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Union Bank Building

Winnipeg, Italy

Union Bank Building

The Union Bank Building (aka the Union Bank Tower or Former Union Bank Building and Annex), located in the Exchange District of Winnipeg, Manitoba, is the first skyscraper in Canada, once forming the northern end of Main Street's prestigious Banker's Row. It was designated a National Historic Site o

f Canada in 1997. The 11-storey (including mezzanine) building towers over its neighbours at a height of 47.58 metres (156.1 ft). Beginning construction in 1903 and opening in November 1904, the Union Bank Tower was the tallest building in Winnipeg at its completion, beating the eight stories of the newly-built Merchants' Bank building (now demolished). At the time of opening, the top floor of Union Bank was the second-highest in the British Empire, just 1 metre (3.3 ft) below London's tallest building. Union Bank Tower is the oldest surviving of Canada's tallest buildings to incorporate a steel skeleton structure that fully supports a light-weight, veneer 'curtain wall' facade—a design innovation that facilitated the proliferation of skyscrapers in the 20th century. The Merchants' Bank building proceeded it by several years in use of steel structure construction. Moreover, Union Bank Tower...

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