1915 – Bank of British North America, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Demolished.

“Upon entering one passes through heavy walnut doors elaborately carved into the vaulted vestibule lined with marble, which in turn opens into the banking room proper, seventy-four feet long, sixty-five wide and thirty-five high. Twenty fluted columns, eighteen feet in height, support the clerestorey, while above is a deeply coffered ceiling, richly ornamented and painted in varying harmonious shades, with the ornament picked out in gold leaf and color. The screen and counter is one hundred and five feet in length, the latter supporting a low polished bronze and glass screen, except where enclosures are required for the tellers’ cages, at which ])lace the screen is of a greater height and formed of bronze pilasters and cornice, with bronze mesh enclosures at the rear and sides. The trim and fixtures throughout are of mahogany, and the floor in the clerical section of compressed cork, and that in the public space of marble.

Tn order to obtain the maximum amount of direct light for the banking room, the side walls of the building were recessed to form courts above the main ceiling and skylights installed over the side clerical sections, the clerestorey being pierced with openings into the same side courts, while in addition to these large windows are located in the rear wall of the room. Facing the principal street and directly off the banking room are located the local manager’s office, and rooms for correspondence and committees. The general manager’s and executive offices are over the banking space, the former being twenty-six by twenty feet, designed in mahogany, and amply lighted by three large casement windows.’ On the second floor is located additional clerical and staff offices, while on the present top floor ample accommodation is provided for the use of the staff, consisting of living and bedrooms, dining-room and kitchen in addition to a large filing room.

The main facade and returns are faced with granite, he lower portion of the building forming a heavily’ rusticated base supporting the free standing Ionic colonnade, thirty-five feet in height, surmounted by a pediment, in the tympanum of which is carved a shield with the bank’s coat-of-arms thereon and enclosed by a wreath. The side and rear of the building are faced with sand-lime brick, with the exception of the recessed courts, where enamelled brick has been used.”
Construction, September 1915

Share!

More!