1931- Sun Life Building, Montreal, Quebec

The building was one of the first modern skyscrapers in Canada and was, for a time, the tallest structure in the Commonwealth. The building’s enviable reputation made it the natural choice to store and protect massive holdings of the British government during the Second World War. The basement vaults were the secret hiding place of the Crown Jewels of England and the gold bullion of the Bank of England. The Sun Life Building was finished in 1931 after three stages of construction, the first one starting as early as 1913. It measures 122 meters in height and counts 24 storeys. The Sun Life Building was at the time the largest building in terms of square footage anywhere in the British Empire.

“In the new Sun Life Building, the city of Montreal has once more demonstrated to our readers her progressiveness. It has always been her ambition to be the leading city in Canada for structure which impress the student as well as the laymen of their artistic merit and their oommercialistic value. How well she has succeeded is revealed in the large number of her up-to-date banking institutions, schools, churches, theatres, hotels, manufacturing plants and public buildings. If she does not stand supreme -in this respect, she is going ahead so rapidly that it behooves other cities to have a care, else she will gradually outdistance them.

This new home of the Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada is a monument of dignity and restraint; in perfect harmony with the institution itself. What better accommodation, more tasty design or commanding site could have been selected by the architects!”
Construction December 1918

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