The Bank of Nova Scotia Building is a 25-storey office building in Toronto, Ontario. In February 1929, the Bank of Nova Scotia purchased the north-east corner of King and Bay from Canada Life and proposed to build a new general office building there in 1931. The bank hired John M. Lyle to design the structure, and he devised his initial plans by the summer of 1930. Lyle's original design was of a 23-storey art deco tower. Due to the onset of the Great Depression, the bank put off the start of construction. However, the bank's directors asked Lyle to rework the plans continually throughout the 1930s, which allowed the architect to keep his office open. At the outset of World War II, the bank shelved the project formally.
In the fall of 1946, the bank picked up the project again, however, Lyle had retired in 1943 and died in December 1945. The bank hired the firm Mathers and Haldenby to resume the project; they would work in conjunction with Beck and Eadie, two former associates of Lyle's who formed a partnership upon his retirement. Haldenby retained the concept and massing of Lyle's design, but removed much of the ornamentation and detailing. The result was a stripped classical design that was two storeys higher than Lyle's original plan.
Construction began in the fall of 1947, the cornerstone was laid in 1949, and the building opened in the fall of 1950. When it opened, the building served as the bank's general office and was home to its executives, while the head office remained in Halifax. In 1985, the bank began construction on the new Scotia Plaza, which connected to the old building. Upon the completion of Scotia Plaza in 1988, it replaced the old building as the bank's executive office.
History
The Bank of Nova Scotia in Toronto The Bank of Nova Scotia was founded in Halifax in 1832. In 1897, the bank set up its first Toronto office in the basement of the Canada Life Building at 42 King Street West. In March 1900, it transferred its executives to the Toronto office.Joseph Schull, The Scotiabank Story, (Macmillan of Canada, 1982), 81. In April 1902, general manager John Andrew McLeod acquired two lots, nos. 37 and 39, on the south side of King to build a general office building of its own.Schull, 82. In June 1902, McLeod approved the architectural plans by Darling and Pearson, and in December of that year, president John Young Payzant laid the cornerstone."Bank of Nova Scotia new building," The Globe, (28 January 1903), 5. The new general office opened on 25 April 1904."Fine structure opened to-day," Toronto Daily Star, (25 April 1904), 2.
Acquisition of the property The origins of the Bank of Nova Scotia Building lay in the September 1928 purchase by Canada Life of a large property at University Avenue and Queen Street, where it would build the new Canada Life Building."Canada Life buys new office site," Toronto Daily Star, (19 September 1928), 30. The purchase confirmed that the company's current property at King and Bay would be put up for sale. In October 1928, rumours began to circulate that the prospective buyer was the Bank of Nova Scotia."Rumored Canada Life property to be sold," Toronto Daily Star, (26 October 1928), 8. By January 1929, Canada Life stated that "an imposing building that will be erected at King and Bay Streets when the Canada Life has moved up to University Avenue," although still it did not indicate which bank this would be. At the time, the Canadian Bank of Commerce was about to begin construction of the new Commerce Tower at King and Jordan. One rumour was that it was going to stop this work, change plans, and build on the Canada Life site instead."New bank building, costing $10,000,000, at Bay and King Sts," The Globe, (26 January 1929), 15. At Canada Life's annual meeting in January 1929, president Leighton McCarthy reported on the purchase of the site at University and said of the property on King that "your directors believe that it is not economically wise or necessary for an insurance company to occupy such a valuable site and position as they believe this site to be.""Eighty-second annual meeting, Canada Life Assurance Co." The Globe, (11 January 1929), 5.
On 19 February 1929, the Bank of Nova Scotia announced that it had completed arrangements to purchase Canada Life property. The property the bank acquired had a frontage on King Street of 161 feet, and was 234 feet deep on Bay Street. While the sale price was not divulged, it was estimated to have been around $2 million."Bank of Nova Scotia buys Bay-King corner for huge building," The Globe, (20 February 1929), 13.
The property the bank purchased comprised two main buildings: the William Cawthra House on the corner, and the Canada Life Building to its east. The Cawthra House had been built in 1852 and was designed either by Joseph Sheard or his partner William Irving. The Cawthras occupied the house until 1885. It was owned subsequently by the Molsons Bank (1885–1907), Sterling Bank (1907–1925), and Canada Life (1925–1929). Historian William Dendy said it was "without doubt the finest and most elegant town house built in Toronto."William Dendy, Lost Toronto, (Oxford University Press, 1978), 88. The Canada Life Building had been built in 1887 and was designed by Richard Alfred Waite."Canada Life new building," The Saturday Globe, (31 January 1891), 1. In 1913, Darling and Pearson designed an office building "for an insurance company" to built on the site of the Cawthra House. Presumably, the building was designed for Canada Life."Proposed offices for an insurance company, Toronto," Academy Architecture and Architectural Review, (vol. 43, June 1913), 12.
After the purchase by the bank, there was significant consternation in the city over the fate of the Cawthra House. At the time of the sale in February 1930, proposals arose immediately to save the house and move it to a new location."May preserve Cawthra home as memento of old Toronto," Toronto Daily Star, (14 February 1930), 29. In 1931, the Cawthra family, led by descendant Anthony Adamson, offered to finance the move of the house provided the city find a suitable site for it."Cawthra residence offered as museum," Toronto Daily Star, (31 March 1931), 1. Another proposal came from the Toronto chapter of the Ontario Association of Architects, which suggested the Toronto Public Library use the house as a branch. However, this proposal was rejected by chief librarian George Locke, who believed the building was unsuitable for that purpose. When the project ground to a halt later in 1931, the need to save the house was postponed. However, when the project picked back up in 1946, ideas of how to save the house began to circulate again. One was to relocate it to the property of the Art Gallery of Toronto, however, the gallery required someone else to pay for the move."Wreckers to get Cawthra house unless..." Toronto Daily Star, (17 September 1946), 3. Ultimately, no plans were successful to save the house. Dendy wrote, "the story of its destruction remains an object lesson in the need for strong, properly funded, architectural preservation legislation in Toronto."Dendy, 89.
Original design by Lyle The 1929 University Club (top) was designed by Mathers & Haldenby with Francis Wilkes. It was based on Boodle's (bottom) in London.Despite the Wall Street crash of 1929, the bank allowed the project to proceed, as officials believe the crash would turn out to be a temporary correction. In early 1929, the bank hired John M. Lyle to design its new building. Lyle travelled that July with his associate John Arthur Hunter Eadie to New York to inspect contemporary architecture. The Lyle office made a detailed inspection also of the new Bank of Commerce building under construction across the street.Geoffrey Hunt, John M. Lyle: Toward a Canadian Architecture, (Agnes Etherington Art Centre, 1982), 114. In November of that year, it was announced that the contract had been given to the George A. Fuller Company of Canada Limited, and that demolition of the existing structures would begin around April 1931, when Canada Life moved to its new offices."Contract award for skyscraper," Toronto Daily Star, (6 November 1930), 3.
Lyle's design for the 23-storey tower was influenced by New York City's 1916 Zoning Resolution. To allow for more sunlight at street level, the resolution mandated building setbacks beyond certain heights. This resolution gave way to a revival of the setback in architectural design, calling back to ancient Egyptian and Mayan architecture. In his design for the bank, Lyle employed setbacks and steps at multiple levels. The building had a four-storey base and art deco motifs in its spandrel panels and columns. The entrance on King Street would lead to a large banking hall. Lyle decorated the building with stone carvings of Canadian motifs. The design was completed at the height of his nationalistic phase, and his ornamentation for the bank's contemporary buildings in Halifax and Calgary incorporated local flora, fauna, and historical elements. In the summer of 1930, his preliminary plans were approved by the board of directors. Sometime later that year, Lyle made an additional trip to New York with partner John Jackson Beck, as well as bank officials and contractors. By Summer 1931, the Great Depression was well underway and the bank slowed down the project. Lyle continued to revise his designs for another year, and in July 1932 provided a set of final drawings to the board. At this point, the project was put on hold.Glenn McArthur, A Progressive Traditionalist: John M. Lyle, Architect, (Coach House Books, 2009), 165.
The board allowed Lyle to continue revising plans for another year. As work had slowed considerably for him, the project allowed his office to remain open. At some point, the bank considered incorporating the Toronto Stock Exchange into its new building, and in summer 1936 the board requested another series of revisions. In summer 1937 the plans were put on hold again, before a smaller building was considered that fall.McArthur, 167. In 1939, Lyle designed a unique branch for the bank in Saint John.
Had Lyle's design been executed, the project would have been his largest and the crowning achievement of his career.
Revisions by Mathers and Haldenby John M. Lyle retired in 1943 and died on 19 December 1945, aged 73. In September 1946, the bank announced that it planned to commence construction on the building after the 15-year delay."Build as soon as materials are available, bank says," Toronto Daily Star, (17 September 1946), 3. To restart the project, the bank hired local firm Mathers and Haldenby. The firm Beck and Eadie, which was formed by Lyle's two partners upon their boss's retirement in 1943, were hired as associates due to their previous work on the project.McArthur, 192.