Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

THE BANK PREMISES DEPARTMENT 491with these, a bank building has the main characteristics of adwelling, and thus the architect is free to conform to theproportions worked out in an uncommercial age as natural toa building both constructed of stone and intended forhuman habitation, proportions which remain the practicaland aesthetic standard for all structures where the requirementsof trade or manufacturing do not dictate otherwise.It isevident that the banks of Canada have taken the leadin establishingthe classical traditions of architecture inthe newly settled districts of this country, and in this TheCanadian Bank of Commerce has done its full share. Thecriticism frequently directed against the management ofthe Canadian banks that they erect buildings of needlesslymonumental character for their branches is one which willnot bear close examination. The charge appears to be basedlargely upon the columnar treatment of facades. While abank does not require windows of as ample proportions asthose needed by shops or even factories, it does require largewindows and this tends to make the street front a series ofpiers rather than a flat wall surface. For this reason, andas a practical and economical element of the design, thearchitects have in many cases provided the necessary supportfor the masonry by a series of columns or pilasters, and acomparisonof the cost has disclosed the fact that thesebuildings compare favourably with flat-walled buildings ofthe same period. The sacrifice of space incidental to theconventional columnar design may be admitted, and the fullutilization of valuable or restricted sites has led the architectsof The Canadian Bank of Commerce in many cases to seek thedesired result by different means, as may be seen in such buildingsas Windsor, Chatham, and First Street West, Calgary. 1Economy of space is, however, even more a matter of thearrangement of the floor plan than of exterior design. Asa result of the great number of buildings erected, the bankhas naturally worked out a number of types in which such1See plates 52. 5 and 55. facing pages 318, 18 and 854.