The hotel opened its doors on New Year's Eve in the year 1912 and, according to a description appearing in the Montréal Gazette the next morning, "the spectacle was certainly a new one to Montréal, and the brilliance of it was reminiscent of Paris, and was living evidence of the fact that Montréal has become one of the world's important centres."

The "Ritz," as it is usually called, has catered to so many celebrities that it is practically impossible to keep track of all of them.

Some of the better known personalities have included the Duke and Duchess of Windsor, Sir Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle, Golda Meir, Moshe Dayan, the Shah of Iran, Arthur Rubinstein, Rita Hayworth, Charles Boyer, Linda Darnell, Glenn Ford, Catherine Deneuve, Gene Kelly, Paul Newman, Petula Clark, Burt Lancaster, John Wayne and far too many more to list. We certainly cannot forget that it was at the Ritz where Elizabeth Taylor married Richard Burton in 1964.

The Ritz began as a dream of four Montréal tycoons, Samuel Holt, Charles Blair Gordon, Montagu Allan and Charles Hosmer. These four gentlemen were very prominent among the residents who resided in Montréal's Golden Square Mile.

It has been estimated that 70% of Canada's wealth was owned by a few hundred people who lived here during the late 19^th Century to World War II.

What these men envisaged was the creation of a hotel on behalf of friends and colleagues that would resemble a private club where they would be able to conduct their business affairs as well as entertain their guests.

They decided among themselves that the most effective way to proceed was to try and persuade a well-known hotelier by the name of César Ritz to lend his name to their venture.

César Ritz opened up the first of his Ritz hotels in 1898 in Paris, France. When you stayed in any of his hotels you were assured of perfection. In fact, the Ritz in Paris was the first hotel in the world where every room had a private toilet and bath!

Fortunately for the founders of the Montréal Ritz Carlton, César Ritz had agreed to permit these gentlemen to use his name, however, they were obliged to respect his preconditions.

Apart from the sum of $25,000 that he requested as a kind of fee, he insisted that the hotel building be suitable in the sense that it was in a choice locality. The service had to be of the finest quality and the number of employees was to exceed the number of guests. If possible a bath and telephone were to be included in every room. He also insisted that he be the mentor and guide to the owners of the hotel.

The Ritz Carlton through the years has witnessed good times and some very bad times, when it nearly went bankrupt. However, today it still reflects the charm and luxury of bygone days when it was a dream of everyone to stay in one of these luxurious hotels.

If any of you readers in the cyberworld want to read more about the history of the Ritz Carlton you may try to secure a copy of a book entitled No Ordinary Hotel, written by Adrian Waller and published by Véhicule Press, Montréal. I was able to find a copy at the Concordia University Library in Montréal.

For those of us who are book lovers, you may be interested to know that each Fall the hotel hosts the Books & Breakfast reading series. These events are held on a Sunday morning where you are served a breakfast and you are able to listen to some of the well known authors promoting their recent publications. Some of the past authors have included Margaret Atwood, Mavis Gallant and Pierre Burton.

To find out more, call the hotel and have them send you a brochure. Remember to reserve well in advance as there is quite a turn out.

I would appreciate hearing from anyone who may have stayed at the Ritz Carlton and their experiences.

The above article was originally published at Suite101.com.

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