toronto ontario canada area 50 000 sq. ft. built 1930 architect jacques carlu website www.thecarlu.com national historic site of canada official name eaton s 7th floor auditorium and round room designated 1983 the carlu is an historic event space in toronto ontario canada . known for many years as the eaton s seventh floor the carlu is one of toronto s best examples of art moderne architecture . 1 the venue is owned by restaurant firm oliver & bonacini . contents 1 history 2 the facility 3 decline 4 restoration 5 today 6 see also 7 recommended reading 8 references 9 external links history edit in 1930 the eaton s department store chain at the time canada s dominant retailer opened eaton s college street an imposing art deco store at the intersection of yonge street and college street . the matriarch of the eaton family 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 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 . the facility edit the foyer of the eaton s seventh floor in 1930 itself an art moderne masterpiece 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 duke ellington and frank sinatra . the first performance of the national ballet of canada was on the stage of the eaton auditorium . canada s own glenn gould 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 fountain lit from below . carlu was responsible for all aspects of the dining room s design from the lighting fixtures to the royal worcester china the stemware and the waitresses black uniforms . carlu s wife natasha 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 paneling 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 . decline edit lalique fountain with the opening of the toronto eaton centre in 1977 eaton s college street was closed to make way for the new eaton s flagship store at yonge street and dundas street . 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 ruled in 1986 that the 1975 designation of the building under the ontario heritage act 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 . restoration edit 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 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 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 designer sarah richardson . 2 today edit today the space acts as a special events venue . concerts dinners galas weddings fashion shows and the presentation of the annual polaris music prize are among the events that take place at the carlu . see also edit eaton s ninth floor restaurant in montreal recommended reading edit anderson carol and mallinson katharine lunch with lady eaton inside the dining rooms of a nation toronto ecw press 2004 . references edit info at the canadian register of historic places designinc.ca external links edit wikimedia commons has media related to eaton s seventh floor . official website city of toronto archives the eaton news v t e eaton s family eaton family timothy eaton john craig eaton and flora eaton john david eaton john craig eaton ii fredrik stefan eaton george eaton robert young eaton nancy eaton retail cf carrefour laval cf rideau centre cityplace college park complexe les ailes eaton s catalogue eaton centre edmonton eaton centre montreal eaton centre eaton s building spencer s toronto eaton centre victoria eaton centre properties ardwold eaton hall king city eaton s annex eaton s ninth floor restaurant the carlu eaton s john maryon tower proposed never built legacy toronto santa claus parade eatonville toronto eatonia eatonia elvie smith municipal airport timothy eaton memorial church timothy eaton statue created by ivor lewis lady eaton college lady eaton elementary school neils hogenson house coordinates 43 39 39 n 79 23 00 w 43.660929 n 79.383302 w 43.660929 ; 79.383302 v t e national historic sites of canada by location provinces alberta british columbia manitoba new brunswick newfoundland and labrador nova scotia ontario hamilton kingston niagara ottawa toronto prince edward island quebec montreal quebec city saskatchewan territories northwest territories nunavut yukon other countries france category portal wikiproject retrieved from https en.wikipedia.org w index.php title the carlu & oldid 738099861 categories buildings and structures in torontoculture of torontoeaton snational historic sites in ontariostreamline moderne architecture in canadahidden categories commons category with local link same as on wikidatacoordinates on wikidata navigation menu personal tools not logged intalkcontributionscreate accountlog in namespaces article talk variants views read edit view history more search navigation main pagecontentsfeatured contentcurrent eventsrandom articledonate to wikipediawikipedia store interaction helpabout wikipediacommunity portalrecent changescontact page tools what links hererelated changesupload filespecial pagespermanent linkpage informationwikidata itemcite this page print export create a bookdownload as pdfprintable version in other projects wikimedia commons languages add links this page was last modified on 6 september 2016 at 22 16 . text is available under the creative commons attribution sharealike license ; 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