The Sofitel is located in Montreal’s historic Golden Square Mile, once home to Canada’s robber barons.Citizen North/Supplied
Montreal’s Golden Square Mile was once Canada’s richest patch of real estate. It has been estimated that at the turn of the 20th century 70 per cent of the country’s capital was controlled by the neighbourhood’s residents, tycoons with names like Holt, Redpath and Molson. Their mansions stood for decades as testaments to the city’s Gilded Age.
Then history moved on. By the 1970s many of the Square Mile’s great private residences had been demolished. But none struck a nerve like the Van Horne Mansion, once home to the Canadian Pacific Railway mastermind William Cornelius Van Horne and his priceless art collection. Against vocal opposition, the city granted developer David Azrieli permission to bulldoze the venerable relic in 1973. It galvanized Montreal’s heritage protection movement.
Today, you can sleep soundly on its ruins. The French hotel chain Sofitel has occupied the high-rise building that went up on the site since 2002 and recently gave itself a facelift. I’ve been curious about Montreal’s Sofitel since, as a student journalist at McGill, I invited a prominent New York writer to speak at the newspaper’s centenary and he said yes – as long as we provided two Habs tickets and accommodation at the Sofitel. (We couldn’t have afforded a Best Western.) Ever since the name has been a byword in my mind for unattainable luxury.
At the Sofitel, the restaurant menu includes classic French strong suits such as foie gras and confit de canard.Citizen North/Supplied
This summer, I finally got to see what the fuss was about when the hotel invited me to review its renovated digs on Sherbrooke St. For two nights, I got to live like Van Horne, or at least like that New York writer. It was time to see if the Golden Square Mile still lived up to its name.
Why you should visit
The Sofitel stands at the site of the bulldozed Van Horne Mansion.Gilles Lauzon/ABACApress/Supplied
In a neighbourhood chock full of nice hotels – the Ritz-Carlton, the Four Seasons, Fairmont’s the Queen Elizabeth – the Sofitel stands for quiet, modern, European refinement. An extensive renovation has added splashes of bright colour, but the impression left by the hotel is still captured by the fresh white orchids in the lobby. This is decadence that whispers. The carpets absorb your feet like delicious quicksand. The room service salade niçoise is not overdressed. There will be no single-use plastics in your room.
The Ritz-Carlton and the Queen Elizabeth may have the lore, but the Sofitel has a pillow menu with offerings up and down the firmness scale. The linens are all Sofitel brand, possessing thread counts uncountable by mere mortals. A business traveller will awake well rested.
The Renoir restaurant is worth a visit on its own. Its very French menu has classic strong suits including foie gras and confit de canard. The wine list and service are excellent, the dining room lush without being overbearing.
Room for improvement
In the attractively reappointed rooms, Sofitel opted to keep the same bathrooms. That was too bad – they do look dated.
I wonder, too, if one of my favourite features of the hotel could be better highlighted. Van Horne’s original fireplace has somehow been salvaged from the wreckage and installed in a tucked-away corner of the lobby. A member of staff pointed it out to me on our tour, but I would otherwise have missed it. I guess not all guests are abject history buffs.
Van Horne’s original fireplace is preserved in a corner of the lobby.Citizen North/Supplied
In the neighbourhood
Despite the best efforts of developers and a series of mayors, there are still many vestiges of the Golden Square Mile that have been beautifully preserved and put to original uses.
Grab brunch at the heritage building complex Maison Alcan (1188 Sherbrooke St. W.), which became the headquarters of the Canadian aluminum giant in 1983 – a study in thoughtful and creative historical preservation. At a time when many businesses were fleeing Montreal because of the province’s strained political climate, Alcan CEO David Culver planted his flag in the city with a visionary amalgamation of the old Berkeley Hotel, the Lord-Atholstan House and other historic properties into a glittering modern whole. The cafeteria is open to the public and is well used for business meetings, McGill study groups and foodie excursions, thanks to delicious pastries, sandwiches and coffee.
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Visit the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts (1380 Sherbrooke St. W.), with its original 1912 Beaux-Arts pavilion on the north side of Sherbrooke St., and its delightfully playful Moshe Safdie addition on the south side from 1991. It is a study in how to build on the past.
Get a late lunch at Le 9e, the renovated and recently reopened restaurant on the ninth floor of the Eaton Centre (1500 Blvd Robert-Bourassa #900). The farthest thing from a shopping mall food court, this Art Deco marvel was a Montreal destination for decades from the restaurant’s opening in 1931 (the dying days of the Golden Square Mile’s grandeur) to a much-lamented closing in 1999. It was relaunched two years ago as an excellent French bistro with a lovingly restored dining room overlooking downtown that gives a taste of the neighbourhood’s suave past.
The takeaway
The Golden Square Mile may not be what it used to be, but there is still luxury to be experienced in the old stomping ground of Canada’s robber barons. The Sofitel offers it in a sleek, soothing dose. If you’re visiting on business or dropping your kids off at McGill next door, it is an elegant place to get a good night’s sleep.
The writer was a guest of the hotel, which did not review or approve this article. Stories are based on merit; The Globe does not guarantee coverage.