Achi news desk-
There used to be a beautiful restaurant on the ninth floor of the former Eaton’s department store. It closed 25 years ago, but many in Montreal still talk about it.
It will soon be open to diners again.
When Lady Eaton commissioned the space in 1931, she wanted to transport shoppers to the opulent dining rooms of transatlantic liners.
Architect Jacques Carlo turned the space into a temple of Art Deco design, including his wife Natasha’s murals.
“You can feel the investment,” said architect Georges Drolet. “In the design, the furniture he chose, the dishes, the silverware. Apparently he even consulted on the uniforms of the team.”
The restaurant on the ninth floor of the Eaton Center as it was. (Ivanhoe Cambridge)
For years, the restaurant was the place to go for special occasions, but by the time it closed in 1999, it was in disrepair.
Drolt’s job was to restore it to its original beauty.
“It’s very personal for me, I have to say, to be able to show it now because it’s been quite a process,” he said.
The restaurant on the ninth floor of the Eaton Center used to be the place to go. (Ivanhoe Cambridge)
Any renovation project involves bureaucracy, but as a covered heritage property, there were even more hurdles.
The materials they used, including the marble and polished metal from the 1930s, were no longer available.
The peach color of the walls, too, was a holdover from the 1980s.
“At the time, we only had black-and-white photos of the original, but we could see that something wasn’t quite right,” Drolet said. “We actually tested them by scraping the layers of paint back to the original color.”
Now, after years of painstaking work and an unknown investment, its owner, Ivanhoe Cambridge, is relaunching it as a restaurant and event space.
“Le 9ieme” will open its doors to the public on May 17.
