. The loungey furniture has a sophisticated look, with lustrous leather and velvet fabrics in neutrals, alive with touches of burnished copper, gold and silver.
Upstairs, the pièce de résistance is the Royal Suite, a moviestar-worthy haven of nearly 500 square metres, with multiple terrasses, a private service elevator, a kitchen in three sections and sumptuous regal décor. The wow factor is the glass ceiling, so the sky is the limit.
Le Mount Stephen also has classic rooms and suites, plus the smashing sky-loft suites. The look is generally minimalist and functional, with creamy vanillahued walls and honey-coloured furniture touched with chrome. Luxurious features include plush memory foam mattresses by Harlequin and lovely cotton sheets.
“We wanted to be unpretentious and comfortable,” said Yuval, “but still have the best of everything.”
The bellman gave me a technology tour of my room controls, which was a blessing, because I was worried I would miss TV and maybe sleep with the lights on and the drapes open. But I aced the system and had lamps
dimming, Netflix streaming and curtains gliding with the touch of a button.
The bathrooms are pristine white marble and equipped with ultra-modern devices: chromotherapy rain showers, and Toto toilets with heated seats and elaborate bidet options, as well as an automatic lid that opened every time I approached, as if to say “welcome.” Food/drink: Bar George — including a bar-lounge and two dining rooms — perpetuates Le Mount Stephen’s anglo heritage with updated comfort classics that are as British as the Queen.
Open less than two weeks, it’s already hopping with an aprèswork crowd that comes for cocktails like the Golden Square Mile Sour or the Pimm’s Cup.
The menu features starters of cod cakes, veal cheek and kidney pie, Scotch eggs, black pudding pasties and Welsh rarebit; sides of crumpets, haggis and neeps ’n’ tatties; plus main courses that include Cornish hen, roast cod or rib-eye steak with Yorkshire pudding. Dessert might be Glen Breton whisky pudding — an English trifle — with single malt from Nova Scotia.
Breakfast goes progressive with a chai smoothie bowl, poached eggs and avocado toast, or stays traditional with an English feast of fried eggs, beans, tomatoes, black pudding, bacon and mushrooms.
Bar George comes from Oliver & Bonacini, operators of top Toronto restaurants including Canoe, Jump and Auberge du Pommier. At Le Mount Stephen, the staff is from Montreal and the chef de cuisine is Kevin Ramasawmy, formerly of the Michelin-starred Daniel in New York and Maison Boulud in Montreal.