New York Life Building, Montreal

New York Life Insurance Building
General information
Type	Office building
Architectural style	Richardsonian Romanesque
Location	511 Place D’Armes Montreal, Quebec Canada
Completed	1887
Technical details
Floor count	8
Design and construction
Architect	Babb, Cook and Willard, New York (and Peter Lyall)

Montreal's New York Life Insurance Building (also known as the Quebec Bank Building) is an office building at Place d'Armes in what is now known as Old Montreal, erected in 1887-1889. At the time of its completion, it was the tallest commercial building in Montreal with the first eight floors were designed for retail office space, that quickly filled with the city's best lawyers and financiers. When the clock tower was completed, the owner filled the ninth and tenth floors with the largest legal library in the entire country as a gift to tenants. The building is next to another historic office tower, Aldred Building.

The New York Life Insurance Building was built by architects Babb, Cook and Willard and contractor Peter Lyall for the New York Life Insurance Company as its office in Canada. The final cost was $750,000. The Old Red Sandstone used in the construction was imported from Dumfriesshire, Scotland.

New York Life selected the site on Place D’Armes because it was near the Montreal business hub. Before construction began, crews demolished l’Hotel Compain and another 2 story building that occupied the lots. The building first appeared on 1890 insurance map.

Quebec Bank purchased the building in 1909 and occupied the ground floor before being absorbed into the Royal Bank of Canada in 1917. The structure still bears the bank's name carved over the entrance.

The building is near Place-d'Armes Metro, and is adjacent to other prominent Montreal landmarks, such as the Aldred Building (1931), the Bank of Montreal Building (1859/1901), the Place d'Armes Hotel, Notre-Dame Basilica and 500 Place D'Armes.

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