Abstract

In 1931 Eaton’s matriarchal figure Lady Flora McCrea Eaton (1880-1970) oversaw the opening of the Eaton’s Ninth Floor Restaurant, Le 9e, designed by the famous French architect Jacques Carlu after her favourite ocean liner L’Île-de-France. In 2000 Le 9e was officially declared a Québec heritage site by the Ministère de la Culture, des Communications et de la Condition féminine after operating at the corner of rue University and rue Ste-Catherine Ouest in Montréal for nearly seventy years. The present owner, property management company Ivanhoe Cambridge, denies all access to the public as well as to professionals working in the heritage industry. Drawing on interdisciplinary primary resources such as Carlu’s architectural plans, photographs, archival records and Lady Eaton’s autobiography, this research investigates the site’s heritage value within a broader historical context. Representing an emerging culture of luxury and transatlantic travel amongst the middle class in the 1930s, Le 9e is one of the last surviving Art Deco interior spaces in Montréal. Reaching beyond the restaurant’s architectural value, Lady Eaton’s crucial role in choosing the Art Deco style and her management of the restaurant allows for a new interpretation of the restaurant’s heritage value as well as a rethinking of the notion of biologically determined “separate spheres” for men and women. The site’s social and cultural value as a gendered space is especially highlighted, contributing equally to the site’s heritage value and to the growing discourse of feminist architectural history.