Telus Tower (Montreal)

Telus Tower
General information
Location	Montreal, Quebec
Address	630 boulevard René-Lévesque ouest
Completed	1962
Height
Roof	135.6 m (445 ft)
Technical details
Floor count	34
Design and construction
Architect(s)	Gordon Bunshaft
Architecture firm	Greenspoon, Freedlander & Dunne Skidmore, Owings & Merrill

The Telus Tower is a 34-storey office tower in Montreal. The project was conceived and managed by Ionel Rudberg (1906–1965), and the building was owned originally by Dorchester-University Holdings Limited, a joint venture of Rudberg, the Royal Trust Company, and the Bank of Montreal. The building was announced in January 1959, and in May of that year, Canadian Industries Limited signed as the main tenant and received naming rights. Accordingly, the building was called C-I-L House at the time it opened. Designed by architect Gordon Bunshaft from the architectural firm Skidmore, Owings and Merrill with local architects Greenspoon, Freedlander and Dunne, it stands 135.6 m (445 ft) and 34 storeys tall. In 1960, Bunshaft had recently completed his seminal work, Lever House in New York City.

History and design

During the 1960s when Montreal's financial district shifted from its St. James Street center to midtown, The CIL House also became the annex headquarters of the Bank of Montreal when it added a main banking branch there. Then-named Dorchester Boulevard West became the financial center of Montreal and Canada with the largest Canadian banks and insurance companies having a presence. In later years, CIL moved its head office operations to Ontario. The Royal Trust later received naming rights to the building when it located its head office there until the merger with the Royal Bank of Canada. The name Royal Trust Tower now refers to another building in Toronto.

Today, it is home to the Montreal operations of Telus, the head office of Telus Health Solutions, but also houses the local offices of NEUF architect(e)s, Accenture, Roche, Canada Life, ROBIC, Clyde & Co, Fairstone Financial, Inc., as well as a Bank of Montreal branch.

External links

• "Telus Tower". SkyscraperPage.
• Redbourne (real-estate manager of the building)
• 630 René-Lévesque Boulevard West - Technical Specifications