Volume 2 - ElectricCanadian.com

THE BANK PREMISES DEPARTMENT 497by the outbreak of the war, and the increase in the cost ofbuilding which has since taken place has not abated sufficientlyto allow the bank to proceed with the work.The interior arrangements of the two archives buildingsowned by the bank 1 are believed to be unique. They wereerected some years ago, when the proper custodyof the oldrecords of the bank, and the destruction under proper precautionsof those which need not be preserved, became a problemcalling for solution. They are constructed on the simplestwarehouse lines without a particle of combustible materialfrom the foundations to the roof. 2The unusual purpose ofthe buildings is expressed in the design, but might well puzzlethe uninformed observer. While plainly of the nature ofthe same materials as theirwarehouses, and constructed ofcommercial neighbours, they are just as plainly not commercialin the factory or warehouse sense, and the same quality ofdesign pervades them as isexpressed in the branch buildings.1See plate 70, facing page 498.For a description of the interior arrangements see Appendix V.