Bank of Montreal
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/05/2013 (4558 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
The Winnipeg Main Branch of the Bank of Montreal — at Portage Avenue and Main Street, reputedly the windiest corner in Canada — is one of the most compelling heritage buildings in the city.
Featuring a gold-leaf ceiling, Corinthian columns and vast amounts of marble, some Botticino imported from northern Italy, the Bank of Montreal resembles a Roman temple, a tribute to fine neoclassical architecture.
Designed by the firm of McKim, Mead and White, America’s leading neoclassicist architects, and completed in 1913, extensive renovations and restoration work in 1975 and 1976 — at a cost of $2.4 million — preserved the classical elegance of this palace of commerce. The gold-leaf ceiling alone has been valued at more than $1 million.
When the bank announced plans to build the monumental structure, the Manitoba Free Press predicted that the bank would be “one of the most imposing buildings in Canada,” and bear “a very striking resemblance to the Royal Exchange of London, Eng., and in reality it will occupy a place in Winnipeg equally as commanding as the world-renowned Exchange of the capital of the empire.”
Keep in mind, the Bank of Montreal wasn’t then, and isn’t now, just an elegant landmark. It was and is a fully functioning bank.
Interestingly, the two top storeys were reserved for bank officers’ living quarters. Staff enjoyed a dining room and lounge on the third floor. Food storage and kitchen space were for hired help to cater to management.
One storey above the dining facilities, bank officials slept. A long row of bedrooms boasted sitting rooms and clothing closets and bathrooms dotted the floor.
Notable is the bank’s vault, billed as the world’s largest, heaviest and most impenetrable.
When the three-storey vault was christened, it was the thickest and heaviest vault ever made with each set of entrance doors tipping the scales at 50 tonnes. The total weight of the doors and vault lining exceed 450 tonnes — that’s equal to 900,000 pounds or about 90 adult elephants.
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