61 - 1 Place D'armes

Frontenac Village is a pretty downtown condominium development that dates back to the mid-1980s. There are no cars in here (those are stashed underground), just pleasing geometries of interlocking brick walkways and planters stuffed with geranium and pansy. There is an outdoor pool like something from the Caribbean but it's never very busy, and a surprising abundance of trimmed hedges and sculpted evergreens, even the odd fruit tree. There are common rooms for meeting, and reading, for working out and working up a sweat (in the sauna). It is a refuge from the daily grind, a spa really, and a sanctuary of sorts, a place to get gussied up for downtown's attractions just the other side of the gate. Number 61 offers a well-maintained set of spaces spread over six levels (I had to wait for the floor plans to be sure), but the flow is such that you don't feel you're always heading up or down. There is a summer light flooding in that seems almost to move you top to bottom, a sci-fi escalator, and a patio that connects directly to the pool and feels, with its apple tree, lifted from some far-off country estate. There are three bedrooms, three bathrooms, a pellet stove in the sitting room, a heat pump, an office, parking directly outside the lower level exit, laundry, and even a workshop. It is a downtown landing spot, close to dining and films, the university and the hospitals and the lake. And it is lovely just the way it is, but its price leaves room to make it truly dreamy, and altogether perfect for you and yours.