Cathay House, hailed by The Chronicle when it opened in 1939 as the “fanciest” restaurant in Chinatown, quietly closed this spring. Now the Yeo family, which owns Straits Restaurant and Sino in San Jose, is taking over three of the building’s four floors and reopening as two separate restaurants, Cathay House and 601 Dupont.

Within a month of the original Cathay House’s opening, Dr. Margaret Chung hosted a soiree with international opera star Lily Pons, who was the first of many celebrities to appear at the restaurant. Cathay House’s opening manager, Johnny Kan, eventually became one of the city’s most storied restaurateurs.

Despite its stellar views and scenic bar, Cathay House at the age of 79 had been receiving two-star Yelp reviews from tourists. When restaurateur Peter Wong decided to retire, building owner Betty Louie — who also recruited Brandon Jew to take over the Four Seas and transform it into Mister Jiu’s — went hunting for someone who could continue her vision of bringing Johnny Kan-era glamour back to the neighborhood.

Chris Yeo and his parents opened Straits Cafe in the Outer Richmond neighborhood in 1988, serving Singaporean dishes. Over the decades, the restaurant expanded — culinarily as well as geographically — into Burlingame, San Jose and Houston, and Chris Yeo became a bit of a celebrity chef. Its last San Francisco location, in Westfield San Francisco Centre, closed in 2014.

According to Julian Yeo, Chris and Kelly Yeo’s 32-year-old son and culinary director of the Chris Yeo Group, taking on the new site represents more than a business venture for him and his parents. “This project is really important to us,” the fourth-generation San Franciscan said. “It’s our way of coming back home.”

Charles Doell of Oakland’s Mister Important Design, which designed Gibson and Gitane in San Francisco, is remodeling all three floors. “It was one of the first buildings to integrate Chinese pagodas, and we’re going to carry that inside but bring it up to modern day, while keeping with that retro 1940s Chinatown style,” the younger Yeo said.

First to open will be the 2,000-square-foot ground floor, which opens onto 601 Grant St. Formerly the site of a McDonald’s, 601 Dupont (Dupont was the street’s original name) will be a fast-casual place specializing in Cantonese roast pork, Chinese-style rotisserie chicken, and chicken rice. Following the now-standard format, diners will pick a meat, a starch and a vegetable, ordering at the counter and being served at the table. Yeo says 601 Dupont will also offer craft beer and wine cocktails, though a liquor license has not yet been issued for the property.

Yeo estimates that 601 Dupont will open in July — a fast turnaround for a new restaurant. The upper two floors will take until autumn at the earliest. There, the Yeos will reopen Cathay House.

The middle floor, with its large dining room and circular bar, will offer what Yeo calls “contemporary Cantonese” (in the manner of Hakkasan rather than the Yeos’ Chinese-Californian Sino), with dim sum cart service during the day, a full bar and high-end tea service. Dim sum will also be sold through the fast-casual outlet downstairs after Cathay House opens.

The highest floor will be designed for weddings and large parties. With Mister Jiu’s new Moon Gate Lounge set to open in the next few months, these two new banquet spaces may help mitigate the problem of Chinatown’s disappearing banquet halls.

“We’re really creating it as a destination restaurant for dining and nightlife,” Yeo said, adding that he hopes young San Franciscans will rediscover Cathay House’s spectacular views of the bridge and Transamerica Pyramid the way their parents and grandparents appreciated.

Jonathan Kauffman is a San Francisco Chronicle staff writer. Email: jkauffman@sfchronicle.com Twitter and Instagram: @jonkauffman