Hotel Place d’Armes is a new addition to the historic district of Old Montréal, a modern boutique hotel within the renovated nineteenth-century Great Scottish Life Insurance building, and an ideal vantage point from which to witness the resurgence of this once-neglected neighborhood.

Old Montréal was, quite obviously, the first part of the city to be settled, and throughout the twentieth century, as today, the city’s financial and legal giants towered over the district’s old, meandering streets. It would be reasonable to expect a hotel in Old Montréal, esecially one housed in an historic building, to be a conservative or even stuffy affair; thankfully the Hotel Place d’Armes is anything but stuffy.

The experience is state-of-the-art, owing mostly to the sleek contemporary styling and an intimate boutique atmosphere, but the (plentiful) historical touches are key to this hotel’s personality. Original brick walls, period colors and woodwork, and views of the charmingly historical neighborhood stand side-by-side with modern must-haves like Jacuzzis, Frette sheets and the occasional in-room fireplace.

So though the Place d’Armes is in one sense a boutique, it’s pretty far from being Studio 54-on-the-St. Lawrence; discretion seems to have been prized over flashiness. Thus the lack of a deeply trendy discotheque, though most guests won’t miss it. The hotel does feature a restaurant, a salon-style bar, a rooftop terrace, and even a small exercise room, as well as a conference center and a 3,000-square-foot spa — more than most boutiques can boast, to be sure.

Style: Modern Design

Atmosphere: Lively

133 Rooms - Rates starting at Can$ 127.20 (approx. US$ 125)