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Bell Telephone of Canada Company Building(10/1890-3/1897)
Notre-Dame Street (at Saint-John); Hospital Street, Montreal, QC, Canada
Commercial, Office building (basement, 5 floors); brick/stone; composite

Client: Bell Telephone Company of Canada
Architect: E. Maxwell

Description: The Bell Telephone Building was a charming exchange and office building that once graced the corner of Notre-Dame and Saint-John Streets in what is now Old Montreal. It was, like the Henry Birks and Sons Jewelry Store (100) and the Merchant’s Bank of Halifax building on Notre-Dame Street at Des Seigneurs Street, among the first generation of commercial buildings designed by Edward Maxwell. It followed his supervision of the Board of Trade Building (167), a commission offered to his Boston employers Shepley, Rutan & Coolidge. It shares with these three buildings tall arcades, a heavy cornice and stone rustication on the lower floors. The building formed a distorted L, the shortest leg facing Notre-Dame Street, while the longer side façade on Saint-John sloped down towards Hospital Street. At both intersections the façades curved gently. The ground floor included a branch of the Merchant’s Bank of Halifax (from 1901, the Royal Bank of Canada) and a public corridor to the Hospital Street entrance. The formal executive offices and the Board Room were situated on the second floor. The first and third floors comprised standard offices, many of them equipped with fireplaces. The fourth floor housed the operator’s room, referred to as the exchange. The building was demolished ca. 1935.

Holdings: Office building (basement, 5 floors); brick/stone; composite
324 Drawings: 57 ink on linen; 41 ink on paper; 1 pencil on linen; 49 pencil on paper; 31 watercolour on linen; 32 watercolour on paper; 113 blueprints
2 Survey drawings: property plan, mitoyen wall
6 Measured drawings: floor plans
1 Sketch drawing: elevation
6 Presentation drawings: floor plans
55 Development drawings: floor plans, roof plan, elevations, sections, banking room
39 Working drawings: floor plans, roof plans, elevations, sections
187 Detail drawings: foundations, block plan, floor plans, reflected ceiling plans, elevations, sections, banking room, offices, boardroom, lunchroom, coatroom, washrooms, entries, vestibule, structure, mechanical, drain plans, staircases, fire escapes,brick arches, elevator screens and shaft casing, chimney, flues, mantelpieces, windows, bays, sills, mullions, shutters, vault, fixtures, cornice, wood panelling, mosaic ceiling and floor, terracotta, wainscotting, finishes, plasterwork, stonework, marblework, street lighting
28 Consultant drawings: floor plans, structure, mechanical, stairway, cornice
1 Photograph: 1 finished exterior
1 File folder: correspondence; clippings; specifications; invoices
Comment: 11 drawings by B.F. Sturtevant Company, Boston, Mass., dated 22/7/1895; 8 by the Hamilton Bridge Works Company Ltd., Hamilton, Ontario, dated 6/1985; 7 by the A.B.T. Company, dated 1894; and 1 by the Columbia Fireproofing Company, Pittsburg, P.A., are included.

Comments: 11 drawings by B.F. Sturtevant Company, Boston, Mass., dated 22/7/1895; 8 by the Hamilton Bridge Works Company Ltd., Hamilton, Ontario, dated 6/1985; 7 by the A.B.T. Company, dated 1894; and 1 by the Columbia Fireproofing Company, Pittsburg, P.A., are included.

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