Residences at Windsor Arms, 22 St Thomas St: 24 Suites Above a 1927 Hotel

The Residences at Windsor Arms are 24 suites sitting on top of one of Toronto’s best-known small hotels. You come home through a 1927 stone entrance on a quiet side street off Bloor, and your neighbours number in the dozens, not the hundreds. Buildings like this trade rarely and on their own terms, so it pays to know exactly what you are buying. I’m Jatin Dua, RE/MAX Quantum Realty.

A 1927 hotel, rebuilt with homes on top

The Windsor Arms Hotel opened in 1927 as a four-storey building styled to echo the Gothic look of the nearby University of Toronto. It became a fixture of the city’s dining and nightlife scene from the 1960s on, then declined and closed in 1991.

Developer George Friedmann bought the property in 1995 and hired Sol Wassermuhl of Page + Steele to keep the defining pieces, including the stained glass window facing St. Thomas Street and the stone portico and vestibule at the entrance, while rebuilding the rest. The hotel reopened in May 1999 with 28 suites and a spa, and the condominium suites were built above it.

That structure matters to a buyer. You are not in a stand-alone condo tower; you share a site with a working hotel. That is where the services come from, and it is also why you need to understand exactly how costs and responsibilities are divided between the residential corporation and the hotel.

Twenty-four suites, most of them very large

Suites range from about 1,332 to 6,640 square feet, so even the smallest is the size of a generous two-bedroom, and the largest is bigger than most detached houses. With only 24 suites, many floors hold one or two homes, which means private elevator landings and very little hallway traffic.

Agents who know the building describe high ceilings, fireplaces and private terraces in many suites. Finishes vary a great deal by suite, because owners at this level often renovate heavily, so a suite’s age is the age of its last renovation, not the building’s.

That also means floor plans are not interchangeable. A 1,500 square foot suite and a 4,000 square foot suite in the same building are different products with different buyers, so the building average tells you little about a specific home. Ask for the floor plan, the terrace size and the exposure before you compare anything.

There is a small discrepancy worth knowing: condos.ca lists the building at 16 floors, while other sources describe 14 storeys above the hotel. The count depends on how the hotel levels are treated. It does not affect value, but use the floor plan, not the floor number, when comparing suites.

What living above a hotel actually means

The hotel has a spa with a salt water pool and a salt cave, a well-known tea room, a bar and restaurant service. Residents are described as having access to hotel services such as room service and housekeeping, and the building itself lists an indoor pool, sauna, concierge and security.

Before you buy, get specific about which of those are part of your condo fee and which are charged separately as hotel services. The fee here covers common elements, heat, air conditioning, water, building insurance and parking, not room service or housekeeping. Also ask whether there are shared-facilities or cost-sharing agreements with the hotel, and read them.

Hotel neighbours bring events, deliveries and guests coming and going at the base of the building. On a short street like St. Thomas, that is usually quiet and well managed, but walk the block on a Friday evening before you decide.

St. Thomas Street, steps from Bloor

St. Thomas is a short residential street running south from Bloor between Avenue Road and Bay. That gives you Yorkville’s shops and restaurants, the Royal Ontario Museum and the Bloor Street boutiques within a few minutes on foot, while the street itself stays calm.

The next-door neighbour is One St. Thomas, the limestone-clad condominium at 1 St. Thomas Street, which competes for the same kind of buyer. Comparing the two is the most useful exercise you can do here, and I would walk both before writing an offer on either, because both offer large suites, both are quiet, and they come at the luxury market with very different building styles.

Yorkville keeps changing around both of them, with new luxury condominiums continuing to rise around Bloor and Yorkville. That adds supply at the top of the market, but new towers rarely offer suites this large or a hotel downstairs, which is why the Windsor Arms holds its niche.

Pricing at the top of the market

condos.ca puts the building average at about $1,549 per square foot, which is among the highest figures in this part of the city. With suites starting above 1,300 square feet, that implies multi-million-dollar price points across the board.

In a 24-suite building, the average moves a lot with each sale and tells you less than usual. A heavily renovated full-floor suite and an original-condition suite can trade far apart. I price suites here against recent large-suite sales in Yorkville buildings such as One St. Thomas, not just within the building.

There were no suites listed for sale or rent at the time of writing, which is normal here; listings appear rarely. If you are serious about the building, it is worth having an agent watch for off-market opportunities. For aggregate sold figures, see my building sold report.

Building specifications

Amenities at Residences at Windsor Arms

The building lists an indoor pool, sauna, concierge and security, and the hotel adds a spa, dining and in-suite services. The practical point is that the hotel works like a staff you can call on, but you should confirm which services are in the condo fee and which are billed separately.

Jatin’s honest take on Residences at Windsor Arms

Residences at Windsor Arms — frequently asked questions

Looking at St. Lawrence, the Financial District and Downtown Yonge more broadly? Start with my Toronto community guide — the neighbourhoods, what each pocket is like, and how they compare.