Gladstone House

Rooms and decor

What sets Gladstone House apart from every other hotel on this list is that all 55 rooms were designed by different local artists and designers, with no two alike. Every time you open a door you are stepping into a separate piece of art — some rooms loud and playful, others warm and understated in wood tones and woven fabrics, others built around patterns and handmade pieces you will not find anywhere else. There is no chance of finding two identical rooms, which turns the stay into something you look forward to before you even arrive. Plenty of guests pick a room by the artist's style they like, then come back to try a different one. That care for design shows up in the real review scores for comfort and cleanliness, which run as high as 9.1-9.2. Many guests agree the rooms are spotless and the beds comfortable, and that every room is well kept despite the age of the building.

Food and amenities

This is a boutique in an old building, not a resort, so set your expectations accordingly: there is no pool and no large spa. What you get instead lives in the building's character. There is an on-site café and bar, plus a space the hotel uses for art and music events from time to time, which is part of the appeal if you want a place with a pulse rather than a generic lobby. Wi-Fi is free. And because you are in the middle of Queen West, the real dining scene is right outside the door — cafés and restaurants line the street for blocks, so you are never short of somewhere to eat.

Location and getting there

The location is the other ace worth talking about. Gladstone House sits on the west end of Queen Street West, one of the most stylish arts-and-lifestyle districts in Toronto. Step outside and you hit cafés, art galleries, vintage clothing shops, bookshops and good restaurants you can explore all day. Getting around is easy: streetcar 504 runs right past the front of the hotel, so hopping a tram across the city is simple. Because the hotel is already on the west side, fairly close to Exhibition Place, on a game day you take the 504 and transfer to the 509 to reach BMO Field, home of Toronto FC on the shore of Lake Ontario — no hunting for parking. To sightsee, the same streetcars carry you into the Downtown Core for the CN Tower or Ripley's Aquarium.

Things to know before booking

Straight talk from the real reviews to help you decide. First, room size and variety: this is a boutique in an old Victorian from 1889, so rooms come in several sizes and some are fairly compact in the way historic buildings tend to be — not the wide rooms of a new hotel. Because each room is designed differently, the actual room may look quite different from the sample photos, so study each room type on the booking page and pick what you like. Second, noise and the buzz of the area: the hotel sits in the heart of Queen West among busy cafés, bars and restaurants, and it hosts art and music events of its own, so rooms facing the street or near the event space can pick up some noise on certain nights — light sleepers should ask for a room set back from the street. Last, this is a boutique in an old downtown building, so there are no resort facilities like a pool or a large spa. During big events or concerts especially, rates spike and rooms sell out fast because a Queen West location near the stadium is in high demand, so book well ahead.

Our take

Gladstone House suits couples and travellers who love art and want a place with a story, right in one of Toronto's coolest arts districts. If your idea of the trip is waking up in a boutique room designed just for it by a local artist, inside a red-brick Victorian more than a century old, spending the day among the cafés, galleries and vintage shops of Queen West, then taking a streetcar west to catch a Toronto FC match or a concert at BMO Field, this fits beautifully. The real scores back it up — a solid 8.5 on both Agoda and Booking, 4.4 on Tripadvisor, with cleanliness, comfort and staff as high as 9.1-9.2. But if you want wide rooms identical to every other, or a pool and spa, this is not the answer — the heart of Gladstone House is the charm of an old building and design that is genuinely one of a kind. Overall we give it 8.5/10 for one of the most characterful, story-rich art boutiques in Toronto.