Eaton's 6 floor version, c. 1908
This postcard depicts Eaton's as a 6 storey building, with the legend "The T. Eaton Co. Limited / New Winnipeg Store with Latest Additions". The image is hand-coloured and perhaps even hand drawn. It's not clear to me that a photographer could have got the entire Donald Street facade into such a photo without the Somerset Building's getting in the way. The height of the ground-floor windows appears somewhat exaggerated. The high wall above the sixth floor and the heavy cornice make this version of Eaton's appear rather unlike the 5 and 8 storey versions. Interestingly, the addition of the rear part of the store, beginning with the ninth set of three windows south from Portage Avenue, shows the ground floor of the addition as having no display windows, an oddity that was altered within a few years, I believe. It is possible that the use of the T. Eaton Co. "wordmark" in the description at lower left indicates that this card was published by or on behalf of the store. The card was mailed to an addressee in Aylmer, Ont., on March 18, 1909.
One of my other cards clearly shows a sixth storey added without the rear addition (the eight bays at left) being present. So perhaps the reference to 'additions' in the plural indicates that the sixth storey was added to the original building, followed by a six storey addition at the rear that doubled its size.
Eaton's 6 floor version, c. 1908
This postcard depicts Eaton's as a 6 storey building, with the legend "The T. Eaton Co. Limited / New Winnipeg Store with Latest Additions". The image is hand-coloured and perhaps even hand drawn. It's not clear to me that a photographer could have got the entire Donald Street facade into such a photo without the Somerset Building's getting in the way. The height of the ground-floor windows appears somewhat exaggerated. The high wall above the sixth floor and the heavy cornice make this version of Eaton's appear rather unlike the 5 and 8 storey versions. Interestingly, the addition of the rear part of the store, beginning with the ninth set of three windows south from Portage Avenue, shows the ground floor of the addition as having no display windows, an oddity that was altered within a few years, I believe. It is possible that the use of the T. Eaton Co. "wordmark" in the description at lower left indicates that this card was published by or on behalf of the store. The card was mailed to an addressee in Aylmer, Ont., on March 18, 1909.
One of my other cards clearly shows a sixth storey added without the rear addition (the eight bays at left) being present. So perhaps the reference to 'additions' in the plural indicates that the sixth storey was added to the original building, followed by a six storey addition at the rear that doubled its size.