Dominion Express Company Building([1910-12])
201 Saint-James Street, Montreal, QC, Canada
Commercial, Office building [2 basements, 10 floors]; terra cotta and stone; steel frame; concrete slab

Client: Dominion Express Company
Architect: E. & W.S. Maxwell

Description: The largest and tallest office building designed by Edward and William Maxwell, the Dominion Express Company Building signalled their understanding of tall building construction and their willingness to embrace the new Chicago School compositional principles as formulated by architect Louis Sullivan (1856-1924). The company, incorporated in 1873 and a subsidiary of Canadian Pacific Railway since 1882, the year William C. Van Horne (210) became General Manager, was thriving and was able to secure a prestigious location on Saint-James Street. A large hotel, the St-Lawrence Hall, for many years one of the most prestigious of the city, occupied the site west of the new Bank of Montreal Annex by McKim, Mead and White and the Main Post Office on the other side of Saint-François-Xavier Street. The Maxwell’s London and Lancashire Life Building (130), was nearby at 244 Saint-James. After working on a Hotel Proposal (380) for the same client in late 1909 (it would have been larger than the present building, extending north beyond Fortifications Lane to Craig Street, now Saint-Antoine Street), it was decided to erect a ten-storey office building with elevations on Saint-James and Saint-Francois-Xavier Streets. Shunning both the picturesque and dramatic effects of the Château style and more formal Beaux-Arts schemes, the Maxwells devised tripartite elevations with base, shaft and capital clearly identified. Far from mere visual gimmickry, this organisation reflects the changes in occupation within the building. The base (two or three storeys, due to the slope on Saint-François-Xavier Street, with entrances on both streets and a large mall and elevator lobby connecting the main Saint-James street lobby to the Fortifications Lane lobby) accommodates the public activities of the company: railway and boat ticket sales, reservation offices, telecommunications services, courier, shipping and receiving areas and a vast restaurant with its own entrance on Fortifications Lane. Generic, modular rental offices made up the seven middle levels. The Montreal Club, a prestigious private business club had its premises and reception spaces on the top floors. The base, rendered in clear granite, is capped by a cornice with life-size caryatids and large sculpted crests above. The middle part is left smooth, rhythmically divided by unadorned pillars, taking advantage of the crisp and light texture of white glazed terra cotta, save the last window bank on either side flanked by rusticated pilasters. The final effect is one of lightness and verticality. Delicately ornate spandrels divide each floor into a neutral grid that sets the stage for the upper storey treatment. Five double-height windows opening unto wide balconies (on either side, with views to the Harbour or to the Mountain) signal the festive spaces devoted to the Club’s main dining room. The penthouse floor comprises a 15’ x 75’ pergola that could be used as a terrace in the summer. The building was hailed as a modern contribution to Montreal commercial architecture and admired for the richness and taste of its decoration and use of marbles and woodwork. The Club’s sumptuous furniture was designed and realised by the Bromsgrove Guild of Canada (304). The building is living proof of Montreal’s business growth and sophistication at the turn of the century, as well as Montreal-trained and based architects’ increasing competence at meeting new functional, structural and financial challenges. The clear articulation and integration of public, semi-public and private typologies and the frank expression of the steel skeleton and use places this contribution among the firm’s best work. The building was for many years the Head Office for the Banque Provinciale, before its merger with the Banque Canadienne Nationale to form the present Banque Nationale du Canada.

Holdings: Office building: (8 floors); stone; steel frame; concrete slab
362 Drawings: 289 ink on linen; 5 ink on paper; 2 pencil on linen; 55 pencil on paper; 11 blueprints
40 Development drawings: site plan, block plan, floor plans, roof plans, elevations, furniture, cartouche
22 Working drawings: foundation, floor plans, structure
271 Detail drawings: foundation, floor plans, ceiling plan, elevations, dining rooms, restaurant, billiard room, reading room, offices, boardroom, kitchen, bakery, halls, washrooms, entries, structure, mechanical, stairs, elevators, fire escapes, fireplaces, mantelpieces, smoke stack, windows, skylights, [sidewalk glazing], doors, partitions, furniture, vaults, screens, grilles, fittings, fixtures, finishes, stonework, terra cotta, ironwork, brasswork, pergola
29 Consultant drawings: fixtures
10 Photographs: 7 finished exteriors; 3 finished interiors
1 File folder: clippings
Comment: 10 drawings by W.G. Snow, Engineer, and 19 by the Bromsgrove Guild of Applied Arts, dated 3/11/1911, are included.

Comments: 10 drawings by W.G. Snow, Engineer, and 19 by the Bromsgrove Guild of Applied Arts, dated 3/11/1911, are included.