A gold-coffered ceiling and a very short-lived record
Commerce Court
The Canadian Bank of Commerce's 1931 tower claimed the tallest-building title in the British Empire — a record it had actually just taken from the hotel next door, and would lose again three decades later.
Advertisement
The 34-storey limestone tower now known as Commerce Court North was built for the Canadian Bank of Commerce, designed jointly by the Toronto firm Darling and Pearson and the New York firm York and Sawyer. It opened in 1931 at 476 feet, claiming the title of tallest building in the British Empire — a record it had just taken from the Royal York Hotel next door, which had held it since 1929.
A showplace, and a fast-broken record
With its vaulted, gold-coffered ceiling and Art Deco detailing, the tower was a showplace of its era and remains a treasured heritage building in Toronto's financial core. Its reign as the British Empire's tallest building lasted only about three decades before being surpassed in 1962. The complex expanded significantly in the 1970s when the Canadian Bank of Commerce merged with the Imperial Bank of Canada to form CIBC, which added new towers to the site.
Advertisement
Sources
Continue reading
Toronto's "Big Five" Banks
Bay Street looks uniformly Toronto — but two of Canada's five biggest banks still legally file as Montreal…
The Canadian Broadcasting Centre
CBC's English-language broadcasting empire runs out of a single 13-storey Toronto building — a Philip…
The CNE ("The Ex")
Toronto's end-of-summer ritual: an agricultural fair turned mega-event, running every year for 18 days…
Olivia Chow
Chow immigrated to Toronto at 13, was elected to the school board at 28, and spent decades in municipal and…