Susanna McLeod
Special to Ontario Construction News
In 1906, curious Toronto residents tilted their heads back to gaze up at the awe-inspiring new building. Traders Bank Building was not the city’s first bank but it was the first skyscraper, a grand architectural accomplishment. Over a century later, beautiful Traders Bank Building is hidden among soaring skyscrapers that overshadow the Beaux-Arts structure. Traders Bank was history in the making as the tallest building in the British Empire for a brief period.
As industry and banking prospered, the country flourished in the late 1800s. On April 19, 1884, The Traders Bank of Canada was incorporated as an independent bank by an Act of Parliament. Seven provisional directors were appointed to organize funding for the bank through stock offerings. In the early years, Traders Bank printed its own currency notes, before strict banking regulations were later enacted by government.
In 1905, Traders Bank executives made plans for new offices at Young and Colborne Streets in Toronto. The firm of Carrère and Hastings was commissioned to design the stately professional building. Established in 1885, the architectural team specialized in the dramatic Beaux-Arts style with buildings in New York City, Washington, DC, and in two Florida cities. Traders Bank was Carrère and Hastings’ first venture north, with four more buildings to follow.
John Mervin Carrère was born in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1858. His parents were affluent coffee traders. Completing studies in Paris, France, Carrère immediately joined the respected firm of McKim, Mead, and White in New York City. While there, he met Thomas Hastings, a talented designer who also trained in Paris. Hastings was born in 1860, and a member of the wealthy de Groot family of New York. Well-trained professionals, Carrère and Hastings formed a partnership in 1885, becoming “the preeminent Beaux-Arts architectural firm in North America,” said Bruce Bell in The Bridge News, November 2023. In 1905, Traders Bank executives did not hold a competition for Canadian architects, instead directly commissioning the American firm.
The fifteen-storey Traders Bank was designed and constructed with great speed. After the foundation work was completed, the 55.4-metre-tall building rose about one floor per week. Approximately 1,700 tons of steel beams were secured with millions of rivets put in place with compressed air tools. (The compressed air hammer was relatively new at the time, patented in 1894 by Charles Brady King of Detroit, Michigan.)
“The workmen toss the glowing rivets, white hot from the little forge used by each gang, as dexterously and coolly as though they were candles,” described Huron Expositor, Seaforth, Ontario, December 15, 1905. “When inserted in a place a compressed air automatic riveter, with a noise like a giant woodpecker, hammers them home.”
The floors were formed of Portland Cement, with 10,000 barrels used in the construction. The first three floors of the exterior were covered with limestone casings with a façade of terra-cotta from Perth Amboy, New Jersey. The material arrived in 15 train carloads. A unique frieze of cattle skulls was crafted into the glazed terra-cotta.
The fearsome threat of fire always lurked in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Carrère and Hastings planned the bank interior with safety foremost in mind. Two fire escapes were constructed at the rear of the building plus automatic fire doors were added to close off stairwells and the four high-speed elevators.
The modern invention of electricity provided electric lights throughout the building. Electric power arrived in Toronto in the late 1880s, and the municipal electric company was formed in 1908, two years after the bank’s completion. Traders Bank also led the way with telephone lines strung for each floor. Heating was produced by steam and circulated throughout by a quiet vacuum system, according to Huron Expositor. Construction accidents resulted in one death, and in November 1905, a faulty steampipe injector caused dreadful burns to one engineer.
Completed construction in early December 1906, Traders Bank settled into the spacious new headquarters. Managers were innovative, adopting the New York method of leasing office space by the square foot. The banking firm occupied only the first two floors of the new building, and within the first year had engaged 91 tenants, according to Toronto assessment rolls.
A few years later, the Traders building directory grew to 98, however there were many more, since several businesses shared space and administrative staff with “the principal tenant.” For instance, offices of tenant Pellatt and Pellatt were shared with four mining companies that were not listed on the assessment rolls, according to Gunter Gad and Deryck Holdsworth in Urban History Review, Vol. 16, No. 2, 1897.
Detractors were unhappy with the skyscraper. They foresaw wind tunnels and blocked sunlight. Height limitations were requested but waived. In 1912, Royal Bank merged with Traders Bank of Canada. Traders Bank Building remains an eye-catching historical Beaux-Arts treasure in downtown Toronto.
Susanna McLeod is a Kingston writer specializing in Canadian history. While researching for this article, she read the sad news that Robert G. Hill of Toronto, Ontario died on February 21, 2026 after a brief illness. The architect’s enthusiasm for his profession shined through in his project, Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada. The site provided much-needed facts for many columns. His passing is light now dimmed.
