Look for a grand sandstone building with elegant arched windows right on the corner of King and Prince William Streets-it’s impossible to miss as it stands out from the red-brick neighbors around it.
You’re looking at the Domville Building, a true heavyweight in Saint John’s history. Imagine it’s 1878: just a year after the city’s devastating Great Fire, smoke smells still linger in the air and the streets are busy with the sounds of rebuilding. The cornerstone for this impressive structure is being set into place, handed directly to James Domville, a man you’d want at your dinner party for his tales from Parliament. The Domville wasn’t just a fancy address, though-its thick sandstone walls once echoed with the footsteps of railway tycoons, bustling bankers from the Maritime Bank and Bank of Montreal, and even a few folks ducking in for a drink or to argue politics upstairs. Over the decades, the building wore many hats: offices, railways, insurance, bar, restaurant-you name it, it probably housed it! And talk about style! Its Second Empire architecture gives it an air of European flair right here in Saint John. In 1982, the city recognized this heavyweight, declaring it a historic treasure. Even now, as you stand under its shadow, the Bank of Montreal still calls it home. If these walls could talk, I suspect they’d have a few dramatic stories-and maybe a secret or two about lost coins in the old floorboards!
