The Gowlings Building, the story of an urban icon

Hamilton roared with ambition in the 1920s. It was a decade defined by a booming postwar economy that rose to fulfill the wants and needs of a growing consumer class. Arts, culture and commerce all flourished against the soundtrack of big city jazz. Our local urban landscapes – streets, public spaces and buildings – evolved to mirror these prosperous times. Amid the transformation came a landmark of enduring value – the Bank of Montreal building at the corner of Main and James in our city’s historic core.

Sir Frederick Williams-Taylor, general manager of the Bank of Montreal, sent greetings to the citizens of Hamilton to mark the official opening. He said the building reflected the bank’s confidence in Hamilton as one of the leading industrial and business centres in Canada. The Hamilton Spectator joined the chorus and declared the structure among the most handsome bank buildings on the continent. It was June 1929, mere months before the financial markets collapsed, and the music stopped.  Yet more than 80 years later – after countless business cycles and a myriad of uses – the building still stands as a signature feature of Hamilton past, present and future.

Here’s a brief telling of this conservation story with an emphasis on some of the people who made it happen and what we’ve learned.

The Bank of Montreal served as the company’s main branch office in Hamilton for more than 40 years. Then, in 1972, during a period of neighbourhood-busting urban renewal, the bank moved to a location within the new Jackson Square complex. For a time, Hamilton Public Library leased the vacated space. This helped mitigate worries the building might soon face the wrecking ball — a fate that had reduced to rubble much of Hamilton’s heritage building stock. But the issue surfaced as a major public concern when the library moved out in 1980 and set in motion more than 20 years of uncertainty.

In 1979, pressed on by controller Jim Bethune, the City of Hamilton identified the building as being of ‘historical and architectural value,’ a key step in the conservation process.  In January 1980, on the cusp of a major recession that would cripple Hamilton’s economy, Roxborough Development Corporation, a Toronto firm involved in developing phase one of the CIBC tower project in downtown Hamilton, purchased the building for approximately $1 million. Yet an alarm sounded when Roxborough also requested a demolition permit.

This prompted an urgent letter from Colin Glassco, honorary president of the Durand Neighbourhood Association, to Hartland Molson MacDougall, then a Toronto-based executive vice president with Bank of Montreal.  The letter requested that Mr. MacDougall, who was also the founding chair of Heritage Canada, provide advice and aid the Heritage Hamilton Foundation and others in efforts to save the building. I’m confident this early intervention advanced our cause in quiet yet significant ways.  Also at this time, Hamilton architect Tony Butler, then chair of the Local Architectural Conservancy Advisory Committee (LACAC), pushed hard on local elected leaders to apply the full powers of the Ontario Heritage Act to delay and/or deny this request for demolition. Butler’s activism paid off in late 1981 when City Council voted to deny a demolition permit. A second application by Roxborough to obtain a demolition permit was also eventually turned down, in this case by one vote.

Meanwhile, creative ideas for the adaptive reuse of the building were arriving from all quarters. Proposals ranged from a performance space to a sculpture gallery. There was also a pitch for an archival library dedicated to the memory of renowned Italian conductor Arturo Toscanini.  Amid this flurry of activity, and in my role as chair of the Bank of Montreal Action Committee, I phoned the office of Phyllis Bronfman Lambert, the world-famous Canadian architect, philanthropist and founder of Heritage Montreal. I made this connection at the urging of Cynthia Moore, a transplant to Hamilton from Montreal and a friend of Ms. Lambert and others within the Quebec heritage movement, including Michael Fish and Pauline Housden, founders of Sauvons Montréal (Save Montreal). My call soon generated a letter from the executive director of the Samuel and Saidye Bronfman Family Foundation expressing interest in the Bank of Montreal building and an offer of assistance to help the City of Hamilton acquire the property.

Thankfully, throughout this turbulent period, the building remained in use by short-term tenants, including the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce. So the lights were on and repairs were being done –good things when you’re searching for long-term solutions.  This was all happening as a growing number of voices inside Hamilton City Hall called for the municipality to purchase the building as a defense against demolition and as a catalyst for downtown redevelopment. Said alderman Henry Merling at the time: “I’ve seen a lot of old Hamilton disappear. It’s something that needs to be preserved.”

According to newspaper reports of the time, former alderman David Christopherson, currently the MP for Hamilton Centre, helped turn up the heat by reminding his elected colleagues that the decision to save our treasured Dundurn Castle squeaked through by one vote –  another retreat from the precipice of demolition. During the Bank of Montreal debates, it was reported that council members Terry Cooke, Shirley Collins and Don Ross wanted to pursue the options. Mr. Cooke and Ms. Collins wanted to save the building, while Bill McCulloch, Henry Merling, John Smith, David Christopherson and Brian Hinkley voted to purchase the building.  In due course, a conservation mindset won the day, and in October 1987 the City took ownership of the Bank of Montreal building. In quick order, a heritage easement was placed on the property to prevent any future buyer for demolishing the building.

During the 1990s, the building was leased to a number of businesses, including Monopli and then The Syndicate – two nightclubs that, in time, folded operations, leaving the space vacant.  Fortunes changed in 2001 when Hughson Business Space Corporation purchased the Bank of Montreal building and the lot to the west for $1.1 million from the Royal Bank under a power of sale agreement. Wilson-Blanchard became the property manager and David Blanchard the managing partner of the ownership group. Early on, the ownership group hit the jackpot: a stable, up market tenant on the hunt for a distinctive new home. That tenant was Gowlings, a leading international law firm with over 700 legal professionals serving clients in ten offices across Canada and around the world.

The new owners and tenant entered into a cost sharing agreement that saw more than $6 million invested in renovations, including detailed heritage conservation, facilities upgrades and a sympathetic four-storey addition. This award-winning (and painstaking) renewal program was headed up by Gowlings partners Bob Wilkins and Mark Tamminga in partnership with Ira McDonald Construction and others.

Today, the Gowlings building is occupied by a tax-paying business that employs more than 130 highly-educated and trained professionals who bring vibrancy and spending power to Hamilton’s core. It’s a case study in market-driven urban renewal kickstarted by a public investment in the future of Hamilton.

So what have we, the community, learned from this incredible journey?  For starters, here are three key lessons worth remembering:

1. Advocate through a wide network (local and beyond) to make the case for conservation.
2. Accept interim uses until a sustainable long-term solution is found.
3. Persevere: never give up.

Special thanks to

Howard Elliott, The Hamilton Spectator
Bob Wilkins, Mark Tamminga, Gowlings
David Blanchard, Wilson-Blanchard
Alissa Golden, Heritage Planner, City of Hamilton

 Photos courtesy of Richard Allen, Renew Hamilton, The Hamilton Chamber of Commerce

Quick Facts:

-Built in 1928 by Pigott Construction
-Architect: Kenneth G. Rea
-Facades are of Queenston dolomite on a Stanstead granite base
-The building is built in the Neo Classical style
-Exterior features include Corinthian columns, two-storey windows, and carvings by sculptor William Oosterhoff
-Interior features include 35-foot ceilings spanned by coffered ornamental girders, Tennessee marble walls, 28-foot Ionic columns in solid red Lavanto marble.
-The exterior of the building (excluding the wester façade) and interior features of the main banking hall are protected by an Ontario Heritage Trust Foundation Easement.
-The building is on the Registry of Historical Places of Canada
-The building won a City of Hamilton Urban Design and Architecture Award in 2005 for Excellence in Heritage Conservation. The parties recognized for their work on the project were:
Melillo Architects Inc.
Yolles Group Engingeering Ltd.
BK Consulting
Karp Namasniak Yamamoto Architects Inc.
Ira McDonald Construction Ltd.

Source: Ontario Heritage Trust

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• Bank of Montreal Building
• downtown
• Gowlings Building
• Hamiton
• heritage