1954 – The Toronto-Dominion Bank Building, Portage Avenue, Winnipeg
Commisioned by the Bank of Toronto as its Winnipeg Branch and Regional Headquarters. A graceful turn of the corner of Portage and Notre Dame with a sizable frontage to both. Externally faced in a lovely silver-grey limestone and granite, with a lavish moderne interior decorated with Italian Travertine marble. Total cost of around $1.5 million.
The associate architect in Toronto, Walter Renison Lightfoot Blackwell (1890-1957) had designed a large number of Bank of Toronto branches across Ontario including Oakville, Sudbury, Toronto, London, Newmarket and Hamilton, and was a consultant on others. On February 1, 1955, the Bank of Toronto merged with the Dominion Bank to form the Toronto-Dominion Bank. Demolished along with neighbouring buildings, the Nanton Building and the Childs Building, to make way for a skyscraper development. The site of this fine bank is now a plaza.
Published March 10, 2026
