Distinctive bank building acquired by Concordia

 

The distinctive stone neo-classical columns of the four-storey TD Canada Trust building, on the northwest corner of Guy and Ste. Catherine Sts., will be at the heart of the expanding Concordia campus.

It was given to the university at a ceremony on May 10 in a tent on the future site of the John Molson School of Business, directly to the north.

The building was built in 1903 as a branch of the Bank of Toronto. It was one of the first commercial projects of Ross and MacFarlane, who were inspired by the Knickerbocker Trust Company building, built four years earlier in New York. It, in turn, was modelled on the Temple of Zeus in Agrigento, ca. 480 BC.

The building, valued at $1.4 million, comprises approximately 13,800 square feet, 3,800 in the bank branch and 10,000 over the three floors above. TD Canada Trust will continue to operate the branch by leasing the space from Concordia.

TD Canada Trust, which evolved from the original Bank of Toronto and the Dominion Bank, is celebrating its 150th anniversary this year. Since 1995, the company has given 20 scholarships for community leadership of up to $60,000. Some of the Concordia student recipients were on hand at the reception on May 10.