This magnificent Beaux-Arts edifice (1913), constructed of steel sheathed in white granite and adorned with colossal colonnades on its four façades, occupies the entire east side of Dorchester Square. Headquarters of the Sun Life Insurance Company, the building could accommodate 2,500 employees and was touted as the "tallest building in the British Empire." Its construction and subsequent expansions (1923-1933) contributed to Montreal's status as Canada's most important financial city during those years. During World War II, the British government stored its Treasury bonds and gold reserves in this building. Today it houses the Sun Life administrative headquarters and other prestigious insurance and brokerage firms.