Dominion Building

Imperial exuberance, Beaux-Arts style

The Dominion Building (1908-10) was originally projected by the Imperial Trust Company, which merged with the Dominion Trust Company during the construction ot the building. The building was intended to transform Vancouver into the pre-eminent Canadian financial centre west of Montréal – not just from the trade conducted within its walls, but through the investor confidence symbolised by its very existence. Funding for construction came from international capital, much of it German, reputedly invested for the Kaiser by flamboyant promoter Alvo von Alvensleben. A Prussian aristocrat by birth, he came to Vancouver penniless. After living in a shack shooting ducks and selling his kills to the Vancouver Club, he worked his way up to structuring international investments at the selfsame club as a high-living businessman. He was on a business trip to Berlin when war was declared. Dominion Trust weathered the economic downturn of 1913-14 until managing director W.R. Arnold put a revolver in his mouth and blew his brains out. An investigation revealed a series of unauthorized loans from Arnold to Alvo, who wisely remained out of the country. Within two weeks Dominion Trust went into liquidation. Dominion’s corruption-fed collapse led to the demise of the Bank of Vancouver. The building was seen as a symbol of Vancouver’s international stature and high-flying commercial success. Hubris cometh before the fall.

The Dominion Building is distinguished by its mixture of red and yellow terracotta veneer. The Mansard roof, crowned by a scalloped cornice, recalls the great hotels of Montreal. In the lobby a staircase of whitish-grey marble is counterpointed by walls of white and red marble. The red marble, an intraclastic dolostone, is imbedded with fascinating fossil material; the geologically inclined can discern the fossilized remains of fusilinids and crinoid ossicles throughout the marble. Two large columns, faced with a dark red granite from Scotland, dominate the entrance. The extravagance of importing stone from Scotland was begun by the Scottish merchants when they built much of Old Montréal. This ostentatious tradition continued in Vancouver. Shipping granite across two oceans to a province that contains more granite than all of Scotland was a triumph of status-seeking vanity over legendary Scottish penury, and apparently over common sense. But like most acts of ostentatious status display, it made good business sense by impressing the target market – in this case international financiers – into parting with their money more willingly.

The Second Empire/Beaux Arts style shows the exuberance of an empire just past its zenith. The style takes its name from the second French Empire of Napoleon III, and the École des Beaux Arts in Paris, which was the pre-eminent French national academy of Architecture. Under Napoleon III, Paris was rebuilt with elegance and exuberance. This Imperial style, incorporating Classical and Renaissance elements, is little seen outside of Paris and Montreal.

When completed in 1910 for the Dominion Trust Company, this building was hailed as the most modern office building in Canada. Its dramatic triangular shape is the result of the lot being on the collision point between the original Gastown townsite street grid to the east and the new CPR grid west of Cambie Street. It was the highest steel structure on the West Coast – a true skyscraper – and for a short while it was the tallest building in the British Empire. A distinctive and beautiful building, it remains as an expression of a confident Empire in a young century.

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