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Sun Life Building
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Sun Life Building is a historical office building in downtown Montreal, Canada.
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The building was finished in 1931 after three stages of construction. It was built exclusively for the Sun Life Insurance Company. It measures 122 meters in height and counts 24 stories. Although the then-new head office of the Royal Bank of Canada at 360 Saint Jacques Street in Montreal was taller by several floors, the Sun Life Building was at the time the largest building in terms of 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.
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.
During World War II, the basement vaults of the Sun Life Building were the secret hiding place of the Crown Jewels of England and the gold bullion of the Bank of England.
Today, the "Sun Life" is Montreal's 17th tallest building and stands in the middle of the central business district, dwarfed by neighbouring Place Ville-Marie and the nearby CIBC building.
The first Sun Life Building was built in 1889 and expanded by Robert Findlay in 1890. The red brick building was home to Sun Life until 1913, when the company moved to the first stage of the newer building.
- List of old Canadian buildings (1809-1939)
- List of old Montréal buildings (1829-1939)
- Rémillard, François, Old Montreal - A Walking Tour, Ministère des Affaires culturelles du Québec, 1992
- Sun Life Building official website (English)
- News story from CBC radio, 6 Jan 1978. Announces Sun Life will leave the building (English)
- Information for tourists (English)
- Profile of the architect of the first Sun Life building (English)