Toronto Hotel News:
The Drake Opens The Modern Wing Next Door

• Open now for bookings starting December 1, 2021

The renovation of the venerable Drake Hotel back in 2004 launched the renaissance of Queen Street West as we know it today. Sure, some people still talk about the 'authentic' hippie vibe back in the day, but no one really misses the drunks on the sidewalk and street crime, do they?

Drake Hotel, Toronto, with Modern Wing expansion (Rendering by Norm Li)

In the 17 years since their grand reopening, the neighbourhood has changed, and gained a new kind of eclectic contemporary style of its own. According to a media statement, that's what inspired the push to open a brand new 5-storey Modern Wing right next door. 

The details

• 32 new guest rooms designed with artistic flair;
• A polished steel boxcar-inspired cantilevered rooftop suite with cityscape views;
• New meeting and event spaces;
• The ever stylish Sky Yard rooftop patio re-imagined;
• A new and generously proportioned reception lobby;
• A new and intimate lobby/street front bar to quaff cocktails.

The Modern Wing and all its rooms are decorated and curated with cutting edge art. 

From the release:

[N]ew layers of architecture, design, objects and art reveal an exciting design that effortlessly intersects with The Classic Wing, housed in the hotel’s historic wing.

The Drake’s in-house design and art curation teams worked with Diamond Schmitt Architects and DesignAgency, in association with John Tong and Michael Awad. Re-imagination of The Sky Yard and original Classic Wing lobby is by CompanyCompany.

The Drake was built in 1890 as Small’s Hotel, and was a busy stop for trains passengers of the nearby Canadian Pacific Railway yards. It got the name it wears to this day in 1949 with an expansion, but business fell when the railway station was closed. By the 1970s it had become a disreputable flophouse, and in the 1990s served as a gritty punk and rave bar.

The original, historic hotel, now dubbed the ‘Classic Wing,’ will still offer the stylish Drake Lounge and Dining Room, newly refurbed Sky Yard rooftop patio, Drake Underground performance venue, and neighbourhood Drake Café.

More Drake Coming Dec 1 from The Drake Hotel on Vimeo.