Qu'Appelle Royal Bank Building

The heritage value of the Qu'Appelle Royal Bank Building lies in its architecture. Built in 1908, the building presents a western Canadian interpretation of twentieth-century Canadian banking architecture. In the early twentieth-century, most banks sought to project images of conservatism, stability and wealth by erecting functional, solid and imposing buildings in the towns and cities of the Canadian west. Many of these structures were built in the Classical Revival style and featured columns, pediments, projecting cornices and symmetrical façades. The Winnipeg-based Northern Bank also followed this pattern and used Classical Revival styling in its custom-designed institutions. The unique regional interpretation of Classical bank architecture on the two-storey brick Royal Bank Building in Qu'Appelle included a broad sweeping arch over the front entryway and two sculpted buffalo heads which sit above the arch. Designed by the Winnipeg architects Norwood and Blair, the Qu'Appelle building was one of the first branch buildings constructed by the corporation in Saskatchewan. Renamed the Northern Crown Bank in 1908, the corporation only constructed two other buildings from this western-influenced plan prior to merging with the Royal Bank in 1918.

Source:

Town of Qu'Appelle Bylaw 8/82.