Hidden history: Old vault a hidden marvel

Enlarge Image

Massive, thick doors are just part of what makes the Bank of Montreal�s vault impenetrable. (KEN GIGLIOTTI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS ARCHIVES)

Serving one of the most prosperous cities in North America after the turn of the 20th century, the Bank of Montreal decided there was only one way to ensure it could protect the growing wealth of Winnipeggers -- build the world's biggest, heaviest, most impenetrable vault.

The fortress of concrete and steel was opened at the bank's main branch at the corner of Portage and Main in 1913 and nearly 100 years later, it's still one of the safest places in the world for your valuables.

When the bank's three-storey vault was christened, it was the thickest and heaviest ever made with each set of entrance doors tipping the scales at 50 tonnes and the total weight of the doors and vault lining topping 450 tonnes. That's equal to 900,000 pounds or about 90 adult elephants.

As one might expect with a vault of this size, no one person is entrusted with all of the security elements to open it. First, a metre-long lever needs to be pulled to drop the floor outside the vault door. (Without this, it's impossible to open because the bottom of the out-swinging door is below the floor level.) Then different people need to open separate combination locks, two on the outside door and two more on the inside door. Of course, because the vault is also time-locked, this all needs to be done during certain hours.

Opening the mammoth door isn't dissimilar from trying to push a car out of a snowdrift. You're pushing like crazy but it's not going anywhere fast.

John MacAulay, the bank's district vice-president for Manitoba and Northwestern Ontario, said to his knowledge, nobody has ever broken into the vault. In fact, after witnessing one of the rarest events in financial operations -- locksmiths having to break into a couple of other vaults -- he's confident the pride of BMO is bulletproof, foolproof and theft-proof.

"I wouldn't even know where to start. That would be an interesting question for the lock guys," he said.

"We've got six vaults in the building and this is by far the most impressive of all of them. When the floor falls out, it's just fantastic. Most people don't know about it, this gem that lives a storey below the surface of Portage and Main. It's a pretty impressive piece of machinery."

Today, the vault is primarily used to hold safety deposit boxes of BMO clients but historically, it has held coins, cash, furs and gold.

Violet, a longtime employee who gave tours of BMO's signature building in Winnipeg for more than 25 years before her recent retirement, said the vault is still the most secure one in the world. She asked that her last name not be used.

"They built the vault first because of its weight and all the concrete and then they built the building around it," she said.

Violet, whose hand made a cameo appearance in Rob Lowe's made-for-television movie, Framed, shot in Winnipeg in 2001 -- the closeup showed her hand turning one of the vault's tumblers -- said the floor-moving lever was typically pulled by a man. "Two women could do it, but it took all of their strength," she said.

While it's impossible to get in once the giant door closes, getting out could be a little tricky, too. In the unlikely event that an employee is accidentally locked inside the main vault -- there are no reports of that ever happening -- there's an escape hatch into the vault up above. But it's a tight squeeze. A 30-centimetre-by-60-cm opening 2.5 metres off the ground can only be accessed by climbing up the wall of safety deposit boxes, placing your feet in a vacant box and hoisting yourself up. The manoeuvre is similar to what city workers do when coming up to street level through manhole covers.

geoff.kirbyson@freepress.mb.ca

Put it in the vault

At the time it was built nearly 100 years ago, the vault at BMO Bank of Montreal's Portage and Main location was the thickest and heaviest ever made in the world.

Each set of entrance doors weighs 50 tonnes.

The total weight of the doors and vault lining is 450 tonnes.

The lining is surrounded by 24-inch-thick concrete reinforced with interlocking railroad iron. The walls are made of marble.

A thick layer of carborundum is embedded in the outer door to protect the contents from fire.

Over the years, the vault has been used to store gold, safety deposit boxes, cash, share certificates, furs, Canada Savings Bonds, silverware and military medals.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition July 28, 2009 B1