Sun Life Building

The Sun Life Building anchors the corner of Metcalfe and René-Lévesque with the kind of presence only a century-old structure can manage. Twenty-six storeys of grey granite and limestone rising 400 feet above Dorchester Square, flanked by Mary Queen of the World Cathedral on one side and downtown's bustle on the other.

Built in phases between 1914 and 1933, it once held the title of tallest building in Montreal—and for a time, the largest in the British Empire. The colonnade facing the square gives it a monumental quality, the kind of architecture meant to project permanence and authority. Inside, more than a million square feet of office space houses financial firms, tech companies, and various tenants who've claimed space in one of the city's more recognizable addresses.

The building sits at the eastern edge of Dorchester Square, accessible by metro, bus, bike, or on foot from anywhere downtown. When Sun Life Assurance decided to move north from Old Montreal in 1914, the city's financial district followed. Over a century later, it remains a fixture of Montreal's skyline.