The Eaton's Building is a landmark building located in downtown

Saskatoon Saskatoon () is the largest city in the Canadian province of Saskatchewan. It straddles a bend in the South Saskatchewan River in the central region of the province. It is located along the Trans-Canada Yellowhead Highway, and has served as ...

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a province in western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North ...

, Canada. Formerly serving as an

Eaton's The T. Eaton Company Limited, later known as Eaton's, was a Canadian department store chain that was once the largest in the country. It was founded in 1869 in Toronto by Timothy Eaton, an immigrant from what is now Northern Ireland. Eaton's grew ...

department store, the building is currently occupied by the Saskatoon Board of Education.

History

In 1927,

announced that it would construct an eight-storey store at the northeast corner of 3rd Avenue and 21st Street in Saskatoon's

Central Business District A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the " cit ...

. Designed by the

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

architecture firm of Ross and Macdonald, along with local architect Frank Martin, the store was to have been the tallest building in the city, but was eventually built to only three storeys. Constructed in the

Neo-Renaissance Renaissance Revival architecture (sometimes referred to as "Neo-Renaissance") is a group of 19th century Revivalism (architecture), architectural revival styles which were neither Greek Revival architecture, Greek Revival nor Gothic Revival ...

style, with a

tyndall stone Tyndall Stone is a registered trademark name by Gillis Quarries Ltd. Tyndall Stone is a dolomitic limestone that is quarried from the Selkirk Member of the Ordovician Red River Formation in the vicinity of Garson and Tyndall, Manitoba, Cana ...

and black

marble Marble is a metamorphic rock composed of recrystallized carbonate minerals, most commonly calcite or dolomite. Marble is typically not foliated (layered), although there are exceptions. In geology, the term ''marble'' refers to metamorpho ...

façade and fifteen tripled-arched

Palladian Palladian architecture is a European architectural style derived from the work of the Venetian architect Andrea Palladio (1508–1580). What is today recognised as Palladian architecture evolved from his concepts of symmetry, perspective and ...

windows, the store opened for business on December 5, 1928. In a manner reminiscent of the Eaton's Montreal store, or of the plans for its soon-to-be-built new Toronto store, the building boasted a luxurious interior, with elaborate bronze fixtures and

terrazzo Terrazzo is a composite material, poured in place or precast, which is used for floor and wall treatments. It consists of chips of marble, quartz, granite, glass, or other suitable material, poured with a cementitious binder (for chemical bind ...

flooring. The store also featured an art gallery, a children's toyland with a mechanical lion, a meat department with an 80-foot marble counter and a Mediterranean-style dining room. In 1970, Eaton's relocated its store to the nearby Midtown Plaza. Serving briefly as athlete housing for the 1971 Canada Winter Games, the building was subsequently occupied from 1973 to 2000 by an outlet of the Army & Navy discount department store. Among the notable features of the Army & Navy store was a

nautical Seamanship is the art, knowledge and competence of operating a ship, boat or other craft on water. The'' Oxford Dictionary'' states that seamanship is "The skill, techniques, or practice of handling a ship or boat at sea." It involves topics an ...

-themed cafeteria. In the mid-1980s, the building was linked to a small shopping centre, office block and

parkade A multistorey car park (British English, British and Singapore English) or parking garage (American English), also called a multistory, parking building, parking structure, parkade (mainly Canadian English, Canadian), parking ramp, parking ...

that was constructed next door.

Restoration

After Army and Navy vacated the building, it was purchased by the Saskatoon Board of Education. The Board undertook a revitalization of the building, which included the

restoration Restoration is the act of restoring something to its original state and may refer to: * Conservation and restoration of cultural heritage ** Audio restoration ** Film restoration ** Image restoration ** Textile restoration *Restoration ecology ...

of the façade, the terrazzo flooring, the brass fixtures on the street-level display windows, and the original wooden handrails and brass fittings on the stairways to their original condition.

References

{{Eaton's Eaton's Buildings and structures in Saskatoon Ross and Macdonald buildings Commercial buildings completed in 1928 Renaissance Revival architecture in Canada Department store buildings in Canada 1928 establishments in Canada