2.6K 
The Bank of Montreal Building at the corner of 8th Avenue and 1st Street SW has been a major contributor to the Stephen Avenue streetscape since its erection in the 1930s. The Beaux Arts beauty is undeniably one of the most striking buildings in the city, and although it embodies an idiom that is rarely, if ever, replicated today, the building's birth lies as a modern response to the perceived architectural obsolescence of its predecessor.
It made perfect sense for the Bank of Montreal to establish a presence in Calgary. As the principal bank of the Canadian Pacific Railway, developing the city as an employment and cultural hub was in the best interests of both companies. After initially leasing property in the nearby Lineham Block, an arrangement that eventually proved inadequate for the realities of the expanding economy, the bank built a three-storey sandstone building at 8th Avenue and 1st Street SW. Completed in 1889, the structure served as the bank's central branch, and projected a permanent image of the institution's local and national importance.
Architecture, like art itself, is an inherently fickle discipline. So after four decades of conveying one particular identity to Calgarians, the prevailing architectural trends offered something entirely different. The corner turret and playful design of the sandstone edifice had largely fallen out of favour. Competing banks began adopting classicist elements that spoke to their financial might. In response, the Bank of Montreal drafted plans to replace their central branch with a 12-storey office building. The onset of the Great Depression crushed those dreams however, and although the bank was successful in building a replacement, it settled at a significantly shorter three-storey height.
The steel-frame successor, built in 1932 with a design by prolific bank branch architect Kenneth G. Rea, has defined the prominent corner of decades since. Its ornate limestone facade, Corinthian columns, and emblazoned entablature are quintessential elements of the Beaux Arts style that proved popular for institutions, both public and private, wishing to display wealth and stability to their clients.
Music retailer A&B Sound occupied the building for a decade before leaving in 2005. A restoration of the basement, main floor and mezzanine preceded the arrival of GoodLife Fitness, whose customers now work a sweat underneath the coffered ceiling of the finest gym in the city.
Do you have building trivia to share? Join the conversation in the Architrivia Tipline thread in our Forum.
