The Four Seasons Hotel and Residences Toronto is a complex consisting of a 204-metre, 55-storey residential condominium tower and a 125-meter, 30-storey

luxury hotel A hotel is an establishment that provides paid lodging on a short-term basis. Facilities provided inside a hotel room may range from a modest-quality mattress in a small room to large suite (hotel), suites with bigger, higher-quality beds, a d ...

tower in the Yorkville district of

Toronto Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

, Canada, which opened on October 5, 2012. Located at 60 Yorkville Avenue, at its intersection with

Bay Street Bay Street is a major thoroughfare in Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is the centre of Toronto's Financial District, Toronto, Financial District and is often used by metonymy to refer to Economy of Canada, Canada's financial services indust ...

, the complex is situated one block east of the former Four Seasons Hotel Toronto building at 21 Avenue Road. The 55-floor complex contains 259 hotel rooms and 210 private condominium units in addition to a two-storey spa, Café Boulud and bar (by international

restaurateur A restaurateur is a person who opens and runs restaurants professionally. Although over time the term has come to describe any person who owns a restaurant, traditionally it refers to a highly skilled professional who is proficient in all aspe ...

and chef

Daniel Boulud Daniel Boulud (born 25 March 1955) is a French chef and restaurateur with restaurants in New York City, Palm Beach, Miami, Toronto, Montréal, Singapore, the Bahamas, and Dubai. He is best known for his eponymous restaurant Daniel, opened in Ne ...

), and glass-enclosed event spaces. It was designed by

architectsAlliance ArchitectsAlliance is a Toronto-based architectural firm headed by architect Peter Clewes. It was formed in 1999 with the merger of Wallman Clewes Bergman (composed of Rudy Wallman, Peter Clewes and Ralph Bergman) and Van Nostrand DiCastri Arc ...

, with Page and Steele as Architect of Record. The project was developed by Bay-Yorkville Developments Ltd. (a

joint venture A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...

of Alcion Ventures, LP, Menkes Developments Ltd., and Lifetime Homes), and it uses the "Four Seasons" trademark under licence. The taller tower was initially the 10th tallest building in Toronto, but by 2017, its position had fallen to 17th as other taller buildings were completed. The site had previously been the Bay Ford Lincoln

car dealership A car dealership, or car dealer, is a business that sells new or used cars, at the retail level, based on a dealership contract with an automaker or its sales subsidiary. Car dealerships also often sell spare parts and automotive maintena ...

, and it is next door to

Toronto Fire Services Toronto Fire Services (TFS), commonly called Toronto Fire, provides fire protection, technical rescue services, hazardous materials response, and first responder emergency medical assistance in Toronto, Ontario. TFS is currently the largest mu ...

Station 312. The penthouse, which occupies the entire 55th floor of the West Residence was sold for C$28 million in 2012, making it the most expensive condominium unit sold in Canada. Before the ribbon-cutting ceremony,

Four Seasons Hotels Four Seasons Hotels Limited, trading as Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, is a Canadian luxury hotel and resort company headquartered in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Four Seasons currently operates more than 100 hotels and resorts worldwide.David Se ...

chairman and founder

Isadore Sharp Isadore "Issy" Sharp, (born October 8, 1931) is a Canadian hotelier and philanthropist. He is founder and chairman of Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts. He founded the Terry Fox Run. Early life and education Sharp was born in Toronto, the son of ...

proclaimed the new location as being "...in a category by itself, a true Four Seasons in our hometown, our flagship hotel. It is a landmark development for the city of Toronto".

History

The Four Seasons Motor Hotel

The first Four Seasons-operated hotel in Toronto was The Four Seasons Motor Hotel, opened in 1961 at 415 Jarvis Street near Carlton. Built by architect Peter Dickinson, it operated as a motor inn before it was demolished and replaced by townhouses.

Inn on the Park

The next hotel operated by Four Seasons was the Inn on the Park, which opened in 1963. It became a Holiday Inn in the 1980s, and has since been demolished and replaced by the Lexus on the Park car dealership.

Four Seasons Sheraton Hotel

The Four Seasons Sheraton Hotel opened in 1972 as a joint venture between Four Seasons founder Issy Sharp and Sheraton. Unhappy with the partnership, Sharp sold his 49 percent interest in the hotel in 1976 for $18.5 million, and the hotel was renamed The Sheraton Centre of Toronto.

Four Seasons Hotel Toronto

The longest-operating Four Seasons property in the city was located on 21 Avenue Road at the intersection with Yorkville Avenue. It consisted of a 31-storey

Brutalist Brutalist architecture is an architectural style that emerged during the 1950s in the United Kingdom, among the reconstruction projects of the post-war era. Brutalist buildings are characterised by minimalist constructions that showcase the b ...

concrete tower, with a low-rise podium that stretched south to Cumberland Avenue. It was built in 1972 as the Hyatt Regency Toronto. Issy Sharp bought the hotel in 1978 and renamed it the Four Seasons Hotel Toronto. The hotel was popular with celebrities when the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

was centred on the Yorkville area. However Sharp said the building "felt like driving into a garage." The hotel closed on March 28, 2012 and was sold to developer Camrost-Felcorp, which converted it to a condominium development known as Yorkville Plaza. The hotel's facade was renovated, while the podium containing the hotel function rooms, driveway and below-grade retail was demolished and replaced by a new retail complex.

Composition

There is a penthouse at the top. Finnish businessman Robert Oesterlund and his ex-wife Sarah Pursglove bought the penthouse for $28 million in 2012. The penthouse was designed by Brian Gluckstein.

References

External links

Four Seasons Hotel Toronto websitearchitectsAlliance project page
* at ''Emporis'' * {{Toronto skyscrapers Residential skyscrapers in Toronto Skyscraper hotels in Canada Condo hotels in Canada Modernist architecture in Canada Hotels in Toronto Four Seasons hotels and resorts 2012 establishments in Ontario Hotels established in 2012 Shahid Khan