CPM Forum
Canadian Notes => Early Canadian Notes => Topic started by: buxvet on May 31, 2006, 12:33:36 pm
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Not sure if this interests anyone but I have a large collection of old photographs of the Toronto Area of which have pictures of Chartered Bank Offices. Some of the pictures are very good and some are background shots.
This First one is of The Farmers Bank of Canada. It's on the NW corner of Bay and Adelaide 1915
You can see the Bank name above the heads of the horses. This shot is taken from the east side of Bay St just north of Adelaide looking south.
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Next up is Barclays Bank
This shot is of what I assume is just a branch located at 218 Bay St.
This would be located of the west side of Bay just north from Wellington St. It's around the same time as the previous shot of the Farmers Bank
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Next is a photo of a Dominion Bank branch located on Danforth Av in 1918
I don't know the crosstreet
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This is of a Bank Of Montreal Branch located on Queen St. W 1918
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Here is one of The Molsons Bank on King St W near Bay 1913
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This is a picture advertisement for The Royal Canadian Bank. This is the Royal Canadian Bank Building circa 1872. Capital 2 Million dollars. Is this the beginnings of what is now The Royal Bank Of Canada ?
It was located on Front St
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This isn't a very good shot but I thought I would throw it in anyways, especially in light of the one day wildcat strike of the TTC in Toronto this week. The bottom left corner shows The Bank Of Canada building on University Av 1952. The photo was taken during the TTC Strike in 1952
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The next two are actually outside Toronto in Cobourg Ont,
This is the inside of the Dominion Bank Branch in Cobourg Ont - 1910
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This is the inside of the Bank Of Toronto Branch in Cobourg Ont - 1910
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These are fabulous! While the status and the technology of the site is in flux, I guess this is as good a place as any to display these. Hopefully when the dust settles, I'll be able to setup a "user gallery" where a section for "bank photos" would be available.
Thanks for this great contribution!
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Thanks Paul. I'm glad you enjoyed them. I have sifted through some more
shots and will post them shortly. Although the ensuing three shots do not make
clear what they are in the photos themselves I do know what and where they are.
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This is a shot of The Dominion Bank Building at King + Yonge - 1890
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This is a shot of The Ontario Bank Building at Scott + Wellington - 1867
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This one showing a TD Bank and a Bank Of Montreal in the same strip plaza on Harwood Av in Ajax Ontario - 1960
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The Bank Of British North America
Between the years 1955 and 1975 some 20,000 of Toronto’s oldest buildings became nothing more than entrées served at an enormous banquet for hungry bulldozers to devour, turning our once grand streets into an all-you-can-eat-buffet made of stone.
Sadly there are only a handful of these imposing 19th century buildings left standing after miraculously escaping the ravenous appetite of the wrecker’s ball.
The structures that were spared during Urban Renewal (including the Bank of Montreal now the Hockey Hall of Fame on Front St, the 7th Post Office on Toronto Street and St. Lawrence Hall) no matter how opulent they may appear today were, in the late 19th century, the norm.
Another architectural tour de force that incredibly was saved considering it was right in the heart of this mass destruction is the Bank of British North America (BNA) opened in 1874 on the NE corner of Wellington and Yonge and now home to the Irish Embassy Pub.
It stands today as a testament not only as a reminder to what was lost during the great feeding frenzy but also to the man who built it: the inspired architect Henry Langley.
In 1844 the Bank of BNA erected its first bank in Toronto on the NE corner of Yonge and Wellington.
( Pictured in the next post of this thread ) This is the original BNA building before it was torn down in 1874 to make way for the one posted at the end of this story
It like most pre-confederation buildings standing in Toronto at the time was sedate yet imposing and like most bank buildings constructed throughout the British Empire it was built to resemble the big daddy of all bank buildings The Bank of England back home in London which set the standard for all banks to follow.
Georgian in design, neo-classical in form and much more importantly completely intimidating to all who dare entre its doors.
TheToronto chapter of the Bank of BNA was under the chairmanship of Charles Berczy the son of one of the interesting people ever to have lived in Toronto, Joann Albrecht Ulich von Moll known today as William Berczy the man who built Yonge Street.
However John Graves Simcoe our first lieutenant governor threw Berczy into debtor’s prison when he and his fellow German workers failed to complete the job on time.
After his release Berczy along with his wife Charlotte and two sons William and Charles left for Montreal and died in New York under mysterious circumstance in 1813.
Eventually his sons moved back to Toronto where eldest son William Bent Berczy became a member of the Town Council. In March of 1834 it was William who first proposed that the Town of York, now on the brink of becoming a city, should revert back to being called ‘Toronto.’ It was Simcoe 41 years earlier who decided that the name was too ‘Indian’ sounding and changed it to the more British sounding ‘York’.
In 1841 younger son Charles became the founder of the Consumers Gas CO and in c1844 took over the chairmanship of the Bank of British North America. Charles was proud of the fact after all the ordeals his father had suffered was now one of Toronto’s most wealthy and influential citizens.
By 1872 with a new generation at the helm of Toronto’s great financial district it was decided to construct a more impressive Bank of BNA building to match the other great banks that were now springing up in the area.
What the Bank of BNA needed was an architect who understood the need for this new expressionism of wealth and power.
Toronto while still very British at its core was experimenting with more international styles when it came to its architecture and none more so championed this cause than Henry Langley.
Langley loved Paris and its opulent Second Empire style architecture and was determined to bring some of it to Toronto.
Langley was showered with accolades for his breathtaking work with the loudest shouts coming from the powers that be at the Bank of British North America who were searching for a master architect to design an equally imposing head office for them.
Langley was a superstar in the architectural world and caused a sensation when his Government House open in 1870 on the site of present day Roy Thompson Hall.
The Bank of BNA project on Wellington and Yonge while not as commanding a presence as his post office or the Lt. Governor’s residence would have to be just as imposing however if it was to compete with its neighbours.
Down the street on the NW corner of Leader Lane (originally named Berczy Street) once stood Toronto’s first stock exchange a monumental structure that had massive Greek columns running along its side.
Over on the NW corner of Wellington and Church stood the impressive Bank of Toronto (1862-1960) ( PICTURE COMING SOON ) founded by George Gooderham whose other building known today as the Flatiron still stands at the apex of Front, Church and Wellington Sts. There was the charming Bank of Ontario building on the NE corner of Scott and Wellington ( A couple of posts back ) that looked like it was plucked from the banks of the Grand Canal in Venice.
In order to make his new structure stand out in this forest of marble and stone Langley used gold coloured Ohio stone for the exterior of his Bank of BNA giving it a luminous effect and the look and feel of one of those opulent homes he admired so much on the Champs de Elyees in Paris.
The new Bank of British North America open its doors in 1874 with its main entrance on Wellington Street then most sought after address in the entire banking community.
In 1903 Wellington Street was losing its appeal as the city’s great thoroughfare so the massive stone entrance of the Bank of BNA with its carved floral designs was moved to Yonge Street which by the turn of the century was becoming a much more fashionable address.
In 1907 Henry Langley the son of a Toronto shoemaker died.
During the 20th century his beautiful bank with its mosaic floors and arching interior columns became home to a branch of the Bank of Montreal and later a Bank of Commerce.
In 1982 the building was completely restored by Greymac Trust who in turn sold to Household Finance and now is owned by Calloway REIT in an unbroken line of banking ventures dating back to 1844.
The former banking hall of the Bank of British North America is now home to the Irish Embassy Pub which opened on St Patrick’s Day 2001. Owned and operated by Gavin Quinn a true Irish gentleman in every sense of the word who not only can appreciate a fine pint but also the need to preserve what little remains of our once rich 19th century architectural past.
Here is the building opened in 1874 and home to the Irish Embassy today
Story courtesy of Bruce Bell - Historian City of Toronto
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Pictured here is the original BNA building opened in 1845 and torn down around 1873. This picture was about 1867
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Here are three shots of the interior of a Toronto area Bank Of Commerce. I don't know the exact branch
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Shot # 2
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Shot # 3
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Here is the promised shot of The Bank Of Toronto at Church + Wellington - 1867
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Man! Look at all that old oak furniture and cubicles! I love that stuff (as I sit at my refinished bankers desk typing on my high end computer system). I like the old stuff, I like the new stuff, it's just "today" I can't stand. ;)
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Man! Look at all that old oak furniture and cubicles! I love that stuff (as I sit at my refinished bankers desk typing on my high end computer system). I like the old stuff, I like the new stuff, it's just "today" I can't stand. ;)
The things that struck were in shot 3. The old chair and typerwriter. And especially the entrances to the cubicles have a small curtain you can draw for visual privacy. Of course they can hear what your talking about. ;D
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Man! Look at all that old oak furniture and cubicles! I love that stuff (as I sit at my refinished bankers desk typing on my high end computer system). I like the old stuff, I like the new stuff, it's just "today" I can't stand. ;)
I know! You can almost detect the musty old smell of all that old wooden furniture and hear the floorboards creaking as the customers come and go. I can almost visualize a Bob Cratchit-type in here somewhere furiously writing in his ledgers with a quill-feather pen!
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The three shots might be from this Bank Of Commerce at Lakeshore + 7th St. in Etobicoke.
I don't have a date for this shot but looking at the people 1946 is possible.
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Bank Of Montreal - Yonge + Front - Now The Hockey Hall Of Fame.
Lower Yonge Street at Front was once the site of the Freeland Soap and Candle Factory considered to be Toronto’s first industry.
In his day the name Peter Freeland was known to all for it was his candles that lit the homes of York’s first citizens in the days before electricity and light bulbs.
Peter emigrated to New York from Glasgow Scotland in 1818 then after a time he and his brother William traveled up to Montreal where they set up a soap and candle factory. In 1830 they sold it and moved to Toronto then known as York.
He bought land including the land covered by water at the foot of Yonge Street from Judge Sherwood in 1832 and in 1836 he expanded eastward.
Ice was used in warm weather for hardening the candles in the moulds, so that they might be more easily extracted.
The ice was cut in the winter and was stored in the basement of the American Hotel which at one time stood across the street.
Back then there used to be a row of enormous oak trees on the bank just west of Yonge.
Just down from the oak trees a old schooner sat high and dry on a lot just next to Freeland’s and was used as a playground for young kids to swing from its ropes.
By the beginning of the 1850’s the railroad moved in and with it the sandy beach that was once the Esplanade and the oak trees were replaced with the belching smoke of the steam engines.
From the 1830’s up until the late 1920’s a massive wharf and pier complex known as the Yonge Street Wharf overtook lower Yonge street and while the Yonge Street Wharf (still owned by the Freeland family) thrived well into the next century the Freeland’s Candle and Soap factory went the way of the dinosaur after the death in 1861 of Peter Freeland.
In 1866 the construction of the Great Western Railroad Station replaced the factory.
Architect William G. Storm constructed this massive train station out of wood and overlaid its enormous arched roof with a covering of lead.
At the beginning of the 20th century the station, having outlived its usefulness, was converted into a wholesale vegetable market.
On May 17 1952 it was destroyed by fire and for the next few years the site became a parking lot until 1957 when the remaining buildings mostly warehouses fronting Front Street were demolished to make way for the newly planned O’Keefe Center now renamed The Hummingbird.
Toronto in the 1880’s was on a commercial upswing. From a windswept colonial outpost a mere half century earlier we were now poised to be the most brilliant city the British Empire.
To boost our claim we embarked on a building boom that for the next 20 or so years would see some of our most stunning construction projects take place.
Most of what was to be built was due in part to the spectacular rise of the great Banks and through them we were entering our golden age of architecture.
Banking in the mid 19th century was not a personal savings and checking matter, it was almost completely commercial and governmental with profits being generated by loans made out to government projects and venture capital for manufactures and importers.
No bank was more powerful in early 19th Canada than the Bank of Montreal founded in 1818. It wasn’t until 1841 when the Act of Union was past that the bank was allowed to entre Ontario setting up its first branch in a converted townhouse on NW corner of Bay and King Sts.
In 1845 the Bank of Montreal moved into its new headquarters on what was then one the foremost sites in Toronto the NW corner of Yonge and Front, at the entrance to this great new city. ( The Original Bank Of Montreal Building erected in 1845 and torn down around 1886 is posted at the bottom of the story )
Besides the aforementioned Great Western Train Station (1869-1952) and the American Hotel (c1844-1889) there was also the elaborately detailed Customs House (1873-1920) a white marble eccentric masterpiece on the SW corner where the monumental Dominion office block stands with its row of Corinthian columns sweeping down Front street. All of this centering around the Yonge Street Wharf (c1840-1926) the main terminus for people traveling by steamship entering our city, the Pearson Airport of the day.
The first Bank of Montreal building to stand on the NW corner of Yonge and Front when first built in 1845 was discrete and formal fashioned after the great gentlemen’s clubs in London England.
In 1886 that first branch was torn down and construction began on what was going to be the most luxurious and stunning building in the city.
When completed in 1888 not only was it one of the most elaborate structures in a city now full of elaborate structures but its interior was considered the finest banking hall on the continent.
The Bank of Montreal ( Todays Hockey Hall of Fame ) miraculously survived the chaos of Urban renewal when everything else around it was being un-ceremoniously bulldozed and dumped into Lake Ontario.
Across the street where Shopsy’s now stands once stood one of the greatest monuments to architecture this city ever knew, the Board of Trade Building later the TTC Headquarters.
It was the first building in Toronto to have a steel frame when built in 1888 on the site that once held the aforementioned American Hotel.
The imposing Board of Trade Building with its huge cone shape roof stood flanking the corner of Front and Yonge mirroring its exquisite banking neighbour across the way.
These two gems greeted all who came off the boats at the foot of Yonge Street as if to say Welcome to the Great and Prosperous City of Toronto.
As stunning as the former Bank of Montreal was and still is, in its day it was one of hundreds similar.
The beauty and splendor that was lower downtown is now a mere memory. Our bank had survived and was patiently waiting for a new use.
In 1943 fifty years after hockey was invented Capt JT Sutherland, the man who helped popularized the game, gathered a group of men together and called for a building to be constructed in Kingston that would honour the achievements of hockey’s early players.
Two years later the first 12 members were inducted into the newly formed Hockey Hall of Fame that still had no permanent building.
Finally on August 26, 1961 on the grounds of the CNE then Prime Minister John Diefenbaker officially opened the new Hockey Hall of Fame to be operated by the NHL, OHL and the city of Toronto and spearheaded by the legendary Conn Symthe founder of the Toronto Maple Leafs.
Hockey has an idealistic almost romanticized sense of destiny surrounding it.
With its sagas, rituals, superstitions, colours, banners, myths and legends it seems as if long ago it was preordained that the move into the former bank was commanded by the Gods on high long ago.
The former bank building itself is worthy of a temple with its own trophies carved in stone on its exterior announcing the virtues that will make our country great.
Carved onto the south side exterior are emblems to Commerce, Music, and Architecture and on the east side crests to Industry, Science, and Literature.
And to top this Olympus styled experience off a statue of Atlas representing strength and sport is poised outside as if holding the building up.
But it’s the stained-glass dome that I feel is the true architectural treasure of the former bank.
In the Hall right beside the portraits of the honoured members and the display cases holding all that precious silverware is a historical plaque placed by the Canadian Government commemorating the dome.
Designed and set in position in 1885 by the Toronto firm of Robert McCausland Ltd the dome is adorned with finely detailed mythological figures and provincial emblems.
On June 18, 1993 after a phenomenal remodeling job costing $35 million the rich wood paneling, the detailed murals and exquisite gold leafing once again shone through as the new Hockey Hall of Fame opened its doors.
The merging of hockey and history all comes together in one truly magnificent setting. With sunlight streaming in and dispersing over the deified Stanley Cup the former banking hall now attracts 500,000 visitors a year.
Story by Bruce Bell - Historian City Of Toronto
The Original Bank Of Montreal Building erected in 1845 and torn down around 1886 is now pictured.
This shot is around 1870
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And the new Bank of Montreal building and current Hockey Hall of Fame shortly after it opened in 1888.
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Old Postcards are a good source of Bank Pictures. Here are a couple I came up with:
The Royal Bank in Havana
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The Royal Bank in Belize City
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The Bank of Nova Scotia in Kingston Jamaica
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Those are cool eyevet, thanks
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And the new Bank of Montreal building and current Hockey Hall of Fame shortly after it opened in 1888.
And again far left in 1895
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And again in 1910. Notice horse and buggies have been replcaced by a car park on the street
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And lastly The Bank of Montreal around 1950's
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The Canadian Bank Of Commerce at Yonge + Bloor - 1949
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This is a very interesting collection you have there buxvet. I am always fascinated by Canadian history and to see all these banks and there surrounding is very impressive. Your images are also of very good quality for their time, have they been redone/touched up? If I could only find some way to go back in time and visit these places, perhaps gather a few UNC notes I would be well off. ;D
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Buxvet,
With such gorgeous photos, I'm wondering if they can be published with some good chartered bank notes? Are they your photos? I can imagine there being a market for a booklet with notes --along with the bank photos-- which would especially sell well at coin shows. Perhaps self-publishing (ie cafepress on the internet) is the way to go. You make up a book (on a website) and it is printed on demand.
These are great photos, and I'm sure a lot of collectors have appreciated checking them out.
Thanks for sharing them with us!
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This is a very interesting collection you have there buxvet. I am always fascinated by Canadian history and to see all these banks and there surrounding is very impressive. Your images are also of very good quality for their time, have they been redone/touched up? If I could only find some way to go back in time and visit these places, perhaps gather a few UNC notes I would be well off. ;D
Thanks Kid. I'm glad you have enjoyed them. I have gathered them over a very long period of time. These are just a small sampling of the total number. I have about 1000 images of the Greater Toronto Area and about another 300 of the Ajax/Pickering area where I live. I don't know if any images have been touched up. I still have quite a few more that are bank related that I will post periodically. I went through at lot of city shots looking for banks in the background, such as the very first image with Farmers Bank in background at Bay/Adelaide. I very much enjoy the history of the city I was born and raised in. I was born at Coxwell/Mortimer at East General and have lived in Downtown Toronto, Scarborough and Etobicoke. I went to work in downtown Toronto for almost 20 Years and worked in a lot of old buildings including 185 Bay St and 15 Wellington W which were both torn down to make way for BCE Place. The front of 15 Wellington W was preserved and incorporated into the mall of BCE Place. I'll include a picture of that building. I bet a bank or two was in there at one time. I used to walk in the double door on the right with the two windows in it for several years. My business was ordered out of the building in 1988 because our lease had a demolitian clause in it. In 1990 the building was torn down and the front was moved back about 30 feet. You can still see it on the ground floor of BCE place on the Hockey Hall Of Fame side
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Buxvet,
With such gorgeous photos, I'm wondering if they can be published with some good chartered bank notes? Are they your photos? I can imagine there being a market for a booklet with notes --along with the bank photos-- which would especially sell well at coin shows. Perhaps self-publishing (ie cafepress on the internet) is the way to go. You make up a book (on a website) and it is printed on demand.
These are great photos, and I'm sure a lot of collectors have appreciated checking them out.
Thanks for sharing them with us!
Thanks Walk, I have obtained all these photos at no cost and hold no rights to them. I will gladly distribute them to anyone at no cost. I just enjoy them a lot and wanted to share some photos pertinent to the forum. If people want to see many more and the mods don't mind I can start an OT thread somewhere and post all kinds of pix. Don't know how much interest there would be though. We are not all from the Toronto Area and maybe they would not interest others.
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Lets take a step back for a moment to add yet another shot of The Bank Of Montreal at Yonge + Front. This time a shot of The Banking Hall as it was back in the BMO days. The Stanley Cup resides under this dome today
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Next we have 2 shots of the CIBC on the northwest corner of College + Yonge. Both were taken during the Santa Claus Parade. One in 1969 and the other in 1967. From almost the same spot.
The branch is in the top right hand side of the photo. The large concrete building is the original Eaton's store on the southwest corner. Eaton's vacated this location when the Eaton Center was built. The building now holds the College Park Apartments, some retail and the College Park Courts
Here is 1967
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And 1969
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THE BANK OF UPPER CANADA
The Bank of Upper Canada building on the NE corner of George and Adelaide is the oldest Bank building in Canada and if it weren’t for the plaque that tells you a bit of its history, its existence is as a reminder that Toronto’s heritage needs a lot of help in getting its story out.
The Bank that still stands there today is a crumbling shell of its former power.
Built in 1825-27 by Dr. W.W. Baldwin a rich and powerful man with the help of engineer Thomas Hall it’s the only building that still stands in the original boundaries of the Town of York (1793-1797) George, Adelaide, Front and Berkeley Sts. It would be in 1797 that Peter Russell expanded the town’s boundary’s out to Peter Street in the west and Queen Street, then called Lot St. to the north.
The bank was built by the powerful elite of early York known as the Family Compact, a group of men who’s power and influence in a time before democracy reached our shores were unstoppable.
They could and did whatever they felt was for the best interests of others including themselves.
These men ran not only the town of York but the rest of the province thus naming their new venture the Bank of Upper Canada says it all.
The bank started out in one of those early family Compact founder’s William Allen (Allen Gardens) shop on the NE corner of Frederick and King in 1822.
In 1825 it was decided that a grand and imposing structure should be built on the then northern boundary of York on Duke and George (until the 1950’s Adelaide east of Jarvis was named Duke Street) so that all who saw it firmly planted there would be intimidated much like the great banks still do to this day as they reach higher into the sky.
The banks of early 19th century Canada were not a place for the average citizen to deposit their meager earnings or open a RRSP, far from it.
Banks were chartered and built mainly to handle Government deposits and payouts and to provide mortgages on land grants to the wealthy elite of the province.
It was this kind of I-am-better-than-you-cause the-King-told-me-and-God-told-the-King thinking that got the Reformists under the leadership of William Lyon Mackenzie all steamed up.
An average citizen wouldn’t even dream of walking up those cement stairs that are still in place today.
In 1833 just a few yards east of the bank, postmaster John Scott Howard bought a piece of land and with the permission of William Allen was allowed to build a ‘reputable’ brick building with the idea that he would run the new post office.
That post office, York’s Fourth, built by architect John Howard (no relation) was to be known after incorporation in 1834 as Toronto’s First.
In 1836 Sir Francis Bond Head a handsome, accomplished, adventuresome, former cavalry officer who had fought beside Wellington at Waterloo despite the fact he was just over five feet tall was appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada.
At first Sir Francis, who lived in the Governors mansion on the site of present day Roy Thompson Hall, was willing to listen to reformers like William Lyon Mackenzie and they in turn were happy to have Sir Francis as Lt. Governor because his predecessor Sir John Colborne was a member of the reviled Family Compact.
However, Sir Francis stopped listening to the reformers and started to side with the Family C. after realizing it was they who could give him what he really wanted; POWER.
Soon whispers of a rebellion began to seep out from the taverns, hotels, theaters and coffee shops that once lined our streets with the loudest murmur coming from inside the Mackenzie camp.
Newspaperman Mackenzie a few years earlier had his printing press thrown into the lake by the son’s of the Family C. when he wrote some unflattering remarks about their fathers.
This event known as the Types Riot of 1826 is remember today in a plaque that is completely hidden from view behind a column of brick on the NW corner of Front and Frederick.
Yet that small plaque and the one on the corner of Toronto and Court Streets are the only reminders that a Rebellion ever took place in the downtown core.
On the Morning of December 5, 1837 a force of 36 uniformed government guards made its way to the corner of Duke and George Streets to stand watch against an all out assault on the Bank of Upper Canada.
That same night the infamous government-backed fighting force known as the McGraw troupe road en mass down Church Street to the Francis Bond Head Inn that once stood in the parking lot on the SW corner of King and Church, downed a few pints, made their plans for the following day and went to bed.
The next morning December 6th 1837 the troupe galloped down Colborne Street and went on to meet up with Sir Francis and his 1000 volunteers.
With their Union Jacks billowing in the wind and their fife and drum band reverberating patriotic tunes they headed up Yonge Street to squash Mackenzie's men.
The two armies met about a half a mile below present day Eglinton Ave. where Sir Francis set off his booming cannons, which sent Mackenzie and his 150 men running back to their headquarters at Montgomery Tavern just north of Eglinton on Yonge.
Mackenzie knowing all was lost escaped to the United States.
Twelve of his of his supporters, the most famous being Samuel Lount and Peter Matthews, were hanged on the scaffold erected on the NE corner of King and Toronto Streets.
The men of Upper Canada may have died but the Bank prevailed.
The Government force of uniformed guards stayed at the Bank of Upper Canada at the corner of George and Duke Sts until January 1839.
In reality the people did eventually win when in 1848 fellow reformer Robert Baldwin (who as born on the NW corner of Frederick and Front Sts in the same house that Mackenzie would later have his printing press) successfully introduced Responsible Government.
For those who don't know Robert Baldwin is the Great Great Great Great Great Grandfather of CPMF member walktowater
Time healed a bit of the old wounds and the bank building itself underwent a major renovation in 1843 with the introduction of the stone portico (replacing a earlier wooden one) that appears today.
In 1851 architect Fredrick Cumberland (built the present St. James Cathedral that same year) and as much a part of the ruling elite of Toronto as Baldwin had been added a three story wing on the north side of the original bank with an entrance on George St. and lived there with his family in the spacious apartments above.
In 1861 after 35 plus years the Bank of Upper Canada moved its offices from Duke and George to Yonge and Colborne Sts to be closer to the new financial district.
In 1866 the once all powerful Bank of Upper Canada collapsed after ill advised mortgages granted on worthless land deals.
In 1870 The Christian Brothers bought the old bank building and turned it into De la Salle College. In 1873 they expanded to take in the post office next door to be used as gymnasium. In 1876 the Brothers hired in my opinion the greatest architect Toronto ever knew Henry Langley (The General Post Office at Adelaide and Toronto Sts -1872-1960) to build a wing connecting the two followed by the construction of a huge mansard roof (still in place) that would attach Howard’s former post office to the bank thus giving the appearance of one large building.
The new building concealed the original square outline of the former bank forever and maybe just maybe it was this all consuming transformation that saved Baldwin’s original 1825 bank from the wreckers ball.
By the 1940’s the entire building was taken over by the United Co-operatives of Ontario and added an addition to the north end of Cumberland’s 1850 wing.
An irony to this former bastion to the Family Compact was the fact that the United Farmers of Ontario, a radical political party, was also now housed in the former bank.
The years rolled by and by the 1960’s the building was now being used as an egg grading station then artists studios. Farmers and artists! The graves of the founding fathers were now spinning out of control.
On June 30, 1978 a fire broke out that gutted the top floors and even though the oldest bank building in Canada was designated under the Ontario Heritage Act in 1975 it was on the verge of being demolished.
It sat there an empty shell boarded up and forgotten even though it was now declared a National Historic site in 1979.
In 1980 the building that encompassed two centuries of the political, economic and social history of Toronto not to mention the work of our city’s greatest architects was rescued by now legendary developers Sheldon and Judy Godfrey. Bless them.
During their extensive renovation John Scott Howard’s 1833 Post Office was rediscovered, refurbished and was put back in operation and remains so to this day.
But the historic bank like the equally historic Hollinger’s headquarters at number 10 Toronto Street, (the former 7th Post Office-1851 Frederick Cumberland) was placed in private hands and is now off limits to curious history nuts like myself who are just dying to take a peek inside. Just like the Family Compact wanted it to be in the first place.
Story by Bruce Bell - Toronto Historian
The stairs in the right side of the photo leading up to the 3 story portion if the complex is known today as 256 Adelaide E
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Here is a shot around 1890-1900 when the building was occupied by De La Salle College
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And the East wing known today as 256 Adelaide St E
This shot is from 2002
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Finally found another Dominion Bank. This branch was at the north east corner of Yonge + St. Clair - 1919
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Here is one of The City Bank Of Montreal at Bay + Wellington. It's the larger part of the building on the right hand side. To the left are the offices of the Grand Trunk Railroad
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Bank Of Commerce - Cobalt, Ont - 1905
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The Aylmer (Quebec) Branch of THE CROWN BANK OF CANADA, probably circa 1910. Aylmer is about 5 miles west of Ottawa. Source of picture: "Aylmer Québec, Its Heritage", by Diane Aldred, 3rd Edition, Love Printing Service Ltd., Ottawa, 1989.
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The Charlton Standard Catalogue of Canadian Bank Notes (5th Edition, 2006) provides some basic information about The Crown Bank of Canada (see below). The notes of this bank are excessively rare and very few collectors will ever own one (only $3325 in notes remain unredeemed). At the present time only the $5 denomination dated 1904 is known to exist. The finest known example is Serial #40678 in VF+ condition which has appeared at several public auctions in the last 50 years. It most recently sold for $7500 + 15% commission at the Charles Moore auction sale in June 2004. It would be worth a lot more today.
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I was just looking back at some old posts... really old posts and was wondering if any of the pics of the old chartered bank offices where still available somewhere?
Thanks
FRIEDSQUID
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Buxvet: It appears that in the transition, these old attachments were deleted. Perhaps you could re-upload them?
It might be best if you upload them to http://www.imageshack.us, that way they won't get deleted.
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Buxvet: It appears that in the transition, these old attachments were deleted. Perhaps you could re-upload them?
It might be best if you upload them to http://www.imageshack.us, that way they won't get deleted.
They were deleted a long time ago, prior to the switchover.
If people want I'll start a new thread and try to recreate it a little at a time.
It'll be too laborious going back trying to figure out which pix belong to which
post. If anyone is interested just throw a reply in here. If enough people are
bothered I'll try to recreate it.
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If it is too much trouble don't worry about it. I just thought it was a very interesting topic when I went back to the old posts. Unfortunately being new here you miss alot of the good old stuff. Being born in Toronto and knowing the outlying areas it was interesting to see how things changed and what was and is.
Thanks
FRIEDSQUID
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Just joined this form and reading over the different topics found this. Your pictures seemed
very interesting. If you ever had the time I would appreciate them being listed again.