Union Bank Building

The Union Bank Building (aka the Union Bank Tower or Former Union Bank Building and Annex), located in the Exchange District of Winnipeg, Manitoba, is the first skyscraper in Canada, once forming the northern end of Main Street's prestigious Banker's Row. It was designated a National Historic Site of Canada in 1997.

The 11-storey (including mezzanine) building towers over its neighbours at a height of 47.58 metres (156.1 ft). Beginning construction in 1903 and opening in November 1904, the Union Bank Tower was the tallest building in Winnipeg at its completion, beating the eight stories of the newly-built Merchants' Bank building (now demolished). At the time of opening, the top floor of Union Bank was the second-highest in the British Empire, just 1 metre (3.3 ft) below London's tallest building.

Union Bank Tower is the oldest surviving of Canada's tallest buildings to incorporate a steel skeleton structure that fully supports a light-weight, veneer 'curtain wall' facade—a design innovation that facilitated the proliferation of skyscrapers in the 20th century. The Merchants' Bank building proceeded it by several years in use of steel structure construction. Moreover, Union Bank Tower had the largest and fastest elevator in Western Canada and was the first building in the nation to introduce the modern concept of a general contractor to oversee construction.

Initially built for the Union Bank of Canada, it remained vacant for 18 years beginning in the late 1990s, until it was redeveloped into the Paterson GlobalFoods Institute and student housing for Red River College in 2013.