When the Toronto-based architecture firm Giannone Petricone Associates (GPA) was asked by Greg Sorbara—a former Canadian politician and finance minister—to renovate the Royal Hotel, an 1879 Victorian building he and his family had bought in Picton, Ontario, in 2013, the architects knew they had their work cut out for them. The central staircase was carpeted with moss, and, early in the planning stages, the roof caved in. “We told him he was mad,” recalls Sorbara’s son-in-law Sol Korn­gold, who later changed his mind and left the software business he helped found to become the Royal’s general manager. Sorbara wanted to create a gathering spot on Main Street for locals and tourists visiting Prince Edward County, an agricultural area known for its food and wine. The architects saw an opportunity to revive a historic building while adding offbeat, contemporary touches.

Pina Petricone and Ralph Giannone, the husband-and-wife team who in 1995 founded the firm—known for sleek urban towers and exuberant retail and restaurant projects, as well as sophisticated houses, furniture, and lighting—enjoy working at many different scales. The architects redesigned the existing hotel with 28 guest rooms, a café, three bars, a restaurant, spa, gym, and sauna. Outside, a redbrick garden terrace overlooks a fourth bar and a patio with a fireplace, and also leads to a swimming pool. Nearby, the hotel’s stables were turned into the Royal Annex, an “abstracted farmhouse” that contains five rooms.