From conception to inauguration: back to the origins of the 9th floor

An article fromHéritage Montréal by Maude Bouchard Dupont, in collaboration with Dinu Bumbaru, Policy Director, and Marie-Maxime de Andrade, PhD student in art history (UQAM and Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne).

"The impression of entering a new world," read the advertisements for the Eaton's new restaurant on the Saturday before the opening.

On the same day, all metropolitan newspapers are invited to a press conference at the Eaton. French architect and decorator Jacques Carlu (1890-1976) and his wife, painter and decorator Anne Nathalie Pecker (1895-1972), answered journalists' questions and invited Montrealers to come and see the fruits of their labor in person the following Monday.  

The press campaign was a success. Over a thousand curious visitors flocked to the express elevator doors. Who will be lucky enough to go up and see the fabulous new Eaton's restaurant on the first day of opening, and especially to be able to say: "I had lunch at Eaton's on the same day as the inauguration of the^9th-floor restaurant", as reported in the pages of Le Devoir the following days? 

"It was a very busy day," recalls Elizabeth Ritchie, hostess on inauguration day, in Catherine Martin's documentary Les Dames du 9e (1998).
"There were at least 1,700 people. All those people coming, I came to think I was a very important person," she adds with a laugh.  

Eaton: between luxury and economy 

In a completely new style reminiscent of the refined dining room of a French transatlantic liner, the restaurant on the ^9th floor was a great success from the moment it opened on January 26, 1931. But the Eaton is not just a luxury address.  

Eaton's is probably the most 'Dupuis Frères' west of rue Sainte-Catherine," deftly compares Marie-Maxime de Andrade, a doctoral student in art history who has been researching Eaton's and the ^9th for the past 5 years.  

"There was really something for everyone, especially in the sales section on the first floor. Eaton's is luxury, but above all, it's good value," she sums up.  

At the time, Sainte-Catherine Street department stores such as Dupuis Frères, Eaton's, Morgan's, Ogilvy's and Simpson's were vying for the few customers who had been spared by the Depression of the 1930s.  

In these palaces of commerce, every effort is made to provide the best experience for their beloved customers. In addition to attentive service, these department stores become places of culture and socialization for women, with sumptuous exhibition galleries, renowned concert halls and, of course, great restaurants. 

Eaton finally arrives in Montreal  

Founded in Toronto in 1869, Eaton's took several decades to establish itself in Montreal. But when the company set up shop on Sainte-Catherine Street in 1925, it was serious business. The approach was focused on making a strong impact in the metropolis' competitive market. Two major construction projects were launched within a few years of each other. 

The first stage involved a radical redevelopment of the former Goodwin stores building between 1925 and 1927, under the supervision of the renowned Montreal architectural firm Ross & MacDonald. This firm was one of the largest and most prolific in Canada in the late 1920s. It is well known for the construction of the Cours Mont-Royal (1920-1924), Eaton's stores in Toronto (1928-1930) and Calgary (1928-1929) and the Dominion Square building (1928-1930), among others. 

The second phase is decisive. On January 30, 1930, construction began on three additional floors. On the ^9th and final floor, a vast restaurant was built. In stark contrast to the classical lines of the building envelope, the Streamline Modern Art Deco interior was designed specifically for the top-floor dining room. 

Lady Eaton's passion for French liners 

Lady Flora McCrea Eaton (1879-1970) was the driving force behind the development of restaurants in Montreal and Toronto. The widow of Sir John Craig Eaton (1876-1922) has been a member of Eaton's Board of Directors since the early 1920s, exerting considerable influence. 

As a passenger on the maiden voyage of the transatlantic liner Île-de-France in 1927, Lady Eaton fell under the spell of the elegant dining room's modern décor. This trip inspired her to design the dining rooms in Montreal and Toronto. 

Lady Eaton had met Jacques Carlu in Paris. Carlu is a professor of architecture and interior design in France and the United States. A Beaux-Arts graduate and winner of the Grand Prix de Rome (1919), he was familiar with the design of the liner Île-de-France (1926), where he had worked alongside Pierre Patout (1879-1965).  

In the United States, he and his wife had decorated Stewart & Co in New York and the Ritz Carlton in Boston in the late 1920s. It was on Lady Eaton's recommendation that Ross & MacDonald retained Jacques Carlu's services. 

There was no clear dividing line between architectural and interior design work at the time," says Marie-Maxime de Andrade. Some architects were comfortable with both, like Jacques Carlu, who was best known for his interior design projects at this stage of his career. The designer profession, as we say today, was in its infancy at the time."   

Under the leadership of artists Émile Lemieux (1889-1967) and Jeannette Meunier Biéler (1900-1990), Eaton inaugurated its first "decoration" department in 1929. Inspired directly by the studios of Parisian department stores, considered the best at the time, they maintained close contact with them.  

Avant-garde decor 

Home decoration departments were a big novelty in department stores in Europe and America. Let's not forget that Eaton's sells everything for the home (including houses, which can be seen life-size in their huge stores and ordered by catalog!) 

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Vue 360 degrés de l'aile sud du 9e. Crédit : Héritage Montréal, 2024

As fashion changes, so does the decorating market. Newly arrived from Europe in the late 1920s, the Art Deco style lends itself well to this. More than just an architectural language, it transposes its modern aesthetic to everyday objects, from fabrics and furniture to buildings and transportation. These decorative items are easily marketable and constantly renewed thanks to factory manufacturing. 

Eaton's avant-garde approach included the use of Art Deco décor to promote the movement in its Montreal store. The ^9th thus became a huge "showroom" of this innovative style, representing Eaton's new Montreal image at the turn of the 1930s. 

A project combining tradition and modernity 

In an article entitled "Tradition and Modernism" in the Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Journal in May 1931, Jacques Carlu first describes his approach to architecture, followed by a description of the restaurant on the 9th floor^four months after opening.   

Overall, the decor was described as simple and modern, with the main colors gray, beige and pink, enhanced by accents of pale green, underlined by black and shades of metal," says Marie-Maxime de Andrade. We're a far cry from the 1980s, when orange and green predominated. 

View of the 9th floor dining room at three different times: Photo on the right, a postcard from the 1930s; in the middle, a photo from 1987; and the last in 2024, shortly before the reopening and return to the original colors. Oil on canvas entitled Amazones (or Les plaisirs de la chasse). A fountain is visible at the bottom of the painting. Three steps high, the small pedestal can be used for parades, concerts or speeches. Detail of the nave, Eaton's restaurant at 9th, Montreal.

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In the restaurant itself, the walls are lined with a horizontal, beige and pink striped French fabric - an element of the original decor that emphasized the horizontality of the space and reduced the ambient noise of the large dining room. This was installed shortly after the restaurant opened, and appears to have been removed during the 1980s renovations. 

The nave is surrounded by a series of columns in soft pink and grey Escalette marble, while the steps are in black Belgian marble, the same material used for the base of the vases.

The floor is made of Ruboleum tiles with an unusual color pattern.

In the two private rooms, the decor is dominated by gold and silver.

The architect mentions horizontal bands of grey and pink in the elevator foyer. In the foyer area, the furniture is mainly composed of mouse-gray, black and pink, harmonizing with its satin-black wood structure. The draperies are described as featuring horizontal bands of beige, pink and pale green, framed in Monel metal. 

Galerie photos : Le 9e en avril 2024, peu avant la réouverture. Crédit : Joe Alvoeiro / Ivanhoé Cambridge

Furniture from near and far 

While the approach is resolutely modern for the decors, the touch is more classic and traditional for certain pieces of furniture, such as chairs, serving plates and silverware.  

While some pieces are made by French artisans or imported, such as the silver and porcelain from England's Royal Worcester or the canvas from Ireland, the ads report that the steel structures, furniture and almost all the kitchen equipment were made right here at home.  

" On this question, we'll have to take their word for it, as we haven't found any mention of them in the archives," says Marie-Maxime de Andrade. But we can assume that the artist-decorators in the Eaton's new decorating department were involved in the search for local suppliers for the furniture in the ^9th." 

The first person to succeed with this type of Bauhaus-inspired furniture was artist-decorator Jeannette Meunier Biéler, who got her start at Eaton. In 1932, she designed a metal-tube desk in Quebec, and had to call on the services of an aircraft parts supplier to bring the design to fruition. No mean feat! 

Despite certain details, Jacques Carlu's décor reveals a unique overall approach, meticulously created specifically for the Montreal Eaton.

Discover the other articles of the Eaton's 9th special series

9th from Eaton's Let's get on board! - Héritage Montréal

Like a boat perched on the top floor of the Eaton, the "9th" restaurant is in a vacuum. You have to cross the "bridge" along the way to the dining room to see downtown and the St. Lawrence River. In those days, there were no skyscrapers to block the view!

Jacques Carlu and Anne Pecker: a gifted duo - Héritage Montréal

Born in Bonnières-sur-Seine, France, on April 7, 1890, Jacques Carlu was the son of Léon Carlu, a civil engineer, and Julie Marin. He was the younger brother of Jean Carlu (1900-1997), a famous poster artist and designer.

What is Art Deco? - Héritage Montréal

The name Art Deco derives from the Exposition internationale des arts décoratifs et industriels modernes, held in Paris in 1925. It was at this time that this aesthetic, born in the 1910s, emerged as a movement in its own right. Preceding the International language, it was initially referred to as Art Moderne or Nouveau Style1. The term Art Deco really took hold in academic circles in the 1960s, and began to be used thereafter.

Find out more 

• Carlu, Jacques. Tradition and Modernism, Royal Architectural Institute of Canada Journal. V.8, no.5, May 1931, p. 181-186[online]
• De Andrade, Marie-Maxime, "Omer Parent : artiste-décorateur", Volume 46, number 1, 2021, p. 9-24[Online]
• Lachapelle, Jacques, Le fantasme métropolitain, L'architecture de Ross et MacDonald, Montréal, Presse de l'Université de Montréal, 2001. 180 p. [online]
• Haight, Susan, "Machines in Suburban Gardens: The 1936 T. Eaton Company Architectural Competition For House Designs", Material Culture Review, Volume 44, Fall/Automne 1996.[online]

Montage : Anthony Plagnes Payá