Inside the new Broadview Hotel, an ex-flophouse turned boutique hot spot

For decades, the 125-year-old building at the corner of Queen and Broadview was home to Jilly’s, the seediest strip club in the city. After the premises were vacated in 2014, Streetcar Developments bought the building and gave it a $25-million, three-year makeover, with 58 designer rooms, a new bar and a glorious rooftop patio.

Here’s a view of the hotel lobby. DesignAgency led the renovation, and they retained as many of the original brass accents as possible.

Construction workers scraped away all the layers of wallpaper and discovered the original pattern from the 1890s, which designers replicated and used in the light-filled bar and café adjacent to the lobby.

The hotel’s formal restaurant is still under construction, but the bar and café area offers breakfast, lunch fare and full beverage service.

Rooms start at $309 a night and max out at $799. There’s a record player in each one, and a small selection of vinyl albums selected by the hotel’s east-end neighbour Tiny Record Shop.

Here’s what the bathrooms look like. Toiletries were sourced from another east-end company, Graydon Skincare. 

The event-rental space on the second floor includes this outdoor patio. Before the building was Jilly’s, it was was a hotel; during the recent renovation, the neon sign was refurbished and reinstalled up here. Dan Raljic, who also created the undulating pink chandelier in the downstairs bar-café, worked on restoring the sign, which was originally fashioned by his father.

The seating area on the top floor features one of the biggest skylights in the city.

The windows behind the rooftop bar can swing open so staff can serve those sitting outdoors.

Here’s a view of the rooftop patio. The private dining room is located inside the corner tower with the “No Vacancy” sign.

The private dining room can seat up to 20.