Harrison Stephens
Owner
1845
American merchant Harrison Stephens, who had made his fortune in bootmaking, pork, and rum, bought the building site at a sheriff's sale. He hired architect George Browne to design a new luxury hotel. Browne, an Irish-born Canadian architect, designed some of Canada's finest buildings of this era.
George Browne
Architect
1846
The hotel opened. All the furniture came from John Hilton's workshop, one of the most celebrated furniture makers in the country, whose showrooms occupied six floors just down the same street and whose furniture adorned many Montreal's grandest private houses. The hotel was also known early on for a rare luxury at the time: hot and cold running water baths on every floor.
1852
New manager Samuel Browning took over and ran a full page ad boasting of views of Mount Royal from the front windows and, from the south side, the Lachine Rapids with steamers descending them. He'd poached his own hotel manager from two well regarded American houses, the Delavan House in Albany and the Phelps' House in Buffalo, and made a point of noting the wines, liquors, and cigars were 'invariably of the choicest brands.'
Similar John Hilton furniture on display at Ravenscrag, a historic mansion in the Golden Square Mile, Montreal.
c. 1855 – 1872
Browning added a 30 room wing at the back, facing what's now Notre Dame Street, as well as a fifth floor with the distinctive arched windows we recognize on the facade today.
1869
Harriet Beecher Stowe stayed at the Ottawa Hotel during a visit to Montreal and was struck enough by the "finely furnished" interior to mention it in her published travel writing. She and her husband were in Montreal to visit its many churches.
1876
The hotel resorted to an old fashioned bit of hustle: it planted an employee aboard an incoming ship to talk up the Ottawa to passengers mid crossing, so they'd head straight there rather than shop around once they docked in Montreal.
1881
The hotel closed for good, the same year founder Harrison Stephens died. The ground floor became shops and restaurants, with offices upstairs. It became Euard & MacDonald Hardware.
1895 – 1940s
The Ottawa Café operated out of the building for decades, and the second floor was home to the British High Commissioner for several years. During this time, St. James Street was known as the 'Wall Street of Canada.'
Electric streetcars began to run along the street, carrying workers and visitors through Montreal's bustling financial district, a fitting predecessor to today's metro line running beneath the same street.
1945
The Stephens family finally sold the building, ending a century of ownership aside from a brief gap between 1912 and 1916. For decades the other floors acted as offices for various businesses, while the ground floor retail space housed shops, restaurants, and taverns.
1977
Quebec's Bill 101 made French the province's sole official language, and Montreal's street naming and municipal mapping fell in line. Great St. James Street was formalized exclusively as rue Saint Jacques.
The English name lived on mostly in historical references to the street's 19th and 20th century heyday, when its neoclassical bank buildings, including the old hotel itself, anchored the country's financial center. By the time of the renaming, that role had already faded, with commerce and foot traffic shifting toward Rue Sainte Catherine.
Today
After decades as office space, the building has come full circle: restored to its original hospitality roots as Nester Finn Square Victoria, a boutique aparthotel, with Monarque and Stellina anchoring the ground floor. It's a fitting modern chapter for a building that's welcomed dignitaries and notable visitors since 1846.
