The Grand Opening: Inside Ace Hotel Toronto
Featuring artworks from nearly 40 Canadian artists.
Ace Hotel Group recently opened its first Canadian location at the corner of Camden and Brant streets in Toronto’s Garment District. The trendy hotel chain, originally founded in NYC and LA, hired Shim-Sutcliffe Architects for its first location north of the border. The hotel offers expansive public spaces and guest rooms that offer warehouse-cabin vibes — all with vintage furnishings and works by local Canadian artists including Nadia Gohar, Dahae Song, and Erin Vincent.
The hotel’s lobby area is suspended by steel rods and framed by steel-edged concrete arches. On the lower level of the hotel is Alder, a Mediterranean-inspired wood-fired restaurant led by chef Patrick Kriss, founder of Alo Group. Some menu stand-outs are the grilled chicken with harissa jus, red pepper carpaccio, and dark chocolate and peanut mille-feuille. The hotel lobby also features a small retail corner with branded goodies.
In total, there are 123 guest rooms, the largest being a 716-square-foot Ace Suite with a corner view. Prices for one of the three suites starts at $1,500 a night, but for the price guests will enjoy a guitar, a Tivoli sound system, and a private wet bar and wine fridge along with the typical amenities such as a living room and kitchenette.
The rooms feature many of the same textures and materials found in the lobby including the exposed concrete, linen wallpapers, Douglas fir paneling, and copper headboards. The quilts on the beds are made by Kyle Parent, a Vancouver-based textile artist, and the vinyl collection is curated by Arts and Crafts, a local Toronto record label.
