The Carlu is an historic event space in
Toronto
Toronto ( , locally pronounced or ) is the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, most populous city in Canada. It is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Ontario. With a p ...
, Ontario, Canada. Opened in 1930 and known as the eponymous "Eaton's Seventh Floor", the venue was restored and reopened in 2003, renamed for its
original architect. The Carlu is one of Toronto's best examples of
Art Moderne
Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Inspired by Aerodynamics, aerodynamic design, it emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements. In indu ...
architecture. The venue is owned by restaurant firm
Oliver & Bonacini.
History

In 1930, the
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 g ...
department store
A department store is a retail establishment offering a wide range of consumer goods in different areas of the store under one roof, each area ("department") specializing in a product category. In modern major cities, the department store mad ...
chain, at the time Canada's dominant retailer, opened "
Eaton's College Street", an imposing
Art moderne
Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Inspired by Aerodynamics, aerodynamic design, it emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements. In indu ...
store at the intersection of
Yonge Street
Yonge Street ( ') is a major arterial route in the Canadian province of Ontario connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Great Lakes#Geography, Upper Great Lakes. Ontario's first colonial administrator, ...
and
College Street. The matriarch of the
Eaton family
The Eaton family is a Canadian family of Scottish-Irish Methodist origin. Established in Toronto, the family dynasty began in 1869 when Timothy Eaton (1834–1907) founded Eaton's, which became a national chain of department stores. At its heig ...
,
Lady Eaton, was a member of Eaton's board of directors, and the Eaton's restaurants were one of her responsibilities. She retained the noted French architect
Jacques Carlu
Jacques Carlu (7 April 1890 Bonnières-sur-Seine – 3 December 1976 Paris) was a French architect and designer, working mostly in Art Deco style, active in France, Canada, and in the United States.
Biography
Through the 1910s Carlu studied on ...
to design the seventh floor of the edifice, which was to contain the 1300-seat Eaton Auditorium, the Round Room restaurant, lounges and a private dining room. All of the facilities were to be connected by a long foyer, designed in the style of the ocean liners of the day. Between 1931 and 1965, the theatre was home to the
Eaton Operatic Society.
Broadcast centre
The newly opened Auditorium was used for radio broadcasts on
CKGW during holidays and special events. During Christmastime, one could hear the
Cassavant organ being played by
Frederick C. Silvester or a May Day organ recital by Harold Frost. It also played motion pictures accompanied by organ music (again broadcast over CKGW), for example showing
Snow White
"Snow White" is a German fairy tale, first written down in the early 19th century. The Brothers Grimm published it in 1812 in the first edition of their collection ''Grimms' Fairy Tales'', numbered as Tale 53. The original title was ''Sneewittch ...
in April 1931 with organ music by Kathleen Stokes.
Later history
With the opening of the
Toronto Eaton Centre
CF Toronto Eaton Centre, commonly referred to simply as the Eaton Centre, is a shopping mall and office complex in the Downtown Toronto, downtown core of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is owned and managed by Cadillac Fairview (CF). It was named ...
in 1977, Eaton's College Street was closed to make way for the new Eaton's flagship store at Yonge Street and
Dundas Street
Dundas Street () is a major historic arterial road in Ontario, Canada. The road connects the city of Toronto with its western Greater Toronto Area, suburbs and several cities in southwestern Ontario. Three provincial highways—Ontario Highway 2 ...
. The store was sold to new owners, and was rechristened College Park.
Although the new owners had originally agreed to preserve the Seventh Floor, they eventually determined that its preservation and restoration was not financially feasible, and they applied for a demolition permit to convert the entire floor to office space. After a lengthy court battle with the City of Toronto, the
Court of Appeal for Ontario
The Court of Appeal for Ontario (frequently mistakenly referred to as the Ontario Court of Appeal) (ONCA is the abbreviation for its neutral citation) is the appellate court for the province of Ontario, Canada. The seat of the court is Osgoode Ha ...
ruled in 1986 that the 1975 designation of the building under the ''
Ontario Heritage Act
The ''Ontario Heritage Act'', (the ''Act'') first enacted on March 5, 1975, allows municipalities and the provincial government to designate individual properties and districts in the Canadian Province of Ontario, as being of cultural heritage ...
'' protected the Seventh Floor from demolition. Despite several changes in building ownership, and the efforts of local heritage advocates, the Seventh Floor was sealed off for 27 years and allowed to deteriorate; although it was protected by law, there was no legal obligation to use or restore it.

The Seventh Floor was eventually restored, after years of neglect, and was reopened in 2003 to much acclaim as "The Carlu" event venue. The restoration process began in 2001 with a $2,500,000 budget and no tenant. But later that year, new tenants Jeffry Roick and Mark Robert came into the picture with an increased budget. Scott Weir of ERA Architects and Hadi Khouzam of
WZMH Architects WZMH Architects is an architectural firm established in 1961 and based in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Originally known as Webb Zerafa Menkès Housden (after Peter Webb, Boris Zerafa, René Menkès, and Warwick Housden) the company's name was changed t ...
led the restoration of the space.
The raked floors were removed from the auditorium to return the space's original movable seating. Other modifications had to be made to the auditorium so that modern acoustical equipment could be used. Even the original Lalique fountain, which had long been believed lost, was restored to its place at the centre of the Round Room. The large kitchen in the Carlu was replaced with two smaller ones in different areas of the seventh floor. This made room for a new entertainment space to be added, the Sky Room. The venue's new name was chosen to honour the architect that had originally designed the space.
Upgrades were also needed in the
HVAC
Heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC ) is the use of various technologies to control the temperature, humidity, and purity of the air in an enclosed space. Its goal is to provide thermal comfort and acceptable indoor air quality. ...
system. These updates were done without damaging or removing the original vents from the space. In 2008, The Clipper Rooms were re-envisioned and renovated by
HGTV
HGTV (an initialism for Home & Garden Television) is an American basic cable channel owned by Warner Bros. Discovery. The network primarily broadcasts reality programming related to home improvement and real estate. HGTV Dream Home is an ...
designer
Sarah Richardson
Sarah Richardson (born October 22, 1971) is a Canadian interior decorator and television personality who started out her career as a prop stylist in 1994. Since then, she has hosted nine television series on decorating for HGTV in Canada. She ...
.
Today, the space acts as a special events venue. Concerts, dinners, galas, weddings, fashion shows and the presentation of the annual
Polaris Music Prize
The Polaris Music Prize is a music award annually given to the best full-length Canadian album based on artistic merit, regardless of genre, sales, or record label. The award was established in 2006 with a $20,000 cash prize. The prize was inc ...
are among the events that take place at the Carlu.
The facility
Itself a highly regarded work of
Art Moderne
Streamline Moderne is an international style of Art Deco architecture and design that emerged in the 1930s. Inspired by Aerodynamics, aerodynamic design, it emphasized curving forms, long horizontal lines, and sometimes nautical elements. In indu ...
, the Eaton's Seventh Floor was at the heart of Toronto's cultural life for many years. The Auditorium played host to the major performers of its day, including
Billie Holiday
Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday made significant contributions to jazz music and pop ...
,
Duke Ellington
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American Jazz piano, jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous Big band, jazz orchestra from 1924 through the rest of his life.
Born and raised in Washington, D ...
and
Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra (; December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Honorific nicknames in popular music, Nicknamed the "Chairman of the Board" and "Ol' Blue Eyes", he is regarded as one of the Time 100: The Most I ...
. The first performance of the
National Ballet of Canada
The National Ballet of Canada is a Canadian ballet company that was founded in 1951 in Toronto, Ontario, with Celia Franca, the first artistic director. A company of 70 dancers with its own orchestra, the National Ballet has been led since 2022 ...
was on the stage of the Eaton Auditorium.
Glenn Gould
Glenn Herbert Gould (; né Gold; 25 September 19324 October 1982) was a Canadian classical pianist. He was among the most famous and celebrated pianists of the 20th century, renowned as an interpreter of the keyboard works of Johann Sebastian ...
, fond of the Auditorium's excellent acoustics, used the hall for a number of his recordings.

The Round Room was, as the name suggests, a circular room, with circular mouldings in the domed ceiling and recessed alcoves in the corners. At the centre of the room stood a
Lalique
Lalique is a French luxury glassmaker, founded by glassmaker and jeweller René Lalique in 1888. Lalique is produced glass art, including perfume bottles, vases, and hood ornaments during the early twentieth century. Following the death of ...
fountain, lit from below. Carlu was responsible for all aspects of the dining room's design, from the lighting fixtures to the
Royal Worcester
Royal Worcester is a porcelain brand based in Worcester, England. It was established in 1751 and is believed to be the oldest or second oldest remaining English porcelain brand still in existence today, although this is disputed by Royal Crown ...
china, the stemware, and the waitresses' black uniforms. Carlu's wife, Anne Carlu (née Peckard 1895-1972), designed the murals on the walls, depicting various scenes of pastoral life. For years, the Round Room was one of the most elegant places to dine in Toronto.
Inside of the Carlu, monel, a steel-nickel alloy, was used for many accents. The monel can be found in the light fixtures, vents, doors and the fountain. It helps to play up the sleek lines in the space and the Art Moderne style. Marble panelling was also used at both ends of the foyer. The colour palette for the Carlu was taken from the marble and spread throughout most of the floor.
Heritage protection
The entire building at 444 Yonge St. is designated under Part IV of the ''
Ontario Heritage Act
The ''Ontario Heritage Act'', (the ''Act'') first enacted on March 5, 1975, allows municipalities and the provincial government to designate individual properties and districts in the Canadian Province of Ontario, as being of cultural heritage ...
'' since 1975. The City also holds a Heritage Easement Agreement, registered on January 10, 2012 as Instrument #: AT2915699, on the property. The venue itself is listed as a National Historic Site of Canada since 1983.
See also
*
Eaton's Ninth Floor Restaurant in Montreal
Further reading
* Anderson, Carol and Mallinson, Katharine, ''Lunch With Lady Eaton: Inside the Dining Rooms of a Nation'', Toronto: ECW Press, 2004.
References
External links
*
City of Toronto Archives – The Eaton News
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Carlu, The
Buildings and structures in Toronto
Culture of Toronto
Eaton's
National Historic Sites in Ontario
Streamline Moderne architecture in Canada