Reclaiming Le 9e: Public Heritage at the Eaton’s Ninth Floor Restaurant, Montréal

Type of resource
Author/collaborator
Title
Reclaiming Le 9e: Public Heritage at the Eaton’s Ninth Floor Restaurant, Montréal
Abstract
In 1931 Eaton's matriarchal figure Lady Flora McCrea Eaton (1880-1970) oversaw the opening of the Montreal Eaton's ninth floor restaurant, Le 9e, designed by the French architect Jacques Carlu after her favourite ocean liner, L’Île-de-France. Drawing on interdisciplinary primary resources such as Carlu's architectural plans, photographs, archival records and Lady Eaton’s autobiography, the author investigates the site's heritage value within a broader historical feminist 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 Montreal. The author argues that 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 author highlights the site's social and cultural value as a gendered space, which contributes equally to the site's heritage value and to the growing discourse of feminist architectural history.
Type
Master's Thesis
University
Concordia University
Place
Montreal
Date
2011
Language
en
URL
Citation
Soren, Maya. “Reclaiming Le 9e: Public Heritage at the Eaton’s Ninth Floor Restaurant, Montréal.” Master’s Thesis, Concordia University, 2011. http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/thesescanada/vol2/QMG/TC-QMG-35952.pdf.
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