Hotel St Paul

Mr & Mrs Smith have just got back from an anonymous review trip to this boutique hotel in Montreal, and just as soon as they’ve unpacked their bags, a full account of their stay in Quebec will be with you. In the meantime, just to whet your wanderlust, here’s a quick snapshot of Canada’s Hotel St Paul…

The dramatic Beaux Arts exterior of what was once Canada’s Grand Trunk Railway building is much softer on the inside, where you find the svelte suites of Hotel St Paul. Flying the designer boutique-hotel flag since New York design gurus In Situ got their manicured mitts on it in 2001, it’s a smart, sparse space with a minimalist monochrome palette, offset by warming brushstrokes of colour (burnt orange sofas, chocolatey faux-fur throws). The hotel rooms and suites continue the trend for pared-down pizzazz, with huge windows inviting light onto polished hardwood floors and silky drapes billowing by the beds in the suites imbuing the atmosphere with airy dreaminess. The most memorable visual thrill is in the lobby, where guests are confronted with a colossal array of ice-white marble blocks that house a flickering open fire. It’s an immediate sign that the hotel means business – but thankfully not in the way that so many of its overtly corporate peers do.