GARY WILL: Waterloo City Tour -- Clarica

The Mutual Group
227 King Street South
(King and Union)

Once you cross the city boundary coming up King Street, one of the first buildings you will see is the most impressive business landmark in the entire city -- the former headquarters of The Mutual Group, now part of Sun Life Financial.

When the Ontario Mutual Life Assurance Company was established in 1868, it became the first life insurance business in Waterloo. Seventy-five years of company history and growth is depicted in this photo showing Waterloo's largest office tower -- built in a 1987 expansion -- looming over the original office building on this site from 1912. The older building, designed by prominent Canadian architect Frank Darling, has been designated a heritage landmark by the City.

For many years, Waterloo was known as "the Hartford of Canada" because of the number of insurance companies with headquarters here. The Mutual Group was one of the first and the most successful. It changed its name to Clarica in 1999 and was acquired by Sun Life Financial in 2002.

Written by Gary Will
gary@garywill.com