20 Victoria Street

The former Imperial Life Assurance Building, on 20 Victoria Street. To the right, is the passageway that leads to Yonge Street, and the Tin and Copper Smith Building, which I wrote about here.

The former Imperial Life Assurance Building,
on 20 Victoria Street.

The Metropolitan Bar Resto, which has the ground floor of the building

[Photos by KPA]

I wrote here about Victoria Street, a quiet side street parallel to Yonge Street, which has some interesting early 20th century buildings. I tried to find more information about what I think is the Imperial Life Assurance building, on 20 Victoria Street, and asked the manager of the building about the architect of the building and when it was completed. She's emailed me some useful information from their files, which I posted below.

I also googled: 20 Victoria street Toronto 1910 imperial life assurance, and came up with this pdf file on Stevens Burgess Architects Ltd., who are the architects doing renovations on the building (html version here).

On page 18 of the html version is the information below:

20 Yonge Street [this is incorrect, although the below paragraph has the correct address, which is 20 Victoria street (there is no Imperial Life Insurance building with a limestone street facade on Yonge Street). This could be why it was hard to find information on the Internet)]:

Constructed in 1910, 20 Victoria Street is the original head office of the Imperial Life Insurance Co. SBA [Stevens Burgess Architects] undertook the conservation of the limestone street facade and buff brick courtyard and passageway. The project also included built-up roof replacement, snow avalanching abatement measures and lobby restoration. Mechanical, electrical and life safety systems and restrooms were also renovated.

And on page 19 of the file, under the heading: Conservation/Preservation/Restoration/Reuse Project, they have :

20 Victoria Street (Designated)
Alterations and adaptive reuse of 1910, 19 storey building

The image below is from the architects' files, and shows the 20 Victoria Street building from various angles. Right: The back of the building; Middle: The interior; and Left: The front.


And here is information from a file listing insurance companies:

The Imperial Life Insurance Company was a life insurance company that was founded in 1896. It officially ceased to do business under that name in 2001. The company was purchased by the Desjardins Group in 1994, but it was allowed to keep its name for the time being. At the time of its purchase, Imperial Life was the owner of Laurentian Life, a life insurance company it had purchased the year before. When the Desjardins Group bought Imperial Life, it also acquired Laurentian Life. The Desjardins Group merged with Laurentian Life to create Desjardins-Laurentian Life Assurance (DLLA) in 1994. In 2001, DLLA merged with Imperial Life to become the Desjardins Financial Security Life Assurance Company.

And finally, the email from the building's manager provided this useful information:

The original architect from 1910 was G. M. Miller and Co. The building was extended...in 1937, at which time the architect was Mathers and Haldenby Registered Architects.

Information on G. M. Miller and Co. is here, with a long list of buildings in Toronto they've built, but it doesn't list the 20 Victoria building. There might be more information elsewhere, which I haven't tracked down yet.

Brief Information on Mathers and Haldenby is here where their listed work includes:

Imperial Life Assurance Co., King Street East at Victoria Street, new facade, 1938