On this day in 1909, the Edmonton arm of the Union Bank of Canada was advertising its savings accounts, as well as growing. The bank would soon move into its new building on Jasper Avenue.
That new structure was part of a bank boom that hit Jasper Avenue right before the First World War, which broke out in 1914. A total of 10 new banks were built downtown during this period. It was a sign of the rapid growth in people and prosperity Edmonton experienced in the early 1900s. But today, of all those bank-boom buildings, only the Union Bank survives.
Union Bank branches were a common sight across the Prairies. The company, founded in Quebec in 1866, became known as the 'pioneer bank' because of its strategy of opening hundreds of branches across Western Canada to handle land deals and loans for settlers moving west. The bank opened its first branch in Edmonton in 1900, but within a decade business had grown enough that a new building was needed.
The company purchased the land on the corner of 100 Street and Jasper Avenue, and hired architect Roland Lines to design the building. Lines's design was a departure from the norm. At the time, many bank buildings were inspired by ancient Greek architecture, like the Imperial Bank of Canada building on Jasper Avenue (built in 1954). However, Lines's plan for the Union Bank building took more from the Italian Renaissance. The exterior of the building was built with local red brick and Indiana limestone — the same type of limestone that Lines used on another of his nearby jobs, the Canada Permanent Building. The first floor housed the bank itself, while the second floor was used for bank offices. The top floor held apartments for bank employees.
The Union Bank building was finished in 1910. Its opening can be seen to mark the start of a long history for downtown as a hub of financial companies. The Union Bank company merged with Royal Bank in 1925. A grain trading and stock broker company bought the building three years later and eventually sold it to a trust company, which held it until 1982.
In 1996, the Union Bank building was designated as a minimal historical resource, protecting it from demolition, a fate that befell most of Edmonton's other early banks. A year later, the Union Bank building reopened as the Union Bank Inn, becoming one of the city's first modern boutique hotels. It operated for nearly 25 years, closing down during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Union Bank building has been shuttered since, but there are hints that it will continue its history as both a hotel and a part of the city's financial industry. A lender brokerage bought the building last year, and has plans to use it as a corporate headquarters, as well as a hotel and restaurant. And while nothing official has been announced, the Hyatt hotel chain lists the Union Bank Inn as one of their Alberta properties in the "pipeline" stage.
This clipping was found on Vintage Edmonton, a daily look at Edmonton's history from armchair archivist @revRecluse of @VintageEdmonton.