Q1. Where were the 13 East Toronto bank buildings located 100 years ago?
Q5. What two architectural styles portrayed conservative, reliable, and wealthy elements?
A Bank On (Almost) Every Corner
By Marta O'Brien
Walking along Queen, Gerrard, or The Danforth you'll
pass some dignified brick or stone buildings that were
built as banks as many as 100 years ago. Almost all
of these buildings were built on corners, and some still have the
bank names carved in stone. Although many now have other uses
- maybe a paint store, restaurant, or law office - a few are still
used as bank branches. These often well-designed small buildings
remain an important part of our streetscape and there are several
excellent examples in the greater Beaches area.
Hard to believe, but there was a time when the only way to do any
banking was to visit a bank and deal with a teller or other staff and
update a bank book (as some still do). It was critical for banks to
have numerous branches throughout the city. Fewer people had
cars, so services had to be within walking distance.
Where were the East-End Bank Buildings?
Looking back 100 years, six banks had thirteen branches in the east end of
Toronto from Broadview to Victoria Park, and from Danforth south to the
lake. They can be found in the 1910 Toronto City Directory (which, like a
modern phone book, lists businesses and residents in the city). All the bank
buildings were located on the major streets - such as Danforth Avenue and
Queen Street East - and almost all were on street corners. A corner location
gave a bank more visibility, and made it easy to find by being identified with an
intersection. One example is the Bank of Montreal at Queen & Beech.
Of the thirteen bank buildings, seven have been demolished and six are still
standing. Check the list and see how many you can recognize.
Bank Mergers & Name Changes
Some bank names most of us
would not recognize were once
household names in Toronto. The
Traders Bank of Canada had the
most branches in the east end of
the city. This prolific Torontobased
bank had more Ontario
branches than any other in 1912,
yet that same year its poor financial
position enabled a takeover by the
Royal Bank. Another name on the
list that you wouldn't recognize
is the Metropolitan Bank. Two of
its 1910 Beaches area branches -
Queen & Lee and Gerrard & Main -
became Bank of Nova Scotia branches
after an amalgamation in 1914.
Furthermore, of the Bank of Nova
Scotia's fine stone and red brick building
at the northeast corner of Broadview and
Gerrard was actually built for the Bank of
Ottawa - another bank swallowed up by
the growing Bank of Nova Scotia.
In 1935, just 25 years later, there were
45 branches representing 10 banks in
the east end of Toronto. By then the
Canadian Bank of Commerce - which
in 1961 would merge with the Imperial
Bank of Canada to form the familiar
CIBC - had the most branches with ten
in our area.
One of the most ornate small bank
buildings in the entire city is the former
Union Bank, now RBC, at Danforth and
Pape. You've probably never heard of the
Union Bank, but they had 392 branches
in Canada in 1923 - two years before
they were taken over by the Royal. Make
sure you have your shades on if it's a
sunny day because the white glazed terra
cotta facade positively gleams. White
terra cotta was popular during the early
1900s; it gave the appearance of a stone
building at a fraction of the cost. Banks
like to save money too!
Bank Styles: Sending a Message with Classical Architecture
Before the 1920s, banks used architecture
to express a certain image and attract
customers. Without stringent government
regulation and deposit insurance, people
needed to be reassured that their money
would be safe in a bank. A wooden
building would probably not have inspired
confidence. Banks wanted the permanence
of stone and brick.
The Origin of the Caduceus Symbol
Before the caduceus became associated
with medicine, it was the symbol of
banking. The caduceus is a staff with two
snakes wound around it, and it dates back
to at least ancient Greece as a messenger's
staff. One tale suggests that the god
Hermes separated fighting snakes with his
staff. The wings on the staff represent the
messenger.
In ancient Rome, Hermes was the god
Mercury, the patron of commerce and
banking. Mercury's staff - the caduceus
- was used by architect John Soane on
the Bank of England. Soane had great
influence on bank architecture in North
America. You can see a stone carving of
Mercury himself holding the caduceus.
It is above the entrance to the tall older
building that's now part of Commerce
Court on King Street east of Bay Street.
The Medical Connection
The caduceus resembles the rod of
Asclepius - a staff with a single snake
around it. This is the symbol that is
actually associated with medicine and
healing. One explanation is that the snake
was seen as a symbol of renewal (because
snakes shed and renew their skins).
Another theory is that the snake was a
symbol of healing.
The U.S. Army Medical Corps popularized
the use of the caduceus for medicine in
1902. By mistake, they inadvertently
adopted the caduceus as their symbol
instead of the rod of Asclepius. From
there its use spread and now there's no
going back.
Next time you see a caduceus on an old
building, you'll know it was probably a
bank - not a doctor's office or hospital.
Beyond materials, banks used architectural
elements to appear conservative, reliable,
and wealthy. Two styles that fit this criteria
were used in the early 1900s for the bank
branches seen locally: Beaux Arts Classicism
and Edwardian Classicism. Both styles used
elements of classical architecture dating
back to ancient Greece and Rome, such
as imposing stone columns and over-sized
mouldings around windows and entrances.
Beaux Arts Classicism is named for the
École des Beaux Arts, Paris - the place to
study architecture in the late 1800s and
early 1900s. The curriculum was aimed at
the design of monumental public buildings
rather than houses or shops. Prospective
architects studied classical architecture
from Greece to the Italian Renaissance and
beyond, and learned to apply its principles
to modern buildings.
This system was widely copied in North
American architecture schools.
The Beaux Arts style can be over-the-top
and make even small structures look grand.
The columns and other classical details are
often colossal to exaggerate the building's
scale and importance. Perfect for the image
that banks desired, right? This is beautifully
illustrated by the former Canadian Bank of
Commerce branch on the northeast corner
of Queen Street East and Grant Street,
just east of Broadview. It was designed in
1904 by prolific bank architects Darling
& Pearson. Imagine entering this branch
through the enormous classical columns
and frieze (the band with the bank's name
carved on it). Banking was a serious and
sometimes intimidating experience in those
days. An upscale fashion designer now
occupies the structure.
Edwardian Classicism was an architectural style used to
achieve dignity without the ostentatiousness - or expense - of
the Beaux Arts style. Most of the pre-1940 bank branches in
the Beaches area can be classified as Edwardian Classicism. It's
characterized by red or dark brown brick and smooth, lightcoloured
stone trim. The door and window surrounds have
classical mouldings and there is often a stone-trimmed parapet
(a low wall at the edge of a roof ).
The former Canadian Bank of Commerce on the southeast
corner of Danforth and Woodbine is a fine Edwardian building
with an added feature favoured by the Commerce: a caduceus
high above the corner entrance (see sidebar). This building is
now a CIBC, although this branch will soon relocate to a new
building on Queen Street East.
Changing Styles: Modern Classicism
By 1951, when the well-proportioned building for the Bank of
Toronto was built, architecture had become less ornamental
than in the past. This structure would be described as Modern
Classicism: it features simple decorative details and overall
classical proportions. Modern Classicism was a transition
between more decorative styles (like Art Deco) and the
starkness of Modernism. This building also became a Toronto-
Dominion branch in 1955. The bank closed in 1981 and is now
the landmark Lion on the Beach restaurant.
Local Banks by an Important Architect
Important Canadian architect John Lyle designed many banks,
homes, and other buildings in Toronto between 1907 and the
1930s. He designed the former Bank of Ottawa at Broadview
and Gerrard, described earlier. That building has a distinctive
curved corner entrance.
Lyle's Dominion Bank branches were almost always red brick
with light limestone trim and there's a perfect example in the
heart of the Beaches at Queen and Lee. Edwardian Classicism
is expressed in the curved pediment above the entrance and
the cornice, which is the projecting stone moulding above
the second floor windows . If you look closely, you can see the
ghostly outline of "The Dominion Bank" lettering above the
entrance. This building became a Toronto-Dominion branch in
1955 when the Dominion merged with the Bank of Toronto.
Today you can browse for books in this former bank.
75 Years and Counting for Beaches Banks
As we've seen, over time some bank
branches have been closed. Perhaps
changes in the neighbourhood meant
fewer customers, or in recent years
branches were no longer needed as
more people banked by telephone or
online.
Not surprisingly, more of the bank
buildings existing in 1935 have
survived. Just eight of those structures
are gone. There are still banks in
thirteen of the branches listed in
1935. New businesses have moved
into twenty-three of the original
structures, with restaurants being the
most popular conversions. You can
buy health food in the former Bank
of Montreal at Queen and Beech, and
the old Standard Bank on the corner
of Danforth and Aldridge Avenue is
now a funeral home.
Bank Branches Today
By the 1960s the whole banking
experience seemed less forbidding.
Banks were enclosed in glass held
in place by thin metal columns and
beams. Torontonians of the past
probably would not have trusted such
flimsy-looking buildings!
Canada's chartered banks are now
wealthier than ever, but classical
buildings are no longer used to
reassure customers. Advertising - not
architecture - is the preferred method
for attracting business. With the
soundness and reliability of modern
Canadian banks, we're not seeking
a traditional building in which to
deposit our money.
The surviving bank buildings reveal
part of our neighbourhood's history,
even as services have evolved. It's a
testament to their fine design and
convenient locations that so many of
our early 1900s bank buildings are still
standing and in use either as banks or
other commercial facilities.
Please send your comments about our featured articles
to info@beachesliving.ca. Also let
us know what subject would you like to see in our future issues.