GALLERY ENTRY

London Life Insurance Company addition

This major addition to a fine 1926 Beaux-Arts insurance headquarters by John M. Moore is both highly compatible with the historic edifice and yet clearly distinguishable from it.  This 1964 addition is an excellent illustration of architects of the modern movement working sensitively within an urban heritage landscape.

“During the postwar period Marani Morris & Allan… designed numerous well-known insurance buildings, notably Manufacturers Life, Crown Life and Confederation Life in Toronto; Metropolitan Life in Ottawa; and Great-West Life in Winnipeg; banks, including the Bank of Canada in Ottawa, and the Royal Bank of Canada in Toronto; and public buildings, including Metropolitan Toronto Court House, and the military component of the Canadian Embassy, Washington, DC. In 1958, Morris was awarded the Royal Gold Medal for Architecture, bringing international recognition to the firm.”

-Geoffrey Simmins, “Rounthwaite, Dick & Hadley Architects & Engineers,” The Canadian Encyclopedia, March 4, 2015