Description of Historic Place

The elegant, temple-like Bank of Montreal has graced the southeast corner of Winnipeg's principal downtown intersection 'Portage and Main' since 1913. The granite-clad Beaux-Arts-style structure marks the southern edge of what remains of Bankers' Row, a collection of early twentieth-century office towers and banking halls now interspersed among modern commercial buildings and vacant lots on Main Street. The City of Winnipeg's Grade II designation applies to the building on its footprint and the following interior elements: basement vaults; main banking hall; southwest curved staircase; northwest corner office on the mezzanine floor; and marble fireplaces in the offices and boardroom on the mezzanine floor.

Heritage Value

The Bank of Montreal, with its prominent colonnade and commanding location, is a Winnipeg landmark. Designed by the internationally renowned McKim, Mead and White of New York City, the building is an excellent example of monumental Beaux-Arts architecture, executed in granite and wrapped around a substantial structure of fireproof concrete, steel and brick. The grand, yet conservative exterior and the refined opulence of interior details and finishes were intended to impress, but also to assure customers and the general public that the Bank of Montreal was a sound, trustworthy institution. As the third Eastern Canadian chartered bank to open a branch in Winnipeg, the Bank of Montreal played an early role in the city's economic development, including its emergence in the early twentieth century as a regional financial centre.

Source: City of Winnipeg Historical Buildings Committee Meeting, September 11, 1980

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements of the building's commanding location include:
- its angled orientation to the intersection of Portage Avenue and Main Street
- the ample setback of the front elevation from the street

Key elements of the Bank of Montreal's Beaux-Arts design include:
- the wide main staircase leading up from sidewalk level to the three-storey structure
- the building's substantial rectangular form, based on the design of a Roman temple and clad in granite from Bethel, Vermont
- the front elevation, with its massive portico featuring six unfluted Corinthian Order columns supporting the immense entablature and parapet
- the richly embellished northeast facade featuring pilasters with capitals similar to the front columns
- the door and window openings including, on the front facade, the ornate main door framed by large glass and metal lights and the smaller mezzanine openings and, on the northeast elevation, thin, multi-paned elements located between the pilasters and set in ornate metal frames
- the copper-covered roof house


Key references to the firm's historical association with Winnipeg include:
- the entablature inscription 'BANK OF MONTREAL' and the parapet with the words 'BANK OF MONTREAL FOUNDED MDCCCXVII INCORPORATED BY ACT OF PARLIAMENT ESTABLISHED IN WINNIPEG MDCCCLXXVII THIS BUILDING ERECTED MDCCCCXIII'

Key elements of the building's imposing and carefully restored interior, which the Bank of Montreal continues to occupy, include:
- the Botticino marble-lined entrance foyer with brass accenting
- the volume and ornamental finishes of the two-storey banking hall, including the marble-clad Ionic colonnades which encircle the hall to support the mezzanine and also extend from the mezzanine to the ceiling, the painted ceiling adorned with gold leaf, the three stained- and leaded-glass windows at the east end, the curved marble staircase in the southwest corner leading to the mezzanine, etc.
- the offices and boardroom on the west side of the mezzanine, including wood accents, marble fireplaces, etc.
- the basement vault area with marble, brass and wood finishes, etc.