Description of Historic Place

The Canadian Bank of Commerce is a
large two-storey prefabricated wooden bank opened on the main street of Rivers in southwestern Manitoba
in 1908. The municipal designation applies to the building and its lot.

Heritage Value

The Canadian Bank of Commerce is one of the few that remain from some 70 prefabricated
wooden branches opened by the bank across the Prairies in the boom years before World War I. Designed
and shipped by rail from Vancouver by the T. Eaton Co., the structure's components, including numbered
pre-painted panels, arrived at Rivers in two boxcars and were said to be erected by a crew on a prepared
foundation in two days. The two-storey design, designated "Number 2", featured a modest, classically
appointed facade in three bays topped by a shallow pediment and a commodious second-floor manager's
residence. Located on the main street near the railway facilities that sustain the town, the bank has
seen several transformations, most recently to a private dwelling, reflecting the evolution of the local
economy.

Source: Town of Rivers By-law No. 4 - 2009, September 15, 2009

Character-Defining Elements

Key
elements that define the heritage character of the Canadian Bank of Commerce site include:
- its location
at the prominent commercial intersection of southeast Main Street and 2nd Avenue in Rivers, just north
of the Canadian National Railways main line, station and bunkhouse
- the building set squarely flush
to the sidewalk on its public west (front) and north sides

Key elements that define the structure's
classically inspired and standardized exterior include:
- the boxy rectangular two-storey plan executed
through prefabricated wood-frame construction, with a forward-facing gable roof and a concrete and brick
foundation
- the symmetrical grid, with all sides played off the facade against a broad triangular pediment
with an oval window
- the openings stacked vertically in a regular pattern of three bays across all sides,
etc.