140 8th Avenue S.W.

Built: 1930-1931

Kenneth G. Rea (also designed the Montreal Stock Exchange and 62 other buildings for the Bank of Montreal). His signature was inscribed in the granite base of the front facade.

Contractor:

Smith Brothers and Wilson. A. Turton was construction superintendent.

Original cost: $741,000

Construction materials:

Structural steel frame seated on a base of Canadian granite. Exterior walls clad in Manitoba Tyndall stone backed with brick. Marble used extensively in the interior.

Architectural style:

Neo Classical. Four storeys. The Eighth Avenue frontage is graced with four fluted Corinthian columns. The First Street facade is ornamented by six pilasters.

Original interior details:

Interior designed by Robert McCausland Limited of Toronto. Ashen green was the dominant interior color. "The interior main entrance was framed in blue marble and crowned by a beautiful clock in a blue and white marble setting." On both sides of the doorway stood identical brass sculptures in the shape of classical Greek lamps. Walls, floors, columns and counters of the interior were finished in four types of marble. The customer tables were solid cast bronze, and wood finishes in walnut or birch. Neo-classical interior with coffered ceilings encrusted with 917 ounces of gold leaf. Moulded plaster ceiling rosettes finished in gold leaf. Mezzanine gallery ran across the front of the hall and above the main entrance. Principle space was the Main Banking Hall divided into three aisles by two rows of Corinthian columns. Massive bronze front doors.

Historical highlights:

• Bank of Montreal opened its first Calgary branch October 25, 1886.

• The 8th Avenue and 1st Street location, considered the busiest and most prestigious downtown corner, was the site of the main Calgary branch of the Bank of Montreal from 1889 - 1989.

• First Bank of Montreal building on this site was a two storey gable-roofed sandstone structure with a distinctive corner tower built in 1888-89.

• August 1930, Bennett and White Construction Company demolished the Royal Trust building behind the sandstone bank, next to the alley in preparation for the construction of a new more modern Bank of Montreal building.

• Excavation work began in September 1930.

• Construction was completed in two nine month stages to allow business to continue without interruption. First the rear of the new building was constructed. Bank staff was moved from the old sandstone premises to the new and the front of the building was then completed. Through the winters of 1930 and 1931, a large tarp hung across the opening as protection from the elements.

• Opened in 1932 at the outset of the Depression and for fifty years served as both regional headquarters and main office.

• Employees enjoyed a roof-top garden until 1940.

• Extensive renovations to upper floors over the years but most of the original features were retained in the Main Banking Hall on the ground floor.

• When the Bank of Montreal opened the 43-storey First Canadian Centre on Seventh Avenue in January 1983, the 1930 structure became a Personal Banking Centre until 1988 when it closed.

• Re-opened as a retail outlet in 1993 by new owners, A&B Sound, following a $2 million renovation which retained many of the original Neo-Classical features.

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