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Canadian Bank of Commerce Building
Taber
Other Names:
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C. I. B. C.
C.I.B.C.
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce #983
CIBC
Imperial Bank of Commerce
Taber Bank of Commerce
1st Choice Savings and Credit Union
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Statement of Significance
Description of Historic Place
The Canadian Bank of Commerce Building is a two-storey, early twentieth-century building situated on two lots in the Town of Taber's commercial core. The bank embodies the Neo-Classical style and features a brick and dressed stone facade, flat roof, fluted pilasters, and a metal entablature with boxed cornice. It is also embellished with traditional classical detailing, decorative brick work, and carved stone window and door surrounds.
Heritage Value
The heritage value of the Canadian Bank of Commerce lies in its association with the expansion of banking institutions in Alberta and its representation of the Neoclassical style of architecture favoured for bank buildings across the Prairies.
The area around Taber was settled around the turn of the twentieth century. The settlement grew with the development of the coal industry in the region and the expansion of agriculture. Economic growth and population increase attracted financial institutions from central Canada to the fledgling community. The Eastern Townships Bank headquartered in Quebec established Taber's first bank when it opened a branch in the settlement in 1906. In 1912, the Eastern Townships Bank amalgamated with the larger Canadian Bank of Commerce. The early history of banking in Taber reflects the vast expansion and consolidation of financial institutions throughout the Prairies in the wake of the immigration and settlement boom that swept across western Canada between 1896 and 1914.
Built between 1912 and 1913, the Canadian Bank of Commerce building in Taber was similar in style and scale to eight other banks erected by the corporation in Alberta during the same period. The bank embodies the Neoclassical style in its generally horizontal proportions, pilasters, parapet, and classical details. The popularity of Neoclassical architecture for banking buildings was undoubtedly linked to the style's association with the qualities of solidity, strength, and permanence. The projection of these virtues represented an attempt to define a positive institutional identity in western Canada's competitive financial market.
Source: Alberta Culture and Community Spirit, Historic Resources Management Branch (File: Des. 983)
Character-Defining Elements
The character-defining elements of the Canadian Bank of Commerce include such features as:
- flat roof crowned by a brick parapet;
- varied masonry, including Indiana limetone, sandstone, and glazed terra cotta block;
- brick and dressed stone facade;
- decorative elements, including fluted pilasters, window and door surrounds, projecting brick quoins, brick coursing, and masonry details;
- metal entablature with boxed cornices and modillions;
- window and door surrounds;
- fenestration pattern and style, including transomed windows;
- historic interior elements, including vault doors, hardwood staircase to upper floor apartments, doors, baseboards, trims, and cornice mouldings, skylight well with V-joint tongue and groove siding, and fireplace mantle in upper floor apartment.
Location
| Street Address: |
5227 - 48 Avenue |
| Community: |
Taber |
| Boundaries: |
Lots 15 and 16, Block 10, Plan 5638L |
| Contributing Resources: |
N/A
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ATS Legal Description:
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Mer |
Rge |
Twp |
Sec |
LSD |
4
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16
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9
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32
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13 (ptn.)
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PBL Legal Description (Cadastral Reference):
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Plan |
Block |
Lot |
Parcel |
5638 L
5638 L
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10
10
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16
15
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Latitude/Longitude:
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Latitude |
Longitude |
CDT |
Datum Type |
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49.784814 |
-112.145391 |
Secondary Source |
NAD83 |
UTM Reference:
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Northing |
Easting |
Zone |
CDT |
Datum Type |
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Recognition
| Recognition Authority: |
Province of Alberta |
| Designation Status: |
Provincial Historic Resource |
| Date of Designation: |
1981/03/27 |
Historical Information
| Built: |
1912 to 1913 |
| Period of Significance: |
N/A |
| Theme(s): |
Developing Economies : Trade and Commerce
Expressing Intellectual and Cultural Life : Architecture and Design
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| Historic Function(s): |
Commerce / Commercial Services : Bank or Stock Exchange
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| Current Function(s): |
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| Architect: |
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| Builder: |
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| Context: |
HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE
The Bank of Commerce building was constructed in 1912 at the height of the Bank's western expansion that followed the post 1900 immigration boom. Competition among the various financial institutions was keen and to attract customers, banks built large, handsome structures that evoked an air of permanence and stability. The Bank of Commerce, in Taber, is typical of this style. A flat-roofed three-storey building of brick and dressed stone, it features traditional classical detailing. Four partial columns on the front of the building divide the front façade into five bays, with the front door located in the central bay. Also included are rusticated brick quoins, a metal entablature and carved stone door and window surrounds.
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Additional Information
| Object Number: |
4665-0194 |
| Designation File: |
DES 0983 |
| Related Listing(s): |
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| Heritage Survey File: |
HS 27758
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| Website Link: |
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| Data Source: |
Alberta Culture and Community Spirit, Historic Resources Management Branch, Old St. Stephen's College, 8820 - 112 Street, Edmonton, AB T6G 2P8 (File: Des. 983) |
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