Four Seasons Toronto - Toronto, Canada - 1000 Places to See Before You Die on Waymarking.com

Four Seasons Hotels, Inc. is a Canadian international luxury, five-star hotel management company Travel + Leisure magazine and Zagat Survey rank the hotel chain's 98 properties among the top luxury hotels worldwide.

Canadian businessman Isadore Sharp founded Four Seasons in 1960. While a young architect working for his father, Sharp designed a motel for a family friend that succeeded and inspired him to try creating his own hotel in Toronto. The company went public in 1986.

In 2007, it agreed to a buyout by Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and Prince Al-Waleed bin Talal of Saudi Arabia for $3.8 billion. The pair owns 95 percent of the company, in equal shares, Sharp owns the rest.

Beintoronto.com writes about the old Four Season's Toronto, and its transformation:

Developer Camrost-Felcorp is converting the existing 31 storey old Four Seasons hotel into luxury condominiums. Built in 1971, this hotel building was the catalyst in transforming Yorkville from a village of coffee houses to a luxury destination. As the place "to be seen" in Yorkville, it has a rich history of being a famed stomping ground for celebrities and socialites and each September plays a major role in the Toronto International Film Festival.

Located on the south east corner of Avenue Road and Yorville Avenue, the building's transformation inlcudes the addition of vertical glass accents in patterns of opaque and transparent enamelled glass to the existing two story podium. These first two levels will be devoted entirely to retail space refreshing the sizeable commercial footprint along Yorkville Avenue and Avenue Road.

Above the two storey podium, the conversion involves a complete revamp of each hotel floor. Suite designs range from bachelors, one bedrooms, one bedrooms plus den, two bedrooms and penthouse floor plans.

The hotel tower will feature 68 studio or bachelors, 384 one bedrooms, 38 two bedrooms and 4 three bedroom suites.

Working with the original elements of the existing hotel, suite ceiling heights are eight feet high and most suites will have at least one large bay window to take in the spectacular views of the Yorkville neighbourhood. The balconies featured in corner guestrooms of the hotel will be enclosed with glass and incorporated as extra indoor living space in the new floor plans of the converted units.

Karen von Hahn writes about the La Serre Bar on thestar.com ,

There is something magical about a great hotel bar. And the recently closed Avenue bar in the old Four Seasons had that magic in spades.

It’s odd that it closed without fanfare: This had been an established hangout for celebrities at TIFF, and a much-loved watering hole for Canada’s literati, particularly on the nights when the Giller Prize was held upstairs and the cultural cognoscenti would party hearty till the wee hours.

And I am certain that when it opens this summer the lobby bar at its new Bay and Yorkville flagship — with Daniel Boulud burgers, 20-foot floor-to-ceiling windows and an outdoor terrace (with our without the old-school wait staff remains to be seen) — will come in time to be both iconic and beloved.

But that is how it goes: Magic is a quality that never seems to last. And in a town where glamour is in short supply, Avenue’s rare pizzazz came to be treasured — from the moment the dark, flocked-velvet Belle Epoque-inspired La Serre bar got a minimal makeover at the hands of designer Brian Gluckstein and was renamed Avenue in 2001.

Name of Source Book: 1,000 Places to See Before you Die 2010 paperback edition. Page Location in Source Book: 766 Type of Waymark: Site Location of Coordinates: Hotel Entrance Cost of Admission (Parks, Museums, etc.): 0.00 (listed in local currency) List Available Hours, Dates, Season: Every day all year round. Official Tourism Website: [Web Link]

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