At the tender age of six, Lawren Campbell proudly walked into the Royal Bank building on Main Street to open his first bank account in 1976.
“I had started doing some small jobs around the house for a few dollars. I didn’t spend anything on candy or treats. I put all my money in my piggy bank,” says the historian.
“When my father saw this, he suggested I open my own account at the bank. When I walked in I was very impressed. The ceilings were very high and I had never seen this kind of place.”
Little Lawren overcame his worries to finally lay down the fruits of his labor.
“I stood in line between the velvet ropes to see a cashier. The counter was very high for me!”, he laughs.
“I remember the noise it made when she printed the numbers in my little booklet. I told my father that the machine had eaten my booklet! It was completely new, because before, the cashiers wrote the information by hand,” continues the Heritage and Culture Coordinator of Place Resurgo.
“I’ve had an account at this location for over 30 years. I closed it when I moved to Toronto. For me, it’s not the Tim Hortons building, it’s the Royal Bank building.”
The former Royal Bank building in the 1930s. – Courtesy
The building of the former Royal Bank. – Acadie Nouvelle: Stéphane Paquette
An elegant building
The three-story building is neo-Romanesque style. It was built with pink bricks and stones that came from a quarry in Sackville.
The only other example of this type of construction in Moncton is the Peters House, located on Highfield Street.
One of its particularities is its corner entrance.
“It was important at the time because people mostly moved around the city center on foot. It was therefore necessary to have a frontage on two streets (Main and Alma) to have more visibility.”
The building was constructed for the Merchants Bank Of Halifax in 1898 by contractor JC Dumaresq, who also built the old Aberdeen School and the Legislative Building in Fredericton.
It became the Royal Bank of Canada in 1901, until 1962.
At the time, the upper floors were occupied by lawyers Albert Reily (who served as mayor of Moncton in 1910) and RW Hewson (who occupied the premises for over 65 years).
Despite renovations in the 1980s, the ceilings more than 14 feet high and the large original frescoed doors have been preserved.
“It almost looks like a set from a 1930s Dick Tracy movie,” says Lawrence Campbell.
The Freemasons rented premises there for several years before establishing themselves on Queen Street in 1923.
An extension to the building was built on Alma Street in 1929, works led by Ambrose Wheeler.
Today, it is coffee and donut lovers who can appreciate the elegance of this structure since the ground floor is occupied by a Tim Hortons restaurant.
