POLLYTALK FROM NEW YORK
by Polly Guerin
May 25, 2009
CONNECTED TO LEGENDS TORONTO’S CALLING
Overflowing with hospitality Toronto beckons with its diverse venues from the historical to the
contemporary, and where most everyone emerges from the underground this city within a city
soars with skyscraper modernity and Art Deco vernissages. Here’s the Scoop!!!
My choice of travel is the Amtrak train. No airplanes for me I just booked a business class
seat and before I finished reading The Great Gatsby I arrived in Toronto in a mere 8 hours and
voila!!! I arrived at Union Station!!! Red caps were waiting and one of them whisked me directly
across the street to the historic Fairmont Royal York, an oasis of serenity, classic by design but
contemporary by spirit. This is no ordinary railroad hotel. Its soaring refinement is the perfect
modern accommodation for a few days of Deco sightseeing with my comrades attending the l0th
World Congress on Art Deco. The Royal York is clearly l920s Deco and for many years it was the
largest hotel in the British Empire. Today with all the modern conveniences it is truly a classic and
I loved the swimming pool and using the business center to send off my column.
www.fairmont.com.
THE CARLU an Art Deco venue space for private and corporate events: Visionaries Mark
Robert and Jeffry Roick have restored the famous Seventh Floor with the Round Room
restaurant, the l,300 seat Eaton auditorium, the Sky Room and the Clipper Room of the former
Eaton Department Store at Yonge and College Street. The Seventh Floor, once the social hub of
Toronto in the l930s, had been in mothballs for decades, but it has been reborn as an Art Deco
showplace. Resorted to its Art Deco glory it is now called THE CARLU, named after the French
Architect, Jacques Carlu who had designed the interior space. Legend has it that after frequently
traveling on her favorite ocean liner, the S.S. Ile de France, Lady Flora McCrea Eaton engaged
Carlu who had worked under Pierre Partout architect of the ship’s first class salle a manger to
create the space. Murals by his wife Natacha Carlu grace the Round room and its remarkable
center fountain once again takes center stage. www.thecarlu.com.
PARKWOOD the Sam McLaughlin Estate, an auto Baron’s home is one of Canada’s finest
and last remaining grand estates and is worth an out of town visit to Oshawa, Ontario about 45
minutes east of Toronto. Here I stepped into the private residence of R.S. McLaughlin, founder
of General Motors of Canada to get a glimpse into the privileged lifestyle enjoyed by an industrial
pioneer of the early decades of the 20thCentury. The luxurious 55-room mansion that served as
the McLaughlin family home from 1917-1972 was considered the largest of its kind superseding
the 50 room mansion raised in 1910 by Lade Flora McCrea Eaton and her husband, John Craig
Eaton, second president of the Eaton department store chain and son of its founder. The estate
is situated on 12 acres of stunning gardens filled with water pools and fountains and stately
trees. I loved the posh but lived in feel of the room settings as if the family had just stepped out
for a stroll in the gardens. Five daughters grew up here in a cultured and
privileged lifestyle. www.parkwoodestate.com.
These three places were my top venues, out-of-the-ordinary choices in Toronto, but if you
want an in-depth portrait of Art Deco, Tim Morawetz’s book “Art Deco Architecture in Toronto,” a
guide to the city’s buildings from the roaring twenties and the depression…tells it all with fabulous
photography and commentary and includes over 230 contemporary color photographs and a
selection of archival black-and-white images. Hot off the presses, just published by Glue Inc. buy
it at www.glue-to.com/artdecobook.
Ta Ta darlings.!!! This world wind 3-day Toronto Tour led me to discover that
this important architectural style, ART DECO, is as modern today as it was in the 30’s and
visionaries and preservations is making sure that it doesn’t disappear. Remember
you read all about in on PollyTalk in the Big Apple News. Love to hear from you send an
email to: pollytalk@verison.net. Also www.pollytalk.com.
by Polly Guerin
May 25, 2009
CONNECTED TO LEGENDS TORONTO’S CALLING
Overflowing with hospitality Toronto beckons with its diverse venues from the historical to the
contemporary, and where most everyone emerges from the underground this city within a city
soars with skyscraper modernity and Art Deco vernissages. Here’s the Scoop!!!
My choice of travel is the Amtrak train. No airplanes for me I just booked a business class
seat and before I finished reading The Great Gatsby I arrived in Toronto in a mere 8 hours and
voila!!! I arrived at Union Station!!! Red caps were waiting and one of them whisked me directly
across the street to the historic Fairmont Royal York, an oasis of serenity, classic by design but
contemporary by spirit. This is no ordinary railroad hotel. Its soaring refinement is the perfect
modern accommodation for a few days of Deco sightseeing with my comrades attending the l0th
World Congress on Art Deco. The Royal York is clearly l920s Deco and for many years it was the
largest hotel in the British Empire. Today with all the modern conveniences it is truly a classic and
I loved the swimming pool and using the business center to send off my column.
www.fairmont.com.
THE CARLU an Art Deco venue space for private and corporate events: Visionaries Mark
Robert and Jeffry Roick have restored the famous Seventh Floor with the Round Room
restaurant, the l,300 seat Eaton auditorium, the Sky Room and the Clipper Room of the former
Eaton Department Store at Yonge and College Street. The Seventh Floor, once the social hub of
Toronto in the l930s, had been in mothballs for decades, but it has been reborn as an Art Deco
showplace. Resorted to its Art Deco glory it is now called THE CARLU, named after the French
Architect, Jacques Carlu who had designed the interior space. Legend has it that after frequently
traveling on her favorite ocean liner, the S.S. Ile de France, Lady Flora McCrea Eaton engaged
Carlu who had worked under Pierre Partout architect of the ship’s first class salle a manger to
create the space. Murals by his wife Natacha Carlu grace the Round room and its remarkable
center fountain once again takes center stage. www.thecarlu.com.
PARKWOOD the Sam McLaughlin Estate, an auto Baron’s home is one of Canada’s finest
and last remaining grand estates and is worth an out of town visit to Oshawa, Ontario about 45
minutes east of Toronto. Here I stepped into the private residence of R.S. McLaughlin, founder
of General Motors of Canada to get a glimpse into the privileged lifestyle enjoyed by an industrial
pioneer of the early decades of the 20thCentury. The luxurious 55-room mansion that served as
the McLaughlin family home from 1917-1972 was considered the largest of its kind superseding
the 50 room mansion raised in 1910 by Lade Flora McCrea Eaton and her husband, John Craig
Eaton, second president of the Eaton department store chain and son of its founder. The estate
is situated on 12 acres of stunning gardens filled with water pools and fountains and stately
trees. I loved the posh but lived in feel of the room settings as if the family had just stepped out
for a stroll in the gardens. Five daughters grew up here in a cultured and
privileged lifestyle. www.parkwoodestate.com.
These three places were my top venues, out-of-the-ordinary choices in Toronto, but if you
want an in-depth portrait of Art Deco, Tim Morawetz’s book “Art Deco Architecture in Toronto,” a
guide to the city’s buildings from the roaring twenties and the depression…tells it all with fabulous
photography and commentary and includes over 230 contemporary color photographs and a
selection of archival black-and-white images. Hot off the presses, just published by Glue Inc. buy
it at www.glue-to.com/artdecobook.
Ta Ta darlings.!!! This world wind 3-day Toronto Tour led me to discover that
this important architectural style, ART DECO, is as modern today as it was in the 30’s and
visionaries and preservations is making sure that it doesn’t disappear. Remember
you read all about in on PollyTalk in the Big Apple News. Love to hear from you send an
email to: pollytalk@verison.net. Also www.pollytalk.com.
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