Eaton's Building, Architectural structure in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada.
The Eaton's Building is a three-storey structure at the northeast corner of 3rd Avenue and 21st Street in downtown Saskatoon. Its Neo-Renaissance façade is clad in tyndall stone and black marble, with fifteen tripled-arched Palladian windows. Inside, the original terrazzo flooring and bronze fixtures on the street-level display windows survive.
The architects Ross and Macdonald completed this building in 1928 as the Eaton's department store chain expanded into Saskatchewan. The project marked a period of growth for retail commerce across western Canada.
The building represents the era when large department stores became gathering places and hubs of commerce in the community. Its design reflects how retail spaces were created to be destinations where people spent time beyond just shopping.
The building stands at the northeast corner of 3rd Avenue and 21st Street in Saskatoon's Central Business District, and since 2000 it has housed the Saskatoon Board of Education rather than shops. Visitors reach it on foot from the surrounding downtown blocks; the restored street-level display windows and stairway handrails are the details to look for.
The store's interior held features visitors still recall: a children's toyland with a mechanical lion, a meat counter of 80 feet in marble, and a Mediterranean-style dining room. Fifteen tripled-arched Palladian windows line the tyndall stone and black marble facade. The building later housed athletes for the 1971 Canada Winter Games.
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