Dominion Bank - Calgary, AB, Canada
N 51° 02.745 W 114° 03.628
11U E 706044 N 5659025
This office entrance is the focal point of the east side of the 1911 Dominion Bank building. Offices for lease to third parties were part of the design of the bank building.
Waymark Code: WM19XW5
Location: Alberta, Canada
Date Posted: 05/05/2024
Views: 8
This office entrance is the focal point of the east side of the 1911 Dominion Bank building. The building was designed with office space on the second and third floors that can be rented to other businesses. This separate, very distinctive, entrance on the east side is for those offices. The east and south sides of the building are clad in architectural terra cotta.
The wood-and-glass doors have a transom window above them. Above that window is the word "OFFICES" in a rectangular frame. Two small roundels flank the word, and then decorative ribbonwork falls from them to about halfway down the wooden doors.
Two-storey-high Corinthian pilasters (flat columns) flank this doorway. Above the capitals of each pilaster are a roundel and curled ribbons. At the third-floor level, a corbelled arch spans the space between the two pilasters, drawing the eye very strongly to the small doorway down at street level.
From 1911 until 1951, this was the main Calgary branch of the Dominion Bank. In 1951, the Dominion Bank merged with the Bank of Toronto to become the Toronto-Dominion Bank (now TD Bank). TD Bank is one of Canada's "Big Five" banks. This was a TD Bank branch until 1986.
Architectural firm Raine Finlayson Barrett & Partners had their corporate offices here from 1982 to 1987. They added a mansard fourth floor before moving there in October 1982. (From the ground, the fourth storey appears to be a large skylight, but there is a solid roof on top of the slanted, windowed walls.)
Since 1994, the main floor has been home to Teatro Restaurant.
REFERENCES and FURTHER READING
Sanders, Harry M. Historic Walks of Calgary, "Dominion Bank Building (Teatro Restaurant)", pp. 30-31. Red Deer Press: Calgary, 2005. (
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Mawson, Thomas H. “Dominion bank building, Calgary, Alberta.” [photo c. 1912-1913] University of Calgary Digital Collections. (
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Archiseek. 1911 - Dominion Bank, Calgary. (
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Jackson, Alison. “Toronto-Dominion Bank, Calgary”. [1966 photo] Calgary Public Library Williams & Harris Shared History Centre. (
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