Montreal's New York Life Insurance Building (also known as the Quebec Bank Building) is an office building at

Place d'Armes Place may refer to: Geography * Place (United States Census Bureau), defined as any concentration of population ** Census-designated place, a populated area lacking its own municipal government * "Place", a type of street or road name ** Often ...

in what is now known as

Old Montreal Old Montreal (French: ''Vieux-Montréal'') is a historic neighbourhood within the municipality of Montreal in the province of Quebec, Canada. Home to the Old Port of Montreal, the neighbourhood is bordered on the west by McGill Street, on th ...

, erected in 1887-1889. At the time of its completion, it was the tallest commercial building in

Montreal Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple- ...

with the first eight floors were designed for retail office space, that quickly filled with the city's best lawyers and financiers. When the clock tower was completed, the owner filled the ninth and tenth floors with the largest legal library in the entire country as a gift to tenants. The building is next to another historic office tower,

Aldred Building The Aldred Building (French: ''Édifice Aldred''; also known as ''Édifice La Prévoyance'') is an Art deco building on the historic Place d'Armes square in the Old Montreal quarter of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Completed in 1931, the building ...

History

The New York Life Insurance Building was built by architects

Babb, Cook and Willard Babb, Cook & Willard was a New York City-based architectural firm established in 1884 that designed many important houses and commercial buildings. The principals of the firm were George Fletcher Babb (1836–1915), Walter Cook (1843–1916), ...

and contractor Peter Lyall for the

New York Life Insurance Company New York Life Insurance Company (NYLIC) is the third-largest life insurance company in the United States, the largest mutual life insurance company in the United States and is ranked #67 on the 2021 Fortune 500 list of the largest United States ...

as its office in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by to ...

. The final cost was $750,000. The

Old Red Sandstone The Old Red Sandstone is an assemblage of rocks in the North Atlantic region largely of Devonian age. It extends in the east across Great Britain, Ireland and Norway, and in the west along the northeastern seaboard of North America. It also exte ...

used in the construction was imported from Dumfriesshire, Scotland. New York Life selected the site on Place D’Armes because it was near the Montreal business hub. Before construction began, crews demolished l’Hotel Compain and another 2 story building that occupied the lots. The building first appeared on 1890 insurance map.

Quebec Bank Quebec Bank was founded on June 9, 1818 to meet a perceived need by some merchants and residents of Quebec City. They wanted an alternative to the newly founded Bank of Montreal which they felt was inadequate for the needs of the province. The ba ...

purchased the building in 1909 and occupied the ground floor before being absorbed into the

Royal Bank of Canada Royal Bank of Canada (RBC; french: Banque royale du Canada) is a Canadian multinational financial services company and the largest bank in Canada by market capitalization. The bank serves over 17 million clients and has more than 89,000 ...

in 1917. The structure still bears the bank's name carved over the entrance. The building is near Place-d'Armes Metro, and is adjacent to other prominent Montreal landmarks, such as the

(1931), the Bank of Montreal Building (1859/1901), the Place d'Armes Hotel, Notre-Dame Basilica and

500 Place D'Armes 500 Place d'Armes is an International style building on the historic Place d'Armes square in Old Montreal quarter of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Completed in 1968 as the Banque Canadienne Nationale tower, it is Montreal's 17th tallest building, ...

Architecture

The New York Life Building was inspired by Italian Renaissance and buildings in New York and was one of the first major Montreal buildings which did not use the local grey stone but instead used imported red sandstone. The stone required cutting which was done in Lyall workshop located on Bishop Street. The building has a “hybrid structure combining a frame - iron beams, girders and two sets of columns per floor - and bearing walls brick.” Architects used steel to construct the floors and the roof but employed masonry walls to support the structure. Henry Beaumont carved the significant external decorative elements such as the

arabesque The arabesque is a form of artistic decoration consisting of "surface decorations based on rhythmic linear patterns of scrolling and interlacing foliage, tendrils" or plain lines, often combined with other elements. Another definition is "Foli ...

in the entrance archway, spandrel panels and pilaster capitals. The ornamental iron gate is by the E. Chanteloup workshop in Montreal. The building contains eight floors and has a height of including the clock tower. It has a quasi-rectangular shape and has a land area of Total floor area including all floors is Interior walls in the small vestibule and the halls are covered in marble and the ceiling has a decorative plaster resembling Renaissance ornamentation. The staircase railing consists of ornamental iron with a finished wood banister. The office building is located on a corner lot and has façade on Place D’Armes as well as on rue Saint-Jacques. The original address was 13 Place d’Armes Hills but was later changed to its current address 511 Place D’Armes. Owners modernized the third, fourth and fifth floors in 1952, and renovated the basement in 1970. In 1971, they added stairs between fifth floor and the roof. Subsequent owners completed further renovations in the 1980s and undertook an additional restoration project in 2006-2007 which included adding two residential penthouses on the roof. One of these is occupied by the current building owner.

Owners

The building’s original name was New York Life Building but in 1909 became home of Quebec Bank. The building was also known as Bank of Quebec building and Montreal Trust building but still is referred to by its original name. The building has changed hands many times and had a number of notable tenants, including the Montreal Real Trust Company, London and Lancashire Insurance Co., the National Bank of Canada and the Société de Fiducie du Quebec. The Société de Fiducie du Quebec occupied the building for six years and sold it to Les immeubles Bona Ltée who performed many upgrades to the building. Akelius Montreal Ltd. acquired the property on January 31, 2020 and are the current owners.

References

External links

Gazette article, "The tallest of them all (in 1888)"
{{Coord, 45.5050, N, 73.5579, W, source:wikidata, display=title Babb, Cook and Willard buildings Commercial buildings in Montreal Clock towers in Canada Commercial buildings completed in 1889 Landmarks in Montreal New York Life Insurance Company Old Montreal Romanesque Revival architecture in Canada Sandstone buildings in Canada

History

Architecture

Owners

References

Further reading

External links