Alberta Register of Historic Places

Canadian Bank of Commerce Building

Innisfree

Other Names:

1907 Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce
C. I. B. C.
C.I.B.C.
Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce (1907)
CIBC
Imperial Bank of Commerce
Innisfree Prairie Bank of Commerce
Prairie Bank of Commerce
Union Bank of Canada Building

Statement of Significance

Description of Historic Place
The Canadian Bank of Commerce Building is an early twentieth century, two-storey wood building situated on a double corner lot on Innisfree's main street. Built in the Neo-Classical style, the bank features a rounded pediment above the front entrance, fluted pilasters crowned by Ionic capitals, a plain frieze and a pedimented gable containing an ox-eye window.

Heritage Value
The heritage value of the Canadian Bank of Commerce Building lies in its association with the early establishment of financial institutions in Alberta's rural areas. It also possesses heritage value for its fine embodiment of the "Prairie Type" of Neo-Classical architecture commonly used for rural banks in western Canada.

In 1905, the Canadian Northern Railway (C.Nor.R) completed work on its line from Edmonton to Lloydminster. Numerous sidings had been established along the track to service the railway and its workers. One of these sidings, Delnorte, developed into a modest, but prosperous, mixed farming community that also provided services to the surrounding agricultural hinterland. Local lore has it that in 1905, Sir Edmund Walker, general manager of the Canadian Bank of Commerce, toured the Delnorte area and noted the similarities between the landscape of nearby Birch Lake and that of Innisfree, his family retreat beside Ontario's Lake Simcoe. Walker reputedly agreed to provide the settlement with a branch bank in exchange for the townsfolk renaming their community after his summer place. Perhaps as a result, Delnorte became Innisfree and, in 1906, the first Canadian Bank of Commerce branch was established in the community in temporary premises. The following year, the branch relocated to the impressive Neo-Classical bank building that it would occupy for the next nine decades. The founding of the branch bank at Innisfree mirrored the establishment of early financial institutions in other rural communities throughout the province. Banking in western Canada during the first decade of the twentieth century was both highly speculative and highly competitive; financial institutions built banks in promising settlements like Innisfree in the hopes of establishing a regional monopoly. These village banks become essential institutions in rural Alberta, integral parts of the growing agricultural economy of the province after the turn of the century. The bank at Innisfree is one of the earliest village banks still standing in Alberta.

Built between 1906 and 1907, the Canadian Bank of Commerce Building is a fine example of Neo-Classical bank architecture in western Canada. Neo-Classicism was a favoured style for Canadian bank buildings. Typically rendered in stone or brick, the style conveyed a sense of solidity, permanency, and strength. Like larger, urban banks throughout Canada, the bank in Innisfree also embodied the Neo-Classical style and its associated virtues, but it did so through wood, imparting this building - and others like it across the Prairies - with a distinctively western Canadian feel. The bank was built according to one of three "Prairie Type" designs for pre-fabricated branch banks created by the renowned Toronto architectural firm, Darling and Pearson. The building materials were sent from B.C. Mills and assembled into an elegant composition featuring fluted pilasters, a plain frieze with an ox-eye window, and a rounded, broken pediment above the front entrance. The pre-fabricated wood construction of this and other western Canadian banks allowed for rapid building and relatively low costs - essential considerations in the competitive, speculative financial environment of the early twentieth century. In spite of its economic, pre-fabricated design, the Canadian Bank of Commerce Building in Innisfree, like other village banks, was one of the most sophisticated structures in the early community and has remained a prominent local landmark.

Source: Alberta Culture and Community Spirit, Historic Resources Management Branch (File: Des. 2032)

Character-Defining Elements
The character-defining elements of the Canadian Bank of Commerce Building include such features as:
- form, mass, and style;
- low-pitched gable roof with flagpole and chimney;
- pedimented gable-end featuring an ox-eye window;
- clapboard siding and pre-fabricated panel exterior walls;
- fluted pilasters topped by Ionic capitals;
- decorative entabulature with cornice supported by modillions, plain frieze and architrave;
- transomed, double-doored front entryway flanked by columns and topped by a broken round arch pediment;
- fenestration pattern and original single-hung windows;
- original vault door;
- original interior finishes, including oak floor on second floor.

Location

Street Address:	5204 - 50 Avenue
Community:	Innisfree
Boundaries:	Lots 1 and 2, Block 6, Plan 4175R
Contributing Resources:	Buildings: 1

ATS Legal Description:

Mer	Rge	Twp	Sec	LSD
4	11	51	3	16 (ptn.)

PBL Legal Description (Cadastral Reference):

Plan	Block	Lot	Parcel
4175 R 4175 R	6 6	2 1

Latitude/Longitude:

Latitude	Longitude	CDT	Datum Type
53.381255	-111.529965	GPS	NAD 83

UTM Reference:

Northing	Easting	Zone	CDT	Datum Type

Recognition

Recognition Authority:	Province of Alberta
Designation Status:	Provincial Historic Resource
Date of Designation:	2001/03/21

Historical Information

Built:	1905 to 1905
Period of Significance:	N/A
Theme(s):	Developing Economies : Trade and Commerce Expressing Intellectual and Cultural Life : Architecture and Design
Historic Function(s):	Commerce / Commercial Services : Bank or Stock Exchange
Current Function(s):	Leisure : Museum
Architect:	Darling and Pearson
Builder:	British Columbia Mills, Timber and Trading Company (prefabricated by BC Mills, then shipped to Innisfree)
Context:	HERITAGE SIGNIFICANCE In 1905, the Canadian Northern Railway completed its line between Lloydminster and Edmonton. At key locations along the rail line, 'sidings', or stations were set up to serve the railway and its workers. Several of these developed into communities, which provided services to the agricultural hinterland, which was soon filled with settlers. Among the first of these to develop into any size was Delnorte on the north end of Birch Lake, exactly midway between Edmonton and Lloydminster. In 1906, the community boasted a population of 35. The following year saw extensive commercial development and the name of the community change from Delnorte to Innisfree, after the Lake Isle in Ireland. That year, a major ad appeared in the Edmonton Bulletin, which listed 18 members of the Innisfree Board of Trade. The community also included a Methodist Church as well as chapters of the Masons and the International Order of Odd Fellows. A school would follow in 1908. Though the region in general was settled by a large number of eastern Europeans, Innisfree was, at the outset, very British in composition; all of the members of the Board of Trade had British names. Among the first businesses in Innisfree was the Canadian Bank of Commerce. According to the local history, the community was visited by the President of the Canadian Bank of Commerce, Sir Edmund Walker, in 1905 during his excursion over the Canadian Northern rail line. He apparently commented that the view south over Birch Lake reminded him of Innisfree in Ireland, whereupon he was told the name of Delnorte could be changed. In 1906, a branch of the Bank was set up in a makeshift structure on Main Street, while work began on a more solid two-storey building. Though built of wood, the balloon frame Innisfree bank was designed in a neo-classical style by the Toronto firm of Darling and Pearson to give the appearance of brick and stonework. Other wood frame Canadian Bank of Commerce buildings, such as that in Thorhild, would be constructed throughout the West along similar neo-classical lines. After its initial boom, the population of Innisfree tailed off. In 1911, it was incorporated as a village with 253 people. In 1971, its population was listed as 252. When incorporated, the village was at the western end of a northern British Block, which was extended westward from Lloydminster. By 1941, however, its inhabitants were listed as 41% Ukrainian; by 1971, this would jump to 70%. All the while, Innisfree served a large agricultural hinterland south from Two Hills, North from Viking, east from Vegreville and west from Mannville. The fortunes of the community varied with the time, and, throughout all, the district was served by the Canadian Bank of Commerce, which provided countless loans to farmers in the area. Foreclosures during the early 1920's and the 1930's were counterbalanced by times of prosperity, such as during the late 1920's and just after World War II. The historical significance of the Canadian Bank of Commerce in Innisfree lies in its association with the growth and prosperity of the mixed farming district around the community, and its representation of a typical northern prairie bank, designed and operated along lines of similar banks in rural Alberta. Of those which have survived, the one in Innisfree is among the earliest. It is also the oldest building in Innisfree.

Additional Information

Object Number:	4665-0627
Designation File:	DES 2032
Related Listing(s):
Heritage Survey File:	HS 35595
Website Link:
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. 2032)