Edited sentence: Afer his death.Allan's association with the bank facilitated his growth in other profitable ventures.In 1844 Hugh Allan married Caroline Matilda Smith, the daughter of John Smith, one of Montreal's wealthiest dry goods merchants.The bank soon became known as one of Canada's most aggressive.The house, which rivalled only Dundern Castle in size and elegance, was completed in three years in 1863, and the ballroom alone could comfortably accommodate several hundred guests.They brought up a family of nine daughters and four sons and lived at Ravenscrag, Allan's sumptuous Italian Renaissance house on the slopes of Mount Royal, formerly the estate of Simon McTavish.They took over the failing Commercial Bank of Canada and by the mid 1870's had branches in New York and London