Susanna McLeod
Special to Ontario Construction News
Over a century ago, a banking institution had certain requirements. Stations for tellers, drawers divided into spaces to hold paper bills and coins, and office space for administration staff and paperwork. Most importantly, a bank need a vault, a secure safe for valuables. The impression of authority and stability was vital. One of the largest banks in Canada in the late 1800s, The Dominion Bank ordered a substantial vault. It was a weighty piece of machinery featuring a precision steel door measuring well over a metre in thickness.
Chartered in 1869, The Dominion Bank’s first branch opened on King Street in Toronto in 1871. Initial funding was “raised by a group of industrialists and financiers who prospered from a flourishing agricultural economy, expanding commerce, and the growth of industry in urban centres,” noted Toronto Dominion Bank History in “Our Roots.” Establishing locations across the country, the bank’s head office moved to King and Yonge Streets in 1879, to the new hub of commerce. The bank’s expansive growth came with responsibilities—customers relied on strict bank security. The first step was construction of a building representing elite financial status.
Prominent architects Frank Darling and John Pearson designed the 12-storey skyscraper in Beaux-Arts style with the collaboration of structural engineers A.L. Harkness and J. Morrow Oxley. Focussed on secure storage, the architects designed “three storeys under the ground that no one knew about, where the money and gold could be hidden,” said Taylor Lucas in “Curiocity,” BlogTo, December 28, 2024. Construction was dependent on the arrival of the massive vault.
“The Vault originally came from England in 1913,” described Lucas, “brought up by ships to the harbour here in Toronto.” A team of nineteen horses and eight men hauled the vault’s colossal door on a heavy-duty flatbed along Yonge Street to the bank’s location. Weighing 40 tonnes, the vault door “cracked Yonge Street right in half.” Newspaper reporters and residents followed the dramatic arrival, observing banking history in the making. The next year, the exquisite bank skyscraper rose floor by floor, with the distinctive vault under street-level.
Measuring about 33 feet square by 25 feet high, the vault’s circular door was 4.5 feet thick. (1.37 m) The space “comprises an upper or Safety Deposit Vault and the lower or Treasury vaults,” according to Lisa Dietrich in “PLANT News,” PLANT Architect Inc., August 2013. In 1914, “it was considered to be the largest and best equipped bank vault in Canada.”
The professional safe manufacturer included “a failsafe inside the vault that can release the lock in case someone is accidentally locked inside,” said One King West in “Interesting Facts About One King West.” The substantial door can be closed with the push of a finger and “is so precisely milled that a paper clip caught in a groove will stop it from closing.”
During World War One, the prestigious bank participated in the war effort with financing and war bonds. An even bigger contribution was made by their staff: half of their workforce enlisted for military service. While the men were on war duty, women filled the job vacancies. Before that time, only men attended to bank customers while women were employed away from public view, as switchboard operators and clerical workers. “Women took on some of their roles, including at the counter as tellers—serving customers directly for the first time,” stated TD Bank’s “A History of Diversity at TD.”
In 1955, The Dominion Bank and Bank of Toronto merged to form TD Bank, and headquarters moved from the King and Yonge Streets location. Transformed into a branch, it served customer needs through to the 1990s. The property was sold in 1999 for redevelopment. (TD headquarters are now at 66 Wellington Street, Toronto.)
The bank building and small building next door at 5 King West were purchased by Harry Stinson, and underwent full renovation, including construction of a 51-floor tower. The property, now One King West, opened in 2005 as a luxury condo-apartment tower with 574 suites. The vault remains a distinguished feature of the building.
The Vault is available to view as part of Toronto’s history. The space may also be rented for wedding photos or small gatherings, “accessed by a sweeping marble staircase in the centre of the hotel’s lobby,” stated One King West. Making its movie and television debut, the vault was the backdrop several films. “The gold paint that visitors can see around the colossal door was done for the movie Oceans 8.” (Director Gary Ross, Warner Bros. Pictures, 2018)
Featuring Renaissance Revival accents, The Dominion Bank’s architectural drawings included the city’s “most elegant banking hall,” according to the historical plaque installed in 2002. Defined by elegance, the hall had a mezzanine with coffered ceiling. The Dominion Bank received Heritage Designation in May 1990, including the wonderful vault.
Susanna McLeod is a Kingston-based writer specializing in Canadian history.
