Twenty-five years after its closure, the emblematic restaurant at 9e Eaton’s floor, in downtown Montreal, will reopen its doors on May 17. The 120-seat restaurant will, however, not be located in the large Art Deco style dining room which has made the reputation of the institution, but in a smaller adjacent room.
The high-ceilinged main room has undergone extensive restoration work, but Ivanhoé Cambridge, owner of the building, estimated that a 500-seat restaurant in this space would not have been profitable. The real estate arm of the Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec therefore decided to open the restaurant called “Île de France” in the less spectacular adjacent space called the Foyer. “It will be warmer and more intimate because of the lower ceiling,” says Annik Desmarteau, vice-president, Offices, Quebec, at Ivanhoé Cambridge.
The former dining room will instead host shows, exhibitions and private events with a capacity of 500 people. “The large room will still be accessible to the public with the events,” assures Mme Desmarteau.
If the rebirth of the restaurant took so long, it is because Ivanhoé Cambridge was looking for a “solid” partner to operate the restaurant. The establishment will therefore be managed by a group of entrepreneurs including Jeff Baikowitz, Marco Gucciardi, Andy Nulman and Madeleine Kojakian and the Les 7 Fingers collective. “The 9the is a page in the history of Montreal. Just about everyone has a memory attached to this place and it’s really emotional. We hope that people will recreate new memories and great experiences with space,” explains Annik Desmarteau.
Friday, during the visit offered to the media, Ivanhoé Cambridge did not want to reveal the amount of investments made for the project. The menu and prices for dishes served at the restaurant — whose kitchens will be helmed by executive chef Liam Hopkins and culinary director Derek Dammann — have also not been revealed.
The Île de France restaurant will be “medium-high end” and not the cafeteria-style establishment that it had become at one time, indicated Mme Desmarteau. “They were inspired by the menu from the beginning [des années 1930]. We found the maps from the time and they started from that. It’s going to be an accessible, but quality restaurant. We wanted to restore nobility to space. »
Starting May 17, only evening meals will be served. Gradually, the restaurant will offer lunch meals.
Find the original colors
The L’Île-de-France restaurant, designed by French architect Jacques Carlu, opened its doors in 1931 at 9e floor of the Eaton store. Closed in 1999 following Eaton’s bankruptcy, the restaurant became the property of Ivanhoé Cambridge, who acquired the building the following year. The interiors of 9e floor as well as the crockery, furniture and silverware were classified under the Cultural Heritage Act in 2000.
Ivanhoé Cambridge entrusted the firm EVOQ Architecture with the task of restoring the premises. Associate director of EVOQ, architect Georges Drolet has been working on the project since 2001 in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture. First, the spaces had to be brought up to standard, with the replacement of all mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems.
Water infiltration over the years caused some mold and dust to accumulate, but Georges Drolet maintains that the premises were still well preserved despite the prolonged closure of 9e floor and the summary maintenance that was carried out there. “The place has changed little since 1930. So, for us, it wasn’t that complicated to go back to 1930,” he says.
Some floors still had to be redone, as did the wall fabric. On the other hand, the marble columns, the plaster reliefs, the frescoes created by Natacha Carlu, the lighting fixtures, the alabaster urns, the decorative grilles and the doors of monel, a signature metal of Art Deco which is no longer used due to its very high cost, have been carefully restored.
To choose the color of the walls, it was necessary to examine the superimposed layers of paint to find the initial color, a rather sober wheat yellow which contrasts with the brighter colors applied in the 1980s. “We really went back to colors from the 1930s,” underlines Mr. Drolet.
A unique place
However, the architect destroys a myth: the restaurant at 9e is not a reproduction of the liner’s restaurant Ile-de-France. Lady Eaton, sponsor of the restaurant at 9e floor, traveled on board the liner Ile-de-France, which probably influenced it, but Georges Drolet is categorical: the restaurant at 9e does not at all resemble that of the famous liner. “There is an inspiration, but it is not a reproduction. It’s truly a unique creation,” he maintains.
The research he carried out at the Cité de l’architecture et du patrimoine in Paris and in French decorative art museums made him understand that the architect Jacques Carlu had succeeded in bringing together two schools of thought which, At the time, there was a “war” going on in France, between avant-garde architects and traditional architects. “Carlu was working in the United States. He was therefore withdrawn from this debate and he managed to mix the two, which, in France, would have been unacceptable. »
The 9the Eaton’s floor also has similarities with Le Carlu, an auditorium designed by Jacques Carlu in Toronto in 1930.