At the 1926 Annual Meeting, Royal Bank unveiled plans for an exciting new building for Montreal branch and head office. Rising twenty-three stories, it would be the tallest office building in the British Empire. New York architects York and Sawyer's design used local granite and limestone outside and the same limestone on the walls of the banking hall: walls that rose 45 feet to a richly decorated ceiling.
The Royal Bank Building, in the centre of the financial district, was visible from most corners of Montreal. Early in 1957, four searchlights were installed on the corners of the roof. Twenty-eight times brighter than the most powerful airport beacons in Canada at that time, the lights could be seen 150 kilometers away from the air and 50 kilometers on the ground. When head office moved to Place Ville Marie in 1962, the lights were installed there. Sweeping in circles more than 42 stories high, from dusk until late in the night, the searchlights are a Montreal landmark. Except for a brief period after they were damaged by ice in 1998, the searchlights have illuminated the night sky for over 40 years.
