Canada Day falls mid-week this year, which makes it tempting to stretch the holiday into a proper getaway. Before looking beyond the border, there’s a good case for staying closer to home. For design lovers, the country offers plenty to build a trip around: a striking public building, a restaurant with a strong point of view, or a hotel that’s a destination itself. A Canada Day road trip across the country reveals how design sensibilities shift region by region.
Halifax makes a strong first stop.
The city’s pubs still carry that old Maritime spirit, with wood paneling and live folk music. The Narrows Public House in the North End works as a quick welcome. For a date night, Bar Kismet or Mystic on the waterfront
Montreal’s saunas and sacred spaces
If you prefer ecclesiastical architecture, Saint Joseph’s Oratory of Mount Royal got a new welcome pavilion and a circulation route carved through the hill by Lemay. That firm also centered a refurbished bell tower at the foot of the site. Meanwhile, Gorilla Park in Mile Ex — designed by Civiliti — restores a grassroots-led outdoor space with hopes of making it permanent. That neighborhood nurtured Montreal’s early warehouse pop scene; it’s now a food destination with spots like Manitoba and Impaso.
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Prince Edward County and Toronto icons
Prince Edward County turned into one of Ontario’s most compelling design destinations after the pandemic. The Drake Devonshire, renovated by ERA Architects and +tongtong in 2012, still anchors Wellington. Wander the Resort in Bloomfield describes itself as “Nordic design meets County comfort” and includes a Scandinavian spa. The Royal in Picton, restored by Giannone Petricone, costs about $500 a night for an entry-level room, but the lobby bar is worth a visit even if you’re not staying. Base31, an adaptive-reuse project on a former WWII air-training base, now covers 70 hectares of cultural space with galleries and live music.
Toronto’s CN Tower turns 50 this year. A revamped lower observation deck by Superkül with Boszko & Verity replaced the original glazing and glass floor. They added an arboreal canopy of oak-laminated phenolic fins to warm the raw space at 365 meters. At the University of Toronto’s Scarborough Campus, John Andrews’ brutalist Science and Humanities Wing remains impressive. Back at St. George, Robarts Library now has a fourth-floor reading room by Superkül that brings warmth to the concrete while respecting the original coffered ceiling. In the Port Lands, Biidaasige Park re-naturalized the Don River. The Lassonde Art Trail inside it got new works this summer, including Cuban artist Alexandre Arachea’s Orange Functional — a cluster of basketball nets — and Tracey Emin’s Roman Standard, a small bronze songbird on a pole.
Grey County, Niagara, and the road west
Two hours north of Toronto, Grey County draws outdoor enthusiasts year-round. Leeward House in Thornbury opens later this month as a nine-room boutique hotel by Westgrove, with board-and-batten siding and a wrap-around porch. In Meaford, a former grocery store became the town’s public library, redesigned by LGA Architectural Partners with a terraced apple orchard. Creemore Village Green, a collaboration between ERA Architects and PFS Studio, turned an old railway stop into a four-season public square with pollinator gardens and a bandshell.
The Niagara region is a must-see on any Canadian tour. The Niagara Falls Exchange (NFX) by DTAH’s Megan Torza is a market hall with sawtooth roofs and an open-air plaza for farmers markets and concerts. Fat Rabbit in St. Catharines — Michelin-recommended — expanded its dining room with wood panelling and custom furniture by Brett Paulin.
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Thunder Bay’s Prince Arthur’s Landing transformed a key waterfront stretch into an all-season hub. Brook McIlroy designed the Water Garden Pavilion and Baggage Building Arts Centre, which became the city’s first LEED-certified structures. The Spirit Garden, framed by large timber structures, marked the firm’s first partnership with architect Ryan Gorrie. Unfortunately, the Thunder Bay Art Gallery’s new building — designed by Patkau with Brook McIlroy — halted construction in June, about $20 million short of funding. It’s 60 percent complete and would provide dedicated space for Northern Ontario and Indigenous art. Meanwhile, Goods & Co. Market reimagined the old Eaton’s store as a multi-vendor hall, and the Hoito restaurant serves Finnish pancakes on weekends.
Winnipeg, Edmonton, and Victoria
Winnipeg is home to 102,080 Indigenous residents — the largest number of any major Canadian city. The Buffalo Crossing Paul Albrechtsen Visitor Centre at FortWhyte Alive, designed by Stantec, uses a Passive House standard and includes an Elder’s Room and a Star Blanket pattern by Cheryl Wirch in the concrete floor. The Inuit Art Centre, a renovation by Michael Maltzan with exhibition design by Inuk designers Nicole Luke and Mark Bennett, holds over 4,500 sculptures. The Leaf in Assiniboine Park, by KPMB, is a greenhouse inspired by the Fibonacci sequence with four biomes under one spiralling roof.
Edmonton invests in everyday public buildings. City Architect Carol Bélanger changed procurement to reward design quality. gh3* designed O-day’min Park’s strawberry-hued pavilion downtown, with a vaulted roof for year-round use. Borden Park’s natural swimming pool uses a wetland filtration system — the first in Canada — with a gabion-walled structure inspired by mid-century buildings. A trio of Italian spots by Ste Marie — Va! Caffè, Olia, and Mimi — handle breakfast to nightcaps.
Victoria’s design work ties to Indigenous knowledge and place. On the University of Victoria campus, the First Peoples House by Formline uses Coast Salish longhouse traditions and cedar carvings. A new law wing by Two Row Architect with Teeple and Low Hammond Rowe connects to the forest with a wood-forward design. In the city, small hospitality spaces like Softer Drink — a non-alcoholic bottle shop with a chartreuse interior — and Lumache, a tiny pasta joint by Claire Saksun, show deliberate character. Tourist Wine Bar, co-founded by Guy Ferguson, draws locals for natural wines and a moody interior. The BC Power Commission Building, an Art Deco landmark, is proposed for redevelopment as a hotel but currently hosts artists.
