Eaton's Ninth Floor, Art Deco restaurant in Ville-Marie, Canada.
Eaton's Ninth Floor is a large Art Deco dining room on the ninth floor of the former Eaton's store at 677 Saint Catherine Street West. Terracotta upper walls and square columns clad in dark green marble frame the room, and a tall mural panel with a green lower section, showing figures and horses, stands at the centre rear. Two stepped glass and metal light fixtures flank the space, and a dark doorway at the back is reached by a short flight of steps.
French architect Jacques Carlu designed this upscale dining space in 1931, drawing inspiration from the grand dining halls found on transatlantic ocean liners. The building was part of the Eaton's department store, which grew into a major retail hub during the early 1900s.
The restaurant was modelled on the dining hall of the ocean liner SS Île de France, and its peripheral dining area still carries that name. The 1998 National Film Board documentary Les Dames du 9e by Catherine Martin profiled the waitresses and their regular customers. The floor-to-ceiling mural behind the room was painted by Natacha Carlu, wife of architect Jacques Carlu.
The restaurant sits on the ninth floor of the Eaton Centre, which is accessible from Rue Sainte-Catherine with elevator access to the dining space. Large windows throughout the room provide natural light and views while you dine.
The kitchen was demolished during the vacancy and rebuilt for the 2024 reopening, while the dining room, lobby and bathroom area survived. Urban explorers who entered in 2004 photographed the decay, and Heritage Montreal placed the floor under observation on February 12, 2014. Renovation was estimated at CA$15 million.
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