Kimpton Saint George
Where | Bloor and St. George Opened in | June 2018 price | $1,200 per night for the 903-square-foot Presidential Suite OperatOr | Kimpton Hotels
What was once a frumpy Holiday Inn has been rendered entirely unrecognizable after a tothe-studs renovation by local design darlings Mason Studio on behalf of Kimpton, a California-based hospitality group. Instead of merely imprinting San Francisco style on Toronto, Kimpton has turned the 14-storey hotel into an ode to the Annex. Archways, intended to reference the neighbourhood’s Victorian homes, are all over the lobby, throughout the hallways and even in the rooms, in the form of curved oak armoires.
The Presidential Suite, located on the 11th floor, is awash in twilight hues of blue, grey and moss green. Oak millwork gives the room an air of cozy refinement. There’s an eight-person oak-and-marble dining table and three 50-inch flat screens, making it perfect for meetings and product launches.
The hotel exudes effortless cool, with a mix of high-end custom fixtures, thrifted decorations (like old Polaroids, which the hotel’s decorators scavenged from antiques stores) and contemporary Canadian art—including Laura Langford’s hand-dipped Marble Moon, which hangs above the L-shaped sectional, and Great Beard’s white ceramic squirrel sculpture (a reference to Trinity Bellwoods Park’s famous albino tree rodents), which is hidden in the armoire.