The Carlu

The former Eaton’s College Street contains one of Canada’s finest Art Moderne interiors, the Carlu. The building was commissioned by Sir John Craig Eaton to be the flagship for Eaton’s department store and designed by internationally renowned Jacques Carlu. Opened in 1931, the Carlu was an architecturally sophisticated complex home to refined social and cultural events, hosting several international performers including Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, and Canada’s own, Glenn Gould. The Carlu closed down in the 1970’s and was proposed to be gutted or demolished, but thanks to a group of concerned citizens the seventh floor with its Eaton Auditorium and the Round Room were saved. The Carlu is now a National Historic Site.

ERA was retained with WZMH Partnership to direct the restoration of these spaces, the renovation of adjacent areas, and the rehabilitation of the heritage elements of the ground floor retail conversion. ERA designed new interventions to make the space work as an event facility with new kitchens, bars, supporting spaces, HVAC systems, sound and acoustic buffering, and improved access. ERA designed the reinstated art moderne fountain based on remaining fragments, historic photographs, and research into other fountains from this period, and oversaw the restoration of the significant Natacha (Anne) Carlu murals and the Denis Gelin plaster cartouche. We undertook analysis of the remaining interior finishes and historic documentation to set the conservation approach to finishes, colour palette, lighting, and materials to create an interpretation of Jacques Carlu’s original design intent overlaid with the contemporary needs of the highest standard of event space.

The Ontario Association of Architects jointly awarded the two firms an Award of Architectural Excellence for this project. ERA continues to provide consultation services to the owner.