PLACE D'ARMES, OLD MONTREAL
by Anne Dimon
Perched on a corner of two Old Montreal streets and kitty-corner from Notre Dame Cathedrale, Le Place d’Arme Hotel & Suites is a perfect example of Old World architectural detailing meeting urban chic. I first visited in 2000 just after the hotel opened and loved it. Now, there is even more to love. Housed in a seven-story, 1870’s ornate stone building that once housed an insurance company, the hotel has recently taken over the two buildings to the east and tripled in size to offer 135 designer-style rooms and suites.
Guest rooms include upscale features such as down omforters, Frette linens, soaker tubs, bath room amenities from Essential Elements. There’s also an oxygen canister for guests who need a quick energizer. All facades are still original but inside design-oriented contemporary meets original brick and stone walls and high vaulting ceilings.
The elegant former lobby, with its vaulted ceiling and carved pilasters, is now Suite 701 Bar, one of the city’s hot spots for the after work crown and on weekends. The roof top Aix Terrace, open for lunch, cocktails and dinner, is another hot spot with a view of Notre Dame to the south and downtown Montreal to the north. In winter (January and February) the terrace turns into an ice bar. Other than the Ice Hotel just outside Quebec City, it’s the only hotel we know of where the ice-cold drinks are served directly from a real ice bar.
Other features include a gym and an intimate spa with a mosaic-tiled, co-ed hammam.
The entire layout of the hotel resembles a beautifully decorated contemporary home - leather sofas and chairs, dark wood tables, large plasma-screen TVs, stylis rugs, lamps, mirrors.....you'll want to take them all home with you. And, you can. The hotel says everything you see is for sale. Of course, they may not be able to wrap up the sofa so you can take it home with you, but it all can be ordered for home delivery. It's all part of the new lifestyle genre of hotels.
For more info: www.hotelplacedarmes.com