Architects: Darling & Pearson
No Interior Access
The oldest Chicago School skyscraper still standing in Western Canada was built for the Union Bank of Canada and once boasted the tallest flagpole in the British Empire.
The eleven-storey building has terracotta cladding on the first three floors and on the eleventh floor surrounding the unusual porthole windows with their heavy decorative surrounds, as well as a heavily bracketed cornice. The interiors of the banking halls were lavish and finished in coloured marble on the walls, counters and floors, with mahogany and marble tables. The ceilings were finished with gold leaf details.
In 1925, the Union Bank merged with the Royal Bank of Canada which operated the banking hall until recently. The building is currently empty.