Round Room, The Carlu, Toronto

The highlight of Eaton's College Park store in Toronto was the Round Dining Room on the seventh floor. Now, the Round Room is the highlight of The Carlu which now occupies the seventh floor after a multi-million dollar restoration.

The room, like the rest of the seventh floor, was designed by Jacques Carlu and included large murals by his wife Natacha.

At regular points around the room their are rounded alcoves that can be used as casual seating areas or small stage areas.

Literally, though, the centre of attention is the fountain in the middle of the room consisting of layers of Lalique glass.

7th Floor Lobby, The Carlu, Toronto

Towards the end of October 1930, Eaton's opened their College Park store in Toronto with the undoubted highlight of the building the seventh floor.

Lady Eaton commissioned French designer Jacques Carlu to design the seventh floor. Carlu had designed the interiors of the great ocean liners Normandie and Ile de France which were particular favourites of Lady Eaton.

The seventh floor consisted of a huge lobby, circular dining room, an auditorium and a number of lounges and offices.

By the mid 1970s, the taste for these spaces had declined. Eaton's had moved to a new retail complex closer to downtown and the fabulous seventh floor was sealed up. What remained, although damaged and compromised from the original design, was protected by its designation as a national Historic Site by the Supreme Court of Canada.

The seventh floor remained empty for almost 30 years but after a multi-million dollar restoration it has emerged as The Carlu an Event Space like no other.

I was lucky to visit The Carlu as part of the Doors Open Toronto program in May 2009.

The three photos so far have been of the seventh floor lift lobby but this small office or lounge was also open for viewing.

I don't know if this was added during the restoration or was part of the original design. I don't think that matters.

It is a fabulous space which leads through to the Round Room.

Garden Court, Toronto

Tim Morawetz in his excellent book Art Deco Architecture in Toronto describes the Garden Court apartments as "arguably Canada's finest example of low-rise, multi-unit housing built in the Streamlined Moderne style".

The complex consists of two and three storey blocks surrounding a central courtyard. The buildings were designed by Page and Steele and the landscaping was developed by H B Dunnington-Grubb.

former Toronto Hydro-Electric Building

According to Tim Morawetz in Art Deco Architecture in Toronto, the Toronto Hydro-Electric Building was constructed from 1931 to 1933 from designs by architects Chapman and Oxley with associate Albert E Salisbury.

From a distance the buildng is very plain except for the decoration along the roofline. Originally the building was intended to be much taller so the current roofline is a band of decoration that would have appeared part-up up the original design.

The central four spandrels of the building are topped which these figures overlooking the street below.

A closer look between the modern t-shirt decals above the ground floor windows also reveals two pairs of relief panels.

The two smaller panels, in my opinion, show woman working with a ribbon of electricity bringing power to a number of home appliances and a man using another ribbon of power in an industrial setting.

The larger reliefs depict figures in a stylised settings perhaps relating to the generation and transmission of electric power.

I particularily like the wavy hair of the figure against the electricity wires in this relief.

Concourse Building, Toronto

For 15 of its 16 storeys, the Concourse Building is a grey as many other buildings in Toronto's financial district. The decoration on the 16th floor, however, and around the arched entrance at street level make it one of the more colourful Art Deco buildings in Ontario's capital.

Designed by architectural firm, Baldwin & Greene, the building was completed in 1928. The mosiacs around the entrance were completed by Group of Seven artist J E H MacDonald and his son Thoreau.

The mosiacs around the under-side of the arch portray themes of transport, industry and nature. The rectangular panel above the door also bears thems of flora and fauna plus the sun, stars and a rainbow. In the bottom left corner the artists initials and the year 'J.E.H.M '28'.

According to Tim Morawetz in his recently published Art Deco Architecture in Toronto the future of this skyscraper is in doubt due to a May 2000 vote by the Toronto City Council gave a developer the right to demolish all but the bottom three storeys.

Hopefully in the past 9 years opinions have changed and the Concourse Building will live on for many more years with its distinctive, colourful roofline.

Carr Hall, Toronto

The most striking feature of Carr Hall is octagonal tower housing the stairs to the upper levels.

Completed in 1950 by Ernest Cormier with Brennan and Whale, Carr Hall was constructed as the administration building of St Michael's College at the University of Toronto.

Decoration is scarce at Carr Hall but I do like this pagoda style external light fixture.

Reference: Art Deco Architecture in Toronto by Tim Morawetz

former Postal Delivery Building, Toronto - Part II

Yesterday I wrote about the 1939 former Postal Delivery Building which was incorporated into the Air Canada Centre where the Toronto Maple Leafs Ice Hockey team, the Toronto Raptors Basketball team and the Toronto Rock Lacrosse team play.

On eof the best parts of the old building that has been preserved is a series of reliefs depicting the history of human communication.

I love the way many of the panels curve around the corners of the building.

Speech

Drums

Messenger

Smoke Signals

Stage Coach

Voyageurs

Dog Sled

Mail Carrier

Flying Boat

Steamship

Schooner

Railway

1930s Canada Royal Mail Van

former Postal Delivery Building, Toronto - Part I

In the early 1990s, the former Postal Delivery Building in Toronto was earmarked for demolition but somewhere along the line the south and east walls were retained and incorporated into the Air Canada Centre, the home of the Toronto Maple Leafs Ice Hockey team, Toronto Raptors Basketball team and Toronto Rock Lacrosse team.

The Postal Delivery Building was commissioned by the Public Works Department in 1938 and the design by Charles Brommall Dolphin was completed between 1939 and 1941.

With the development of the sports centre around the older building, the original footprint has been respected and maintained to some extent. A display on the wall inside the new centre provides a history of the building including some elements that had to be removed when the rest of the building had been demolished.

On display is the metalwork from above the original employees entrance which incorporates a dolphin in reference to the architect.

The former Postal Delivery Building retains a lot of the original decoration including a frieze of beavers and maple leafs (leaves) around the roofline.

There are several rondels featuring either Canadian Geese

or a Moose.

However, the best part of the building is the series of reliefs at street level depicting the history of human communication but I'll leave those to Part II of this post.

former Postal Delivery Building, Toronto - Part II

Eglinton Theatre, Toronto

The Eglinton Theatre designed by Kaplan and Sprachman opened in 1936 but like so many beautiful Art Deco cinemas it could not survive the onslaughts of television, videos and dvds.

Today it operates as The Eglinton Grand, a reception centre. The raked seating has been removed and the floor levels in the stalls and balcony areas levelled off providing a large area for tables with overlooking bar areas.

Many of the original features have been retained inside the former cinema including these stunning pendant lights in the main auditorium.