Royal Bank Plaza in Toronto

Toronto

Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...

, Ontario

Ontario

Ontario is a province of Canada, located in east-central Canada. It is Canada's most populous province and second largest in total area. It is home to the nation's most populous city, Toronto, and the nation's capital, Ottawa....

, Canada

Canada

Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

, is the de facto

De facto

De facto is a Latin expression that means "concerning fact." In law, it often means "in practice but not necessarily ordained by law" or "in practice or actuality, but not officially established." It is commonly used in contrast to de jure when referring to matters of law, governance, or...

 headquarters of the Royal Bank of Canada

Royal Bank of Canada

The Royal Bank of Canada or RBC Financial Group is the largest financial institution in Canada, as measured by deposits, revenues, and market capitalization. The bank serves seventeen million clients and has 80,100 employees worldwide. The company corporate headquarters are located in Toronto,...

. The building shares with the Fairmont Royal York Hotel the block in Toronto's financial district

Financial District, Toronto

The Financial District is a business district in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, within the downtown core. It was originally planned as New Town in 1796 as an extension of the Town of York . It is the main financial district in Toronto, and is the financial heart of Canada...

 bordered by Bay

Bay Street

Bay Street, originally known as Bear Street, is a major thoroughfare in Downtown Toronto. It is the centre of Toronto's Financial District and is often used by metonymy to refer to Canada's financial industry since succeeding Montreal's St. James Street in that role in the 1970s...

, Front

Front Street (Toronto)

Front Street is an east-west road in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The street marks the rough outline of the shoreline of Lake Ontario as it existed during the original English settlement of York, then called Palace Street...

, York, and Wellington streets.

Built to be the new main office of the Royal Bank after its decision to move its centre of operations from Place Ville Marie in Montreal to Toronto in the late 1970s, Royal Bank Plaza consists of two office buildings: the South Tower and the North Tower. The South Tower, a skyscraper

Skyscraper

A skyscraper is a tall, continuously habitable building of many stories, often designed for office and commercial use. There is no official definition or height above which a building may be classified as a skyscraper...

, is the taller of the two at 180 m (591 ft); the North Tower has a height of 112 m (367 ft). The exteriors of the structures are largely covered with glass; together they have more than 14,000 windows. The windows, manufactured by Canadian Pittsburgh Industries, were coloured using 2,500 ounces of gold

Gold

Gold is a chemical element with the symbol Au and an atomic number of 79. Gold is a dense, soft, shiny, malleable and ductile metal. Pure gold has a bright yellow color and luster traditionally considered attractive, which it maintains without oxidizing in air or water. Chemically, gold is a...

 valued at CA$70 per pane when installed.

In addition to office space and the Toronto Main Branch of the Royal Bank, Royal Bank Plaza also contains a shopping concourse which is part of the PATH

PATH (Toronto)

PATH is a network of pedestrian tunnels beneath the office towers of Downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada. According to Guinness World Records, PATH is the largest underground shopping complex in the world with 371,600 m² PATH is a network of pedestrian tunnels beneath the office towers of Downtown...

 network, linking directly to the TD Centre

Toronto-Dominion Centre

The Toronto-Dominion Centre, or Centre, is a cluster of buildings in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, consisting of six towers and a pavilion covered in bronze-tinted glass and black painted steel. It serves as the global headquarters of the Toronto-Dominion Bank, as well as providing office and...

 as well as Union Station

Union Station (Toronto)

Union Station is the major inter-city rail station and a major commuter rail hub in Toronto, located on Front Street West and occupying the south side of the block bounded by Bay Street and York Street in the central business district. The station building is owned by the City of Toronto, while the...

, Brookfield Place (BCE Place) and the Fairmont Royal York

Fairmont Royal York

The Fairmont Royal York Hotel, formerly the Royal York Hotel and still often so called, is a large and historic hotel in downtown Toronto, Ontario, Canada, at 100 Front Street West. Opened on June 11, 1929, the Royal York was designed by Ross and Macdonald and built by the Canadian Pacific Railway...

. The concourse merchants mall and tower lobbies underwent extensive renovations between 2005 and 2007.

The building was originally constructed with a large atrium opening above the main banking hall, but in the 1990s a trading floor was added, closing off the open space.

The bank maintains a presence in a number of towers in the downtown core, including the Royal Bank Building

Royal Bank Building, Toronto

The Royal Bank Building refers to two office buildings built for the Royal Bank of Canada in the Financial District of Toronto, Canada:The 20-storey Royal Bank Building, located on the northeast corner of Yonge and King Streets, was completed in 1915 and designed by the architectural firm Ross and...

 at 20 King Street West (near Yonge

Yonge Street

Yonge Street is a major arterial route connecting the shores of Lake Ontario in Toronto to Lake Simcoe, a gateway to the Upper Great Lakes. It was formerly listed in the Guinness Book of Records as the longest street in the world at , and the construction of Yonge Street is designated an "Event of...

) next to Scotia Plaza

Scotia Plaza

Scotia Plaza is a Postmodern commercial office complex in the city of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The complex is situated in the financial district of the downtown core, and is generally bordered by Yonge Street on the east, King Street West on the south, Bay Street on the west, and Adelaide Street...

, the RBC Centre

RBC Centre

RBC Centre is a , 43-storey office tower completed on June 2009 in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, on the outskirts of the traditionally defined financial district, owned and managed by Cadillac Fairview Corporation...

 at 155 Wellington Street West, and the building complex at 310, 315, 320 and 330 Front Street West, next to the Toronto Convention Centre.

External links

• Royal Bank Plaza North at Oxford Properties Group
• Royal Bank Plaza South at Oxford Properties Group