The Sun Life Building is a historic , 24-

storey A storey (British English) or story (American English) is any level part of a building with a floor that could be used by people (for living, work, storage, recreation, etc.). Plurals for the word are ''storeys'' (UK) and ''stories'' (US). T ...

office building at 1155 Metcalfe Street on Dorchester Square in the city's downtown core of Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The building was completed in 1931 after three stages of construction. It was built exclusively for the

Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada Sun Life Financial Inc. is a Canadian financial services company. It is primarily known as a life insurance company. Sun Life has a presence in investment management with over CAD$1.3 trillion in assets under management operating in a number o ...

. Although the then-new head office of the

Royal Bank of Canada Royal Bank of Canada (RBC; french: Banque royale du Canada) is a Canadian multinational financial services company and the largest bank in Canada by market capitalization. The bank serves over 17 million clients and has more than 89,000& ...

at 360 Saint Jacques Street in Montreal was taller by several floors, the Sun Life Building was at the time the largest building in square footage anywhere in the British Empire. The Sun Life Building went through three different stages of construction, the first one starting as early as 1913, but it was not until 1931 that its main 24-storey tower was erected, thus completing the project.

Construction

The stages of construction were as follows: * 1913–1918: 7-story southern part of base; * 1923–1926: extension of base eastward and northward; and * 1929–1931: 16-story set-back tower. Today, the "Sun Life" is Montreal's 17th tallest building and stands in the middle of the

central business district A central business district (CBD) is the commercial and business centre of a city. It contains commercial space and offices, and in larger cities will often be described as a financial district. Geographically, it often coincides with the "city ...

centred on Dorchester Square, dwarfed by neighbouring

Place Ville Marie Place Ville Marie (PVM for short) is a large office and shopping complex skyscraper in Downtown Montreal, Quebec, Canada, comprising four office buildings and an underground shopping plaza. It serves as the main and official headquarters for Ro ...

and the nearby

CIBC Tower CIBC Tower (french: La Tour CIBC) is a 45-storey skyscraper in Montreal, Quebec. With the communications antenna on the roof, the total height is . The International Style office tower was built by Peter Dickinson, with associate architects R ...

Previous structure

The first Sun Life Building, designed by Buffalo architect

Richard A. Waite Richard Alfred Waite (May 14, 1848 – January 7, 1911) was a British-born American architect in the late 19th century. Early years Richard Waite was born in London in 1848 as one of seven children (surviving included William T, Helen and Jennie ...

, was built in 1889 and expanded by

Robert Findlay Robert Findlay (1859–1951) was a Scottish-born Canadian architect. He was born in Inverness, Scotland, and moved to Montreal in 1885. He won the competition to expand the first Sun Life Building and was the architect for that project, which ...

in 1890. The red

brick A brick is a type of block used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term ''brick'' denotes a block composed of dried clay, but is now also used informally to denote other chemically cured cons ...

building was home to Sun Life until 1913, when the company moved to the first stage of the newer building.

Operation Fish

During the Second World War, during Operation Fish, Britain's gold reserves and negotiable foreign securities were secretly packed in crates labelled 'Fish' and shipped across the Atlantic Ocean to Canada. The securities, arriving at Halifax on July 1, 1940, were locked in an underground vault three stories beneath the Sun Life Building, guarded around the clock by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. The gold was shipped on to

Ottawa Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

. The extremely secretive United Kingdom Security Deposit, operating in the vault, arranged for the sale of Britain's negotiable securities on the New York Stock Exchange over the next few years to pay for Britain's war expenses. The 5,000 Sun Life employees never knew what was stored away beneath them. None of the cargo went missing and no information about the operation was ever leaked.Library and Archives of Canada - Hiding British Gold
/ref>

References

*Rémillard, François, ''Old Montreal: A Walking Tour'', Ministère des Affaires culturelles du Québec, 1992

External links

Official website
{{Authority control Darling and Pearson buildings History of Montreal Office buildings completed in 1931 Beaux-Arts architecture in Canada Skyscraper office buildings in Montreal Downtown Montreal Headquarters in Canada 1931 establishments in Quebec

Construction

Previous structure

Operation Fish

See also

References

External links