Sun Life Building

The Sun Life Building, a granite colossus

The Montreal audio-guided tour stops you before the Sun Life Building, one of the most imposing monuments in the city, overlooking Dorchester Square with its impressive colonnade. You are quickly tempted to call it a colossus, and with good reason.

The largest building in the British Empire

Made of more than sixty thousand granite blocks each weighing from two to seventeen tonnes, for a considerable total mass, the building was inaugurated in 1918 and was long the largest in the British Empire. During the Second World War, it served as a strongroom to safeguard important gold reserves. It was the Sun Life insurance company that had it built and remained its owner until 1946.

What there is to see

The building impresses with its monumental colonnade and its mass of pale granite, which dominate Dorchester Square. Its classical style makes it one of the finest examples of early-twentieth-century architecture in Montreal. A witness to the city's financial power at the time, it remains a major landmark downtown.

Practical information

The Sun Life Building is opposite Dorchester Square, in downtown Montreal. An office building, its interior follows its own access conditions; the façade and the colonnade can be contemplated freely from the square and the street, at all hours.

When was the Sun Life Building inaugurated?

It was inaugurated in 1918 and was long the largest building in the British Empire. It is made of more than sixty thousand granite blocks.

What role did the building play during the war?

During the Second World War, the Sun Life Building served as a strongroom to safeguard important gold reserves.