Reprinted from Real Estate Weekly (Edmonton) August 24, 2000

Just ten years after the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce was proposing to knock down its landmark downtown branch, the bank has completed a rejuvenation of the historic structure. The branch has reopened at Jasper Avenue and 101st Street, a location it has occupied continuously since 1928.

Two years and more than $8 million later, the sandstone has been scrubbed clean, windows replaced and the interior reworked to meet the needs of banking at the beginning of the 21st century. Itís not a restoration exactly, because elements like the windows arenít faithful to the period and part of a wall was blasted our to join the vintage banking hall to a newer appendage, but considering the alternative, Iíd offer this rejuvenation as a pretty good compromise.

More important, perhaps, is the signal that vintage buildings are worthy of saving not only for adaptive reuse but they can also fit needs close to their original purpose. That the salvation of this Edwardian classical revival architectural gem comes from one of Canadaís major banks makes it even more noteworthy. After all, the major banks have shamelessly knocked down their historic branches in communities across the country ó all in the name of ďprogress.Ē

It wasnít so many years ago that Olympia & York, the developer of adjacent Commerce Place, was talking about knocking down the vintage bank block to erect a second glass tower. There was even a proposal to incorporate the grand facade of the old structure as part of that new tower.

The practice is really little more than insensitive plunder of the past. We can see its horrific results in structures like Hopís Handbags, the long-vacant building on Jasper Avenue near 100th Street. Historical fragments were ripped from the historic six-storey CPR Building, on the site until 1993, and incorporated into the two-storey Hopís building, to hideous result.

Thankfully, none of that befell the CIBC building just down the street. A landmark at what has long been considered the central intersection in Edmonton, the building has been given a new lease on life.

When it was completed as the Canadian Bank of Commerce in 1929, the structure was hailed by the Edmonton Bulletin as ďone of the most up-to-date and complete banking institutions in the Dominion.Ē Its ornate design, derived from Florentine palazzos of the 15th century, was created for the bank by V.D. Horsburgh, an architect originally from Edinburgh, Scotland. Herbert Magoon and George Heath MacDonald, two well-known Edmonton architects, supervised construction of the project.

Its classical facade, faced with Tyndall limestone on three sides and brick on the fourth, is exquisitely detailed, with columns, arches, balconettes, quions, cartouches and balustrades. The interior of the banking hall enhances the classical theme of the exterior, its ionic columns and pilasters supporting intersecting beams. Finely moulded swags and rosettes fill inset panels over the office doors, while the arched panel above the main entrance features a shield with the bankís caduceus.

I must tell you that, in the months after we lost the Tegler Building in 1983 to the Bank of Montreal development, I feared the same fate would one day befall this structure. But now I see that it was the loss of the Tegler, perhaps our most historic commercial structure, that made the salvation of this building a reality.

In the considerable wake of the Teglerís demolition, the city established its heritage planning office and wheels were set in motion to inventory surviving historic structures. The result, all these years later, is Edmontonís Register of Historic Resources, of which the CIBC Building is part, and a much-lauded and abundantly successful policy of promoting preservation.

If this rejuvenation of a well-known and much-loved Edmonton landmark indeed signals a new enlightenment by one of our countryís most profitable industries, then it is reason to rejoice. I find it ironic that, for a business so driven by the need to exude stability and connection to its customers, banks have long been knocking down the very foundation of customer loyalty.

After all, what could possibly engender greater customer comfort than to be doing business in the same building, year after year? Solid as a rock.

Edmontonians have strong connections to this building, strengthened by the loss of the historic buildings around it. Over the years, the original Empire Block on the other side of 101st Street was demolished to make way for a new version; the Selkirk Hotel, south across Jasper was gutted by fire in the early 1960s; the Commercial Bank directly west fell to the Olympia & York development in the 1980s.

I can still recall the wonder I felt as a small boy going into the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce and gazing up in wonder at those massive columns that stretched upward to the highest ceilings I had ever seen. That the building will be around for other youngsters to experience that same sense of wonder and for everyone to appreciate its exquisite and inspiring architecture does my heart good.

Congratulations to the brain trust at CIBC for an enlightened decision and to Donna Clare and the design team at Cohos Evamy Partners Architects for their attempt to be historically sensitive. The old building looks great, standing there proudly, a grand celebration of the past for all to see.

Lawrence Herzog has been telling the stories of Edmonton people and places for more than a dozen years through his regular heritage column in Real Estate Weekly. His book, Built On Coal: A History of Beverly, Edmonton's Working Class Town, appeared on Edmontonís best-seller lists for many weeks.

Real Estate Weekly is published by the Edmonton Real Estate Board to advertise properties for sale through member agencies. Each issue contains at least one, often several, articles on heritage buildings and issues in Edmonton and district.

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