A return trip to Toronto meant an opportunity to return to Yorkville. The once-shabby community was transformed into posh residences, chic retail outlets and luxury hotels, among which is The Hazelton, where I stayed.

The 77-room property, with its curvilinear corner suites, is the city’s most luxe boutique hotel and its only member of Leading Hotels of the World. The four-story hotel is topped upward and inward with five stories of glass-walled residences. Designed by Page and Steele, the building introduced Toronto’s first green roof, one of a series of elements aimed to reduce the structure’s carbon footprint. Ontario natives George Yabu and Glenn Pushelberg of the international design firm Yabu Pushelberg crafted chic interiors to enhance a curated collection of Canadian art. In bedrooms, French doors open to private balconies overlooking the street; bathrooms feature soaking tubs, rainfall showers and mirror-embedded televisions.

At ONE, the fine-dining restaurant, they created a tree-lined, candle-lit patio space.The restaurant is key to celebrity chef and owner Mark McEwan’s empire, which includes restaurants, cookbooks and gourmet markets. One of its dining rooms, The Neil Young Room, salutes the Toronto native musician, singer and songwriter. Local ingredients are intrinsic to the comfort food menu replete with French- and Italian-inspired dishes.

The Hazelton Silver Screening Room by designer Christopher Hansen of Beverly Hills’ Simply Home Entertainment is just one nod to the propensity of the hotel’s film industry clientele. Along with meeting rooms and a complimentary morning luxury car service, amenities include a saltwater lap pool, sauna, fitness center and Valmont at the Spa at The Hazelton.

Being in Yorkville, a 19^th-century village before it became a mid-20^th-century mecca at the edge of the city, is intrinsic to The Hazelton experience. On a walking tour, the historic past comes alive with cafés, galleries, antique shops and one-of-a-kind boutiques. On Bloor Street, ranked among the top most expensive shopping streets in the world, Holt Renfrew, the flagship of Canada’s premium department store, dominates among designer boutiques with familiar names, from Cartier to Chanel, Hermès to Hugo Boss, Tiffany & Co. to Louis Vuitton. I crossed Bloor Street, to the adjacent Discovery District, and walked through the greenery in the University of Toronto campus to visit the Royal Ontario Museum and the Gardiner Museum of Ceramic Art. The following day, I returned to the district just to ogle the eclectic displays at the Bata Shoe Museum. Like gentrified neighborhoods in many world capitals and grand cities, Yorkville’s ambience retains its appeal.

The Hazelton Hotel
118 Yorkville Ave. Toronto, Ontario, M5R 1C2 Canada