Banks & Hotels
|
The Armoury & Drill Hall. This could possibly have been located on Broadway, because I know a wooden one was located there, and was replaced by both the Minto and the McGregor Armouries in 1913.
|
Built in 1882, it was known as the Assiniboine Block in 1904. Also went under the name of the Empire Hotel and the Cauchon Residential block. A beautiful building at Main & York, demolished in 1981 to make way for a parking lot.
|
This was the Bullman Bros. block
|
The Canada Life Building, located on the SW corner of Portage and Main Street. Demolished in 1973-74.
|
This was the Canada Permanent Block. I found some information on a building with the same name built in 1909, but this was earlier than that. I do recognise the Bell Telephone Company in the background, but don't have an address for that either. the wide street looks like Main though, doesn't it?
|
Here we have the Central Firehall. which I believe was on King Street
|
The CPR Depot. The first CP station, built in 1884 was demolished in 1903, the new one on Higgins Avenue was built in 1904. I would guess this was the original one. Lots of people there that day, and all wanted to get into the picture!
|
The Immigration building, which may or may not have been located north of Higgins, across the railway tracks as the immigration department worked in conjuction with the CPR Depot.
|
This could have been the Land Titles Office that was located at Kennedy and Broadway. It was demolished in 1912
|
This was the McIntyre Block at 416 Main Street, between Portage & McDermot. After this, it had the addition of two stories. It was demolished in 1979 to make way for a parking lot.
|
Entitled the Winnipeg Opera House, I think this might have been the Winnipeg Theatre & Opera House, formerly the Victoria Hall, built in 1883 at Notre Dame & Adelaide.
|
Orange Hall, or rather the Thomas Scott Memorial Orange Hall at 216 Princess Street. Built originally for the Orange Lodge in 1902. It was occupied at this point by M. B. Steele, who had a lot of carriages outside.
|
The Police Court building built in 1883 at 223 James Street, which later became James Avenue. The Mandarin Bldg. is now on this spot, supposedly built in 1986, but it looks exactly the same as this building. Check it out: Mandarin Building
|
The Princess Block which borders the streets of Princess, William, Elgin & Adelaide has recently been transformed into the Red River CC Downtown Campus. Here, the main inhabitant was C. H. Wilson, furniture dealer. There were also ads outside for Comfort Soap and farm implements.
|
Here is a view of the Farmers' Market in Market Avenue, showing City Hall behind. This building was a Winnipeg landmark for so many years, and it is surprising how little has been written about it.
|
This was Roblin House, built at 211 Garry Street in 1889 and demolished in 1958. Was it a hotel? A Guesthouse?
|
I don't know what it was, but this picture was entitled 'A Few of the Guests at Roblin House'
|
And this was Roblin House cuisine. Doesn't look very appetizing does it?
|
However, they did have more pleasant surroundings in which to eat the cuisine. This was the Roblin House dining room
|
Roblin House office
|
When this book was published, this was a pretty new building. It belonged to the wholesale dry goods company of Stobart & Sons, 275-281 McDermot. Later on, it became the Bedford Building, and in the 50's it was occupied by Brownstone's wholesale clothiers. More recently it is known as the home of Reiss Furs.
|
This Highly modern & respectable building was the Strathcona block built for Lord Strathcona as an elite residential building on the corner of Main Street and Broadway in 1902. It later became Fort Garry Court, and was destroyed by fire on February 1st, 1976.
|
Rear view of the same building
|
The Telegram Building was the largest newspaper office west of Toronto.
Located at 70 Albert Street, The Telegram was bought out by the Winnipeg Tribune in 1920. This building is now considered to be a heritage building, so is still up.
|
The Exchange Building on the right was built at 160 Princess Street in 1898 as an annex to the Grain Exchange building at 164 Princess. In the ground floor can be seen The Fairchild Company who sold implements, carriages & wagons. The Bank of Hamilton were alongside, and on the second floor was New York Life Insurance Co. I believe it is currently being used as a library by the RRCC Downtown Campus.
|
This was the office of The Farmers' Advocate magazine. I know it was located at one time in the McIntyre Block on Main St, but this isn't it. This building also housed the Imperial Bank of Canada, and a company called Christie's Heubach, I thought the latter made porcelain dolls heads, but right under that sign it reads 'Money to Loan' Go figure! It looks as if the top floor also housed the Winnipeg Sun.
|
This particular copy was published in 1899 when the office was indeed in the McIntyre Block.
Picture courtesy of
|
The Farmers' Market again, viewed from the other side.
|
The official opening of this building took place on January 18, 1901 when the Y.M.C.A. took residence, and leased the ground floor out for retail purposes at 276 Portage Avenue. Birks made some changes when they took it over, the bottom windows got smaller, the history of their products were added to the outside adornments, a canopy was placed over the door, and I am not sure if they were responsible for removing the front centre turret. Last time I checked, this building was up for sale or rent.
|
The building on the left was the Bank of Hamilton at 395 Main Street at McDermot.
The Bank of Commerce, that you can see next door but one, rebuilt their premises with even larger pillars, eating up the little building between, which shook the foundations of the Hamilton, causing them to rebuild too. Eventually, the Bank of Hamilton was taken over by the Bank of Commerce, and for a few years, there was a passageway between the two buildings. Last I heard, the Hamilton building was being occupied by the Department of Environmental Planning, City of Wpg. but that was back in 1982.
|
I am not 100% sure on this, but this might be the Dominion Bank that was located at 440 Main Street, and demolished in 1966.
|
The tall building was the Merchants Bank, which must also have been on Main Street because you can see the Bank of Commerce in the foreground, so it was probably the building at 371 Main, built in 1900.
|
Had trouble finding information about this building. It belonged to the National Trust Co. Interesting to note that the inscription over the door on the left reads 'Eureka Hall'
|
Anyone would think that the Union Bank only came to Winnipeg when the first city skyscraper was erected for them in 1903 next to the old City Hall (right). But the company was here before that, as you can see in the photo above.
So far, I have been unable to locate an address for it. Right next door to the Union Bank, is the Banque d'Hochelaga, which later became La Banque Canadienne Nationale.
Above that office was the offices of the Dominion American Land Co. and further down the block can be seen the Federal Life Insurance Co.
It was probably also Main Street, but haven't located it so far.
|
The Brunswick Hotel was located at Main and Rupert, and was owned and operated by the McLaren Bros. when this photo was taken. They either built or owned several hotels in the city, including the Empire at Main & York (see above) the Strathcona at Main & Rubert and of course the McLaren Hotel at 554 Main Street which was built in 1910.
|
This was the Clarendon Hotel, located on the NW corner of Portage & Donald. Built in 1883 and demolished in 1920. It was then built again as the Clarendon Block in a beautiful tudor style which was gutted by fire three years later.. It was built again, but less ornately, and most recently it has been called The Portage Village Inn
|
Located inside the Clarendon, this was the McIntosh Circulating Library and News Stand.
|
The magnificent Leland Hotel, built in 1883 by Barber and Barber, who also built the old City Hall. Located at 218 - 222 William Avenue, it was delisted in 1998 and destroyed by fire on January 16, 1999.
|
You are looking at a part of Main Street, and featured is the Winnipeg Hotel, and next door but one is the Commercial Hotel. These buildings certainly look nicer here than they do in the last photos I saw of them. I think they are still up, but am not certain. If they are, I think they are probably rooming houses now. The Commercial Hotel is also known as the MacDonald Block.
|
The original Mariaggi's Hotel, located at 86 Albert Street and 227-237 McDermot, it was part of the Alexandra Block and the basement Grotto restaurant, run by Frank Mariaggi was such a success that he converted the building into a luxury hotel with a European style. The hotel continues today using the Mariaggi name, and now offers luxury theme rooms.
|
He had separate dining rooms for men and women. This was the Gentlemen's dining room.
|
One of the suites
|
A private dining room in the Grotto. Just right for that illicit affair! :-)
|
The Hotel Mariaggi refreshment bar. Now that was a very long bar!
When Frank Mariaggi heard about the new Royal Alexandra Hotel that was being built, he decided to sell up in 1908 and moved back to Corsica with his Canadian wife. He died there in 1918.
|
This hotel, with its lovely carriage to pick up patrons was the Seymour at 277 Market Avenue. Long demolished I am afraid.
|
Can't find any reference to this hotel at all, but it was not the type that would end up as a listed building, so was probably demolished and forgotten many years ago. It was the Vivian Hotel, run by proprietor Albert Vivian. On the right you can see the lobby. They obviously expected many guests, judging by the amount of chairs, and were they spitoons on the floor? Ugh!
|
Our last photo in this category is the Winnipeg Lodging and Coffee House at 175 Logan Avenue - now demolished.
|
I had trouble locating the position of the firehall on the left, so went to the top, and enlisted the help of Ted Kuryluk, President of the Fire Fighters Historical Society of Winnipeg. Here is what he said:
"The 'South Hall' was located on the corner of Smith and York. It has been demolished. The Main Post Office is now on part of the property."
Thanks Ted, that was very helpful!
|
Had an e-mail from Chris Jones who says that the Canada Permanent Block was on the SE corner of Portage & Main, where the Bank of Montreal now stands.
So it wasn't so permanent was it? Sorry, I couldn't help myself! :-)
So this means that the Bell Telephone Co. must have been on Portage East.
|
This is what Chris Jones has to say about this one:
The Princess (later Plymouth) block was demolished in 1965, and was actually located ACROSS William Ave. from the present Red River College. The Police Credit Union stands there today.
|
Chris says that this building was actually demolished in 1993, not 1958, but didn't say what it was used for.
|
Hmmm, well now we have a differing view.
Chris Jones says that the South Hall was demolished in 1928, and was located where the Sheraton stands today, not the post office, which is further up the street.
Would that be The York Hotel on Donald? (Used to be the Sheraton)
|
Chris Jones also has some information on the Vivian Hotel above. He says it was located on Lombard Street, on the site of the present Lombard Garage. It was called the Co-op Building by the 1950's, and was pulled down around 1963.
|
Oh now this is interesting. Chris also says that I got this one wrong. It was indeed located at 175 Logan, but that was later. This one was situated on Lombard Street also, in fact it was just a few doors down from the Vivian Hotel, on the site of the present-day Fairmont Hotel. The 'Coffee & Lodging' in the picture was later expanded and renamed the 'Grange Hotel' (as in "Grain Exchange" across the way). It was demolished in 1967.
|
Updated February 3, 2008
|