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Bank of British North America

436 Main Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R3B, Canada

Formally Recognized: 1997/08/02

Primary elevation, from the east, of the Bank of British North America, Winnipeg, 2007; Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Culture, Heritage and Tourism, 2007
Primary Elevation
Pediment detail of the Bank of British North America, Winnipeg, 2007; Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Culture, Heritage and Tourism, 2007
Detail
Ceiling detail of the Bank of British North America, Winnipeg, 2007; Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Culture, Heritage and Tourism, 2007
Interior

Other Name(s)

Empire Cabaret
Bank of British North America
Royal Trust Company
Cabaret d'Empire
Compagnie Royal Trust
Newmac Building
Bâtiment Newmac

Links and documents

Construction Date(s)

1903/01/01 to 1904/12/31

Listed on the Canadian Register: 2008/01/29

Statement of Significance

Description of Historic Place

The Bank of British North America, constructed in 1903-04, is a three-storey steel frame, brick and sandstone structure with a one-storey 1914 addition located in Winnipeg's historic downtown Exchange District. The City of Winnipeg designation applies to the building on its footprint and the following interior elements: original fabric of the main floor, including entrance lobby, fanlights and staircase, and original plaster ceilings on the upper floors.

Heritage Value

The Bank of British North America is one of the oldest monumental financial buildings on Bankers' Row, now an important part of the Exchange District National Historic Site of Canada and once the centre from which much of the capital for prairie development flowed. To outshine the bank's nearby competitors, architect A.T. Taylor of Montreal gave the building a grand Neo-Palladian sandstone front, complete with an Ionic colonnade and, for Winnipeg, a rare vermiculated base. Marble, fine woods and other rich materials and finishes were used to craft an equally exquisite interior and the whole was strongly supported by structural steel in an early local application of the construction type. The impressive, highly visible edifice, long occupied by the Royal Trust Co., then by lawyers Newman, MacLean and Associates, retains considerable exterior design integrity while continuing in contemporary commercial use.

Source: City of Winnipeg Committee on Planning and Community Services Minutes, September 2, 1997

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Bank of British North America site include:
- the location on the west side of Main Street between Portage and McDermot avenues, with visual and historical connections to other financial facilities nearby, including the banks of Commerce and Hamilton immediately opposite
- the building's placement on the site, abutting the public sidewalk

Key elements that define the bank's fine Neo-Palladian architecture include:
- the elongated three- and one-storey rectangular massing, with the main (east) facade of vermiculated and ashlar sandstone, the other elevations of solid brick and a flat roof, all around a structural steel frame
- the grand temple-like formality of the main facade, including a two-storey colonnade of smooth Ionic columns ascending to an elegantly appointed pediment, a balustraded parapet with urns, a corner entrance portico with smooth Doric columns and a pediment, etc.
- the windows, including, at the front, three large round-arched openings with fanlights and vermiculated voussoirs, architrave-framed apertures on the upper levels (tall and rectangular on the second storey; small and square on the third), etc.
- the judiciously applied classical ornament, including engaged Ionic pilasters, the modillioned cornice and pediments, an elaborate upper cartouche, egg-and-dart mouldings, triglyphs, etc.
- the corporate symbols, including the carved stone Bank of British North America crest in the second-floor balustrade and 'THE ROYAL TRUST COMPANY' inscribed in the upper entablature
- additional details such as the rough-cut stone base, recessed wooden main doors topped by a fanlight, a flagpole, etc.

Key elements that define the bank's interior layout and exquisite finishes and details include:
- the formal plan and entrance vestibule with a boxed ceiling and intricately patterned mosaic tile floor
- the lobby, including the grand marble-treaded return staircase with ornamental cast-iron and wood balustrades, the expressive mosaic tile floor, etc.
- the opulent banking hall with Corinthian columns atop marble plinths, a high and deep coffered ceiling with intricate plaster panels, a mezzanine accessed by a detailed curved staircase, marble flooring and panelling, etc.
- the details, including decorative plaster ceilings and oak, maple or marble trim throughout, vaults, decorative fireplaces, pedimented doorways of ornamented wood or plaster, pilasters, dentilled banding, etc.

Recognition

Jurisdiction

Manitoba

Recognition Authority

City of Winnipeg

Recognition Statute

City of Winnipeg Act

Recognition Type

Winnipeg Landmark Heritage Structure

Recognition Date

1997/08/02

Historical Information

Significant Date(s)

1914/01/01 to 1914/12/31

Theme - Category and Type

Developing Economies
Trade and Commerce

Function - Category and Type

Current

Leisure
Auditorium, Cinema or Nightclub

Historic

Commerce / Commercial Services
Bank or Stock Exchange

Architect / Designer

A.T. Taylor

Builder

n/a

Additional Information

Location of Supporting Documentation

15-30 Fort Street Winnipeg MB

Cross-Reference to Collection

Fed/Prov/Terr Identifier

W0174

Status

Published

Related Places

Aerial view

Exchange District National Historic Site of Canada

Exchange District National Historic Site of Canada is located in downtown Winnipeg, Manitoba. The site consists of a densely built, turn-of -the-century warehousing and business…

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