The Drake Hotel Toronto

The Drake Hotel is a cultural experience and unique destination in Toronto. Housing beautiful cultural and architectural elements, where the healthful coexist with the decadent, the Drake is our version of a downtown urban retreat!

We’ve created a cultural lodge where music, art, warm hospitality and exciting culinary experiences all intersect to provide travellers, culture seekers, neighbours and style makers with a one of a kind experience.

The Drake is filled with thoughtful contradictions and an intriguing intersection of new and old. A popular sushi bar, busy dining room, live indie music venue, luxe crashpad hotel rooms, neighborhood-friendly corner cafe, urban vegetable garden, general store and year round roof top Sky Yard patio all happily coexist within our ever-changing hotbed for culture.

We invite you to explore all of Drake and encourage you to bring along a healthy appetite for experimentation and wonder.

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Drake

The Drake opened in 1890 as D. A. Small’s Hotel. At the time, the area was a major Canadian Pacific Railway hub that linked Downtown with the lakeside summer homes of Toronto’s western beaches. For the next half century, the Hotel transitioned through several owners and names including Hotel Cecil and the Stardust. In 1949, Michael Lundy purchased the property, renamed it the Drake, expanded the building and created many of the improvements visible today, including the grand staircase in the lobby and the addition of a Lounge and restaurant.

The current owner purchased the property in late 2001 and undertook the extensive renovations that gave the hotel its current form. The Drake re-opened its doors in February of 2004 and has since gone on to proudly redefine the Toronto boutique hotel experience.

Starting with the cultural vision of the owner in 2002, to create a unique experience that explores the relationship between Hospitality, Culture and Community, a creative team of extraordinarily talented professionals and artisans was assembled, including 3rd Uncle Design, an award winning Toronto based design firm. The design process engaged the history of the Drake and its neighbourhood, as recorded in the fabric of the building.

The goal was for The Drake to provide those that walked through its doors with a unique, storied experience. At the same time, the Drake would be grounded in providing its guests with world class service and attention in an environment that paid homage to exceptional and timeless design.

In 2007, designers were yet again commissioned to re-imagine the Drake’s Lounge and Dining Room back to its 1940s golden age roots. The new look embraces the elegance, decadence and dignity of a special moment in time with leather booths, rich velvet banquettes, marble and brass fixtures, custom designed chandeliers and commissioned murals. Key to the redesign was Room 222, a Private Dining Room just on the edge of the action. Capturing the exclusivity and glamour of the Hollywood golden age, Room 222 features mid-century reproduction swivel chairs, amber teak wood mouldings, marble and glass finishes and a lush, Drake-designed, 20-foot mural spanning its length.

With a population of approximately 5.5 million people, Toronto is the fifth largest urban region and fourth largest financial centre in North America. Toronto is commonly referred to as the most multicultural city in the world, with the United Nations designating Toronto as the ‘most ethnically-diverse city’ for the past five consecutive years. The city is also commonly referred to as ‘Hollywood North’ for the success in its film industry.

Currently, there are a number of significant initiatives and attractions recently opened, under development or newly announced in the downtown core that will help to further enhance Toronto’s appeal to both tourists and residents. Some of the major developments/announcements include the MaRS Centre, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts, the Art Gallery of Ontario, the Royal Ontario Museum, the Bell Lightbox and Filmport.

Toronto is full of colourful and unique neighbourhoods , including Chinatown, Little Italy and Portugese Village. Each ‘global village’ features bustling street markets and blocks of offbeat shops.

Toronto hosts hundreds of festivals each year as defined by its extraordinary cultural diversity. The annual Toronto International Film Festival has evolved into North America’s premier film showcase. The Contact Photography Festival, Hot Docs, Idea City, Canadian Music Week, Luminato, North by Northeast, Nuit Blanche and the Toronto International Art Fair all represent a small sampling of the phenomenal variety of festivals currently offered.

The countless things that make travel charming and stimulating such as dining, shopping, museums, galleries, theatre, history, and architecture all come together in the West Queen West neighbourhood, in no small part because it contains the fifth highest concentration of artists in any location in Canada.

The trailblazing area is a unique mix of community, culture and commerce, and was officially named the West Queen West Art and Design District in December 2003. It’s about a street life that pulses with creative energy, as demonstrated by the many exciting art galleries in the neighbourhood. Best known as a centre for music, performance, fashion, and the visual arts, Queen West has become an international arts centre, and a major attraction in Toronto.

West Queen West embraces the art community year round, with events such as the Queen West Art Crawl. The District also supports or participates in other major events such as the Toronto International Film Festival, Scotia Bank’s Nuit Blanche, Luminato, and the Toronto International Art Fair.