One King West, Toronto

[wylk]

A Toronto hotel, One King West, includes a former bank (Dominion Bank, 1914). One floor below the main level there is a large vault with a 4-foot-thick door:



It is peculiar because the bolts can be seen but the boltwork is hidden (additionally there are only 20 bolts instead of the more common 24). The only other one I've seen like this is in the Federal Reserve Bank in Cleveland (which has 16 bolts) and is made by York. So, tentatively, the Toronto vault is probably a York?

I haven't run across any patents for this style of boltwork. Can anyone help?

[Doug MacQueen]

I believe that is a Remington Sherman door having seen pictures of one just like it, but as you say it is strikingly similar to the Cleveland York. I, too have found nothing in the patents for either door. If I remember correctly, York did take over Rem Sherm but that happened later. The overall design of both doors was both innovative and more modern looking than other doors of time, especially if the Toronto door is from 1914. Both doors use pins in the jamb that mate up to pins in the door to push and pull the boltwork. There is definitely a connection between the two but I have yet to figure it out.

[Doug MacQueen]

I think I have found the connection here. Frederick S. Holmes, who was a very active vault engineer during that period designed several doors of this type based on what I have found searching his name. If you have "Lure of Lock" he includes some door pictures in his article at the back of the book. Still haven't found any patents though for this type of door.

[wylk]

Two more things --

I have verified with the One King West hotel that the door is in fact a Remington & Sherman, and that the vault engineer was Frederick S. Holmes.

I found a note in a 1926 magazine that the Bronx County Trust Company installed a vault which included Holmes electric protection, and the "vault was installed by Remington and Sherman." I note the use of "installed" rather than "manufactured"; an image in the magazine looks almost exactly like a Diebold door I examined earlier the same day (please note I am not a locksmith/vaultsmith, this was pure luck). I'm thinking perhaps in R&S' later years (1922-1925) they became more of a reseller/marketer than a manufacturer and their eventual absorption by York was to gain access to their patents and reputation. The magazine was Architecture and Building, volume 58 number 4, April 1926, page 45 and plates. This is about the only mention of R&S that I can find after 1922 excluding some banking directory entries.

[VaultDoors]

I found a floor plan for the One King West vault area and added some detail. Please let me know if any terms are incorrect:



Here is a pic and video gallery I compiled for the One King West vault door.

[wylk]

I found a floor plan for the One King West vault area and added some detail. Please let me know if any terms are incorrect:



Here is a pic and video gallery I compiled for the One King West vault door.

It's my understanding that modern usage is more often "Safe Deposit" than "Safety Deposit."

The "Safety Deposit Room" (as seen in the Realtor video) looks more like something the hotel installed for patrons rather than anything original. It might have originally been a "Coupon Room" or something else.

While the time lock currently has three movements, it probably originally had four (which was frequent on such large doors). I don't have any old images to support this but here is a drawing that suggests four:

[VaultDoors]

Great observations, thank you! I updated the vault plan:

[VaultDoors]

It's my understanding that modern usage is more often "Safe Deposit" than "Safety Deposit."

The "Safety Deposit Room" (as seen in the Realtor video) looks more like something the hotel installed for patrons rather than anything original. It might have originally been a "Coupon Room" or something else.

While the time lock currently has three movements, it probably originally had four (which was frequent on such large doors). I don't have any old images to support this but here is a drawing that suggests four:

That's a great drawing. Do you have any other drawings/pictures/plans of the One King West door you can share that are not in my online gallery?

[VaultDoors]

It's my understanding that modern usage is more often "Safe Deposit" than "Safety Deposit."

The "Safety Deposit Room" (as seen in the Realtor video) looks more like something the hotel installed for patrons rather than anything original. It might have originally been a "Coupon Room" or something else.

While the time lock currently has three movements, it probably originally had four (which was frequent on such large doors). I don't have any old images to support this but here is a drawing that suggests four:

I found this pic on Mark Frank's website that shows a time lock similar to the One King West time lock - a missing movement that may have housed an electric trigger:

[VaultDoors]

It's my understanding that modern usage is more often "Safe Deposit" than "Safety Deposit."

The "Safety Deposit Room" (as seen in the Realtor video) looks more like something the hotel installed for patrons rather than anything original. It might have originally been a "Coupon Room" or something else.

While the time lock currently has three movements, it probably originally had four (which was frequent on such large doors). I don't have any old images to support this but here is a drawing that suggests four:

I found an image of the One King West vault door with the 4 movement time lock: