Royal Bank Building

The city’s first bank skyscraper, completed in 1931, was the Main Branch of The Royal Bank’s British Columbia District until 1973, when the Regional Headquarters and Main Branch of the bank were transferred to the Royal Centre development at the corner of Georgia and Burrard.

Completed during the Great Depression, it is an excellent example of a superb Florentine banking hall in an Art Deco building. Designed by architects Sumner Godfrey Davenport, it replaced the firm’s 1903 “temple bank” at Hastings and Homer and shifted the centre of gravity of the city’s institutions to the west.

It is a replica of the Royal Bank’s Montreal headquarters, except that only the western half of the building was built. The eastern half was cancelled due to the depression. This is a good example of the Moderne style, but the conservative nature of the banking business dictated the use of historical motifs for the ornamentation rather than a more modernistic treatment.

Source

VHF West Hastings Map Guide, Vancouver Heritage Inventory Phase II 1986 Summary Report, RBC Royal Bank A Brief History

More information

https://changingvancouver.wordpress.com/2013/08/04/granville-and-hastings-ne-corner/