Northern Bank, Regina

Sepia photograph of the front view of the Northern Bank in Regina. Designed in 1906 by Blair and Northwood of Winnipeg, a partnership of an Irish born engineer and an Ottawa born and McGill University trained architect, the building cost $115,000 and boasted one of Western Canada's first commercial applications of reinforced concrete construction. [28] By prairie standards the structure was immense. Situated next to Regina's new Tudor revival style Post Office, the edifice fronted on busy Scarth Street for fifty-two feet and ascended five storeys skyward. [29] But styling as well as technology set this structure apart from other regional bank offices. Finished in stone, the first two storeys featured Romanesque and vertical windows, respectively. These windows were divided by one of the most elaborate small colonnades and pediments seen in Western Canada. Upper floors received brick facing and an abrupt stylistic change. On the second and third floors, Romanesque fenestration flanked banks of four vertical windows. An unusual fifth storey completed the building. Set apart by pilastered stonework, the top floor broke again with the established fenestration pattern by featuring six identical vertical windows. In overall effect, the building looked like a bank, but was unlike any other neo-classical bank ever erected in Canada." (Spector, David. "The Buildings of the Winnipeg-Based Union and Northern Crown Banks: A Glimpse into Early Twentieth Century Corporate Architecture.")