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Old Royal Bank Building, Montreal
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Royal Bank building at 360 Saint-Jacques Street was built in 1926-1928 and was then the tallest building in the British Empire. The 22-storey tower was built by the firm of York and Sawyer.
In 1907 the Royal Bank of Canada moved its head office from Halifax to Montreal. As the building in Saint-Jacob Street turned out to be too small, in 1926 the board of directors of the biggest bank in Canada hired New York architects York and Sawyer to build a prestigious new building on Saint-Jacques Street. Between 1920 and 1926 the bank had bought up all the property between Saint-Jacques, Saint-Pierre, Notre-Dame and Dollard Streets to demolish all the buildings there (including an old Mechanics' Institute and the ten-storey Bank of Ottawa building) in order to make space for the new 22-storey skyscraper. The tower was built in 1926-1928 and was for a long time the tallest building in the British Empire.
In 1962, the Royal Bank moved its main office to another famous Montreal building, Place Ville-Marie. The Royal Bank still keeps a branch in the impressive main hall of the old building, which is definitely a must-see in Old Montreal.