Yukon Register of Historic PlacesYRHP

Canadian Bank Of Commerce

Canadian Bank Of Commerce

Canadian Bank Of Commerce

In February 1899, the New York Times reported that "a Canadian Bank of Commerce is to be started in Dawson City.[6]" The bank was appointed agent of the Canadian government for the Yukon district and was to receive all royalties on gold mined in the Yukon. The gold received by the bank was sent to the coast under the escort of the North West Mounted Police.

In 1901, the Bank of Commerce leased land from the Government of Canada on Front Street and constructed a state of the art building. The building was designed by W.P. Skillings, a Seattle architect (who also designed St. Andrew’s Church in Dawson). The building contractor was R. Montcrieff.

The new building was reported as ”handsome and commodious” by the Dawson Weekly News (May 4, 1901) upon its opening. A spiral stairway connected an assay office on the second floor to the main floor. A fireproof vault of stone and concrete was lined with brick. It featured a hoist (elevator) for moving the gold [7]. The second floor assay office was where gold dust and nuggets were converted into gold bars for shipping. The assay furnace was built of fireproof brick and a great deal of asbestos was used to fireproof the walls.

The upstairs apartment boasted the first flush toilets in Dawson. Robert Service, who arrived in 1908, lived in this apartment but moved to his more celebrated rustic cabin with outdoor plumbing on Eighth Avenue when he quit the bank in 1910 [8].

The building was used continuously as the Bank of Commerce (and after 1961 the Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce) until 1989. It was purchased by the City of Dawson in 2012 and is currently undergoing conservation work. The bank’s business moved to a modern building on Second Avenue.

Citations:

6. New York Times, 28 February 1900

7. Dawson Weekly News, · 24 May 1901.

8. https://yukonnuggets.com/stories/bank-of-commerce-in-dawson/