How important to you are the amenities on offer when you choose your new condominium residence? If an extensive spa, a top flight restaurant, and engaging bars and lounges appeal, there are only so many places you can find that in this city in one building, and fewer still if you want it all on call from room service. If you fancy a central location with great skyline and lake views, then all of that can be found at the
Ritz-Carlton. The 53-storey tower, about 80% sold, is designed by
Kohn Pedersen Fox Associates and
Page + Steele / IBI Group Architects, and developed by
Cadillac Fairview with Graywood Developments Ltd.
We wanted to get a look at the luxury on offer here, and we bet quite a number of you would like a look too. We'll start with the lobby of course:
The glass bridge - seen both above and below - is made of single piece of glass spanning the whole lobby.
Hirsch Bedner Associates, with 13 offices across the globe, is responsible for the interior design, while hundreds of pieces of art throughout the Ritz were chosen and commissioned exclusively from Canadian artists.
Image by Craig White
Image by Craig White
We'll take those stairs up a floor, and then another, to the ballroom level:
The ballroom can be partitioned in halves, in quarters, and in eighths. Below is a quarter of the whole room.
Light fixtures throughout the hotel are interesting, and are particularly grand in the ballrooms:
Above the ballroom is the spa and recreation level:
Image by Craig White
The extensive spa includes many facilities that we haven't pictured here, like a beauty salon, 16 treatment rooms, men’s and women’s relaxation lounges, lockers, grooming stations, vitality pools, saunas, and steam rooms... but we do have shots of the state-of the-art fitness centre...
Image by Craig White
...and the pool. A hot tub sits in a corner of the room.
Image by Craig White
Image by Craig White
Let's head back downstairs and check out the food and drink offerings. We'll start with the Deq bar at the south side of the building. Deq's back patio with its wood pizza oven will operate in the warm weather, while the interior is cozy, with nooks and crannies to settle into.
Image by Craig White
Image by Edward Skira
Of particular note in Deq is the prosciutto bar, serving fantastic Pingue products from Niagara.
Another main floor bar is located of the lobby. The Toca Bar (Toca stands for Toronto Canada) features a tapas-style menu and raw bar.
Above Toca Bar is the restaurant
Toca by Tom Brodi. Brodi's career includes 11 years at Canoe before landing this plum.
Image by Craig White
Image by Craig White
Toca features a cheese cave stocked by the legendary Cheese Boutique in the South Kingsway.
Image by Craig White
Toca also features a semi-open kitchen, seen at back past the pastry bar...
Image by Craig White
which is fully open to those who might book the chef's table hidden in the heart of the kitchen.
Image by Edward Skira
And that's it - we return to the lobby to end our visit.
Image by Craig White
What's your take on what you see here? Leave a comment here, visit our
dataBase listing, or visit our
forums to join in the discussion in UrbanToronto's thread for the Ritz.