MONTREAL - Anyone looking for former prime minister Brian Mulroney poking through the lots up for auction at the famous Ritz-Carlton Hotel on Wednesday would have been disappointed.

Mulroney, one of the most famous denizens to hold court at the downtown landmark, had already been and gone from one of his favourite stomping grounds.

He and wife Mila were there earlier in the week to check things out and some items did pique their interest, says auctioneer Iegor de Saint-Hippolyte. He wouldn't say what, however, answering queries with a mischievous smile and a raised eyebrow.

Discretion is as much a part of the Ritz as its gleaming chandeliers and polished woodwork.

It's the place where the posh come to nosh and famous people as diverse as British wartime leader Winston Churchill and pop warbler Celine Dion laid their heads.

But now the fabled Grand Dame of Sherbrooke Street is getting a facelift, staking its claim in the 21st century as a luxury hotel and condominium project.

Viewing for the lots up for auction took place on Monday and Wednesday and are to end Thursday. A private auction was held Monday evening and the public bids were scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday evenings.

The viewings were a chance for people to size up the contents of more than 200 rooms at the landmark which are on the block - and to reminisce.

"It's one of our hangouts," said Ted Wilson, 80, as he and his wife looked around. He was taken with the style of the furniture, she with a lush-looking dining room table.

"We're looking," said Sandra Wilson. "We might possibly come back here and bid. They've got some lovely things."

Sandra Wilson, 74, said she's been coming to the Ritz since she was a teenager.

"We'd be brought here for dinner, for the treat," she said.

She was a little wistful about the auction and the coming changes. She would have liked to see some of the older stuff refurbished, although the real antiques and art object will be integrated into the new decor.

"It's a lovely old building and I hate to see these lovely old things going frankly," Sandra Wilson said.

Her husband predicted a lot of the items up for auction would be snapped up but probably not by them.

"No, we're too old," he said with a laugh. "We're trying to give our things away."

The Ritz opened on Dec. 31, 1912. The neo-classical building was designed by the same architects who did Grand Central Station and the Biltmore, Vanderbilt and Ritz hotels in New York City.

One of its most attention-grabbing visits was by Hollywood royalty Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor, who celebrated their first marriage at the hotel in 1964.

It's such tidbits that make the daunting job of organizing the auction a treat for de Saint-Hippolyte.

"What is interesting is the history and when you know that David Bowie stayed here, Sophia Loren, Elizabeth the Queen of England and Canada, Charles de Gaulle, Jacques Chirac, Jean Charest and Mulroney, Donald Sutherland, Peter Ustinov - you have a lot of very, very known people. Elizabeth Hurley stayed here.

"You can buy the room where a celebrity stayed."

The room number is included in the purchase.

Andrew Torriani, the hotel's general manager, said $100 million is being budgeted for the facelift, which will close the hotel for 15 months.

He explained that the old rooms are a little small for a luxury hotel and need to be updated but a lot of the old Ritz will be in the new building.

"Clearly what was important to us was to have the spirit of the Ritz in it," he said. "We went and looked at items that we thought would be reusable in whatever new decoration that we use," he said.

Still, Torriani acknowledged it's hard to look at the project from a purely business standpoint.

"I'm very attached to this building," he said. "I'm very attached to the people that work in this building and I've been very attached to the people that have passed through this building. . . .

"It's something you're very conscious of and even sitting here today looking at this happen, there's a little tug in your heart."