Dominating the Winnipeg skyline in 1904 was the first steel-frame skyscraper in Western Canada – and the tallest building in Winnipeg ever constructed at that point in time. Some would boast further still that the flagpole on the building’s roof was the tallest flagpole in the Commonwealth.

All this fanfare for a building that, today, is relatively short. A modern skyscraper is 40 stories or higher, and the Union Bank Tower is dwarfed by the 1970s skyscrapers that stand several blocks south at Portage Avenue and Main Street. Nevertheless, when the bank opened in November of 1904, it was a modern marvel – coming in at a whopping ten storeys tall and showcasing the wealth of the banks coming through to Western Canada, and the potential of newer, modern building styles.

The Union Bank was based out of Quebec, and like other banks from Eastern Canada, began financing homesteads in the Canadian west. When the time came to build a main branch in Winnipeg, no expense was spared. Toronto’s Darling and Pearson, renowned Canadian bank architects at the time, designed the building in the Chicago School style, with Renaissance influences.

Utilizing newer technology and building with steel frames and reinforced concrete allowed the bank to build much higher than traditional load bearing masonry walls would allow. Stronger building frames also allowed for additional windows. Skinny and tall, the building’s exterior is modeled after a classical column. The first two storeys, clad in highly embellished terracotta, are the base. The middle storeys are the body of the column, and are made of ochre brick from Lac Du Bonnet, Manitoba. The tenth story, then, is the capital of the column – again clad in terracotta and topped with a large, strikingly ornate cornice.

The interior was no less striking. The banking hall features marble Ionic columns, marble floors, decorative friezes, and marble and mahogany furnishings. The coffered ceiling features pineapples, gourds, and wheat – all symbols of agriculture and prosperity and representative of the economy the Union Bank had been built on.

When the grain economy began to collapse, then, so too did the Union Bank. It closed in 1926, and the banking tower was bought by the Royal Bank of Canada who continued to operate the space as a bank until the 1970s. Decommissioned as a bank, and standing vacant for several decades, the building was in threat of demolition by the City of Winnipeg. Heritage Winnipeg, alongside other advocates, protected the building until the right owner and right tenant could be found.

They were found, finally, in 2013. After almost 40 years of vacancy, Red River College Polytechnic took over the space and developed it into Paterson GlobalFoods Institute. Now a world-renowned culinary school, the former banking hall fits several restaurants, a state-of-the-art kitchen, and student dormitories. This stunning example of adaptive reuse of an iconic heritage building is a huge success story for both Winnipeg and Canada.