From 1892 to Present Day
A Brief History of Our Head Office

Modest Beginnings

For Alliance and Industrial, the initial beginnings are quite modest, but both companies will relocate a number of times as they hire more and more employees.

Saint-Jacques Street, Montreal, the first head office of Alliance Nationale

Des Faussées Avenue, Quebec City (later renamed Charest Boulevard), the former head office of Industrial Life Insurance Company

New Office Building for Alliance

In 1933, after four moves, Alliance orders the construction of a four-storey office building on Sherbrooke Street, in Montreal. Some 40 years later, Alliance outgrows the premises and erects a 21-storey office tower on the same street.

Located across the street from McGill University, the building's co-owner, Le 680 Sherbrooke Ouest is built in 1976 and currently home to Industrial Alliance's Montreal office. The building has a semi-reflective glass exterior-one of the first of its kind in Canada. Hydro-Québec and other major firms also occupy offices in the building.

680 Sherbrooke Street West, Montreal

Construction of a New Head Office for Industrial

In 1951, Industrial moves to its new head office in the Quebec City suburb of Sillery. The building's lobby, which holds a special place for art, is specially designed to house an immense fresco by Jean Dallaire.

The building, which is designed by New York architect Arthur O. Angily, is situated on some 300,000 square feet of magnificently landscaped property. The head office undergoes three expansions - in 1958, 1976 and 2002. Following its most recent expansion, the Company can now accommodate close to 1,500 employees, which is twice its previous capacity.

1080 Saint-Louis Road, Sillery

Details of the fresco entitled Quebec Under the French Regime, by Jean Dallaire (1951)

Jean Dallaire's fresco, which lines the main wall of the Industrial Alliance head office lobby, is entitled Quebec Under the French Regime. It features several historical figures who had the greatest impact during this particular period of history. The 10 by 40- oil fresco requires eight months and over 140 tubes of paint to complete.