Buildings we lost, saved in 2012

Here is a look back at some of the buildings (and a couple of other built structures) that Winnipeg lost in the past year. They range from the grand scale of the Winnipeg International Airport to the garage-sized Henry Barber Shop.

Regardless of size or the amount of media attention their demise received, each of them told a part of Winnipeg's history. Sometimes it is in the back story of how it got built or who built it. More often it is about the people who lived or worked there - the new immigrant that ran a shop for decades or a family who lost children in the wars.

Once the bricks and mortar disappear, though, they often take their stories with them. At my West End Dumplings and Winnipeg Downtown Places blogs I have tried to capture as many of them as I could.

The Lost

 

Sir Sam Steele School
Chester Street (1918 - 2012)

Building History - Photo Gallery

Maryland South Building
Misericordia Hospital

Information Video

Albert Einstein Apts / McNamara Hall
Spence Street (1959 - 2012)

Information

Albert Business Block
Albert Street (1877 / 1924 - 2012)

 Building History - Photo Gallery

Henry Barber Shop
Mountain Avenue (ca. 1930s - 2012)

Building History

Stuart Manufacturing Building
Main Street (1910 - 2012)

Building History - Photo Gallery

Winnipeg International Airport
(1963 - 2012)

Building History - Photo Gallery

Clarendon Hotel
Portage Avenue (1920 - 2012)

Building History - Photo Gallery - Video

Kennedy Block / Mitchell Copp
Portage Avenue (1906 / 1919 - 2012)

Building History - Photo Gallery

Norlyn Building
Hargrave Street (1903 / 1923 - 2012)

Building History - Photo Gallery -Video

Included: Wagon Wheel Lunch (1951 - 2012)

Donalda Building
Donald Street (1951 - 2012)

Building History - Photo Gallery

Alabama Building
Ellice Avenue (1974 - 2012)

Building History - Photo Gallery

Coronation Block
King Street (1882 - 2012)

Building History - Photo Gallery

Grey Goose Garage
Burnell Street (1925 /ca. 1970's - 2012)

Building History - Photo Gallery

M.S. Lord Selkirk II
(1969 - 2012)

Ship History

 
Disraeli Bridge I 
(1960 - 2012)
Bridge History

Other demolitions included ViAnn Restaurant and Movie Village on Osborne Street. North Kildonan said goodbye to Springfield Heights Shopping Centre. The West End lost the former Christadelphian Church on Sherbrook, Miranda Foods on Notre Dame, former Walhalla Apartments on Sherbrook and Acme Blower on Arlington.

The Saved

Not all was lost, though. A wide array of buildings either began or completed significant renovations that will ensure that they live on for many decades to come. I will have histories of all of these buildings in the months to come.

Former Sovereign Life Building 

Broadway Avenue (1957)

Building History

Former Union Bank Tower
Main Street (1904)
Building History - Media

Ingram and Bell Block
Kennedy Street (1949)
Building History

Canada Building
Donald Street (1910)
Building History - Media

Bell Block
Princess Street (1905)
Building History - Media

Kemp Manufacturing Block
Lombard Avenue (1903)
Building History

"We Teach" Building
Pacific Avenue (unknown)
More information

Salvation Army Citadel
Rupert Avenue (1901) 
Building History

 
Metropolitan Theatre
Donald Street (1920)
Building History 

Christmas Fiction from Manitoba's past

December 24, 1906, Brandon Sun (source)

Ho Ho Ho ! Merry Christmas everyone ! Here's a selection of Manitoba Christmas fiction from long ago for your enjoyment !

Here's a short story published in 1935 by author, poet and HBC employee Robert Watson entitled When Christmas Came to Fort Garry.

From a 1931 collection of short stories by teacher, author and activist Nellie McClung: The Milkman's Christmas. McClung also penned When Christmas Crossed "The Peace."

This Christmas 1892 edition of the Brandon Times includes The Lost Cameo - A Manitoba Christmas Tale by Dixi. 

Open House: Burnell's former Canada Bread plant proposal UPDATE

There will be an open house today to show off a proposed plan for a new residential / commercial development for the old Canada Bread plant on Burnell Street near Portage Avenue. It takes place Wednesday December 19 from 2 pm to 5 pm at 696 Portage Avenue near Maryland.

November 8, 2012, Manitoba Free Press

It's potentially great news for the building which opened at 258 Burnell in November 1912 and has sat vacant since Canada Bread's departure in 1998. Poorly maintained with some windows not boarded up and at times doors open and steel grates missing from over the sidewalk out front, the owners have been cited (and appealed) numerous times under the Vacant Building Bylaw, (including in 2006  and throughout 2011 -12.) I figured it was doomed to burn to the ground one night.

It's also potentially great news for the neighbourhood. It's the final relic from the old industrial days of Burnell Street that included a bus garage, two commercial bakeries, an ice cream plant and a dry cleaning plant all in a two block stretch. (The Grey Goose garage was demolished earlier this year and is now a vacant lot for sale.)

The only thing that does set my radar off is the way in which the open house has been advertised. I live within a block of the building, 300 metres according to Google Maps. Aside from a few houses that sit across the back lane from it, there aren't really any residences closer to it than me and my neighbours and they don't seem to have received the "Hi Neghbour" letter advertising it.

I really hope that this is a sincere proposal, and not something to buy additional time from having to properly maintain the place, (they've had six months of reprieve from their latest citation under the bylaw based on the fact that there may be a potential development.)

Related:
A history of Burnell's Bakeries West End Dumplings
Burnell Street Building by Building  West End Dumplings
Planned apartment building declared derelict Metro (April 2012)
Appeal denied Winnipeg Free Press (April 2012)

UPDATE December 19:

I attended the open house. The consortium is looking to convert both buildings (the main bakery and stables/garage) into 80 rental units with 4 retail units on the main floor. The main floor of the garage will be parking.

A majority of the units will be smaller, around 600 sq feet, though there will be a few 2 bdr as well. Each will have an interior balcony so the outward appearance of the building doesn't change much.

They will be going to the city soon to request zoning approval. One guy told me that they do wold like to begin in March 2013 and have it done by the end of the year. I won't believe it until I see a flurry of builders' vans out front, but it is a hopeful sign for tis nice, old building.Also, an update on the former Grey Goose garage ... I herd a rumour that it has been conditionally purchased (based on the owner getting zoning changes and independent confirmation of the contamination cleanup) by Sandhu Developments for a condominium development.

That stretch of Burnell Street could look very different this time next year !

UPDATE January 29, 2013:

The owners have requested a rezoning of the property. Drawings, floor plans and other details of the project can be seen by going here and using the menu at the top to scroll down to "258 Burnell Street - DAV"

UPDATE March 2013: 

Canada Bread plant redevelopment clears hurdle Canstar

UPDATE November 2013:

After spending the summer of 2013 clearing the building out, the owners (Burnell Properties Ltd.) sold the building. A letter was send to the city saying that as they were no longer owners, they would not be appealing the next derelict building hearing on December 3.

Presumably, the new owners will seek an appeal. If not, the city would take title to the land and try to sell it.

Sherbrook Street's last rotten tooth

 July 2007

September 2012

December 2012

I've posted a couple of times about the fact that Sherbrook Street has been on an incredible roll in the past couple of years. From the new condo development and Women's Hospital at its northern end to the new condo development and Misericordia construction at the south, it's undergoing a milti-million dollar upgrade to its streetscape.

This change has been most apparent in West Broadway where it has become a new Osborne Street or Corydon Avenue with small shops and trendy cafe's and eating establishments.

The last holdout has been the Melbourne Apartments which have been boarded up since 2005. Over the past year, though, renovations have been slowly but surely taking place. Soon the last missing rotten tooth along that stretch of Sherbrook will be filled in again !

December 31, 1910, Manitoba Free Press

My latest post at my Winnipeg Downtown Places blog is a history of the Melbourne Apartments which opened on Sherbrooke street in December 1910.

Some of my other Sherbrook Street posts:
My Sherbrook Street photo album

The Sherbrook Inn - West Broadway's Bogeyman

A history of the Sherbrook Inn

A look back at 577 Sherbrook Street

New housing for West Broadway

Farewell to some old Sherbrook Street Houses

New Development on Sherbrook and Sargent

More Housing Win for Sherbrook Street

Farewell, Captain Norris

Sadly, the new owners of the Norris Block (former Aqua Books) on Garry Street painted over the "J. Norris - Tailor" sign on the side of the building. (Apparently it's going to be a restaurant / bar.)

Norris Tailors was created in 1921 by John Norris Sr.. His son, John Jr., followed in his father's footsteps but World War II interrupted. Norris was captured at the battle of Hong Kong and spent the remainder of the war in a POW camp. Due to his rank he was singled out for torture that he never did recover from, (his perpetrator was eventually put to death at a war tribunal.)

Upon his return to Winnipeg in 1943, he spent months in hospital but did recover enough to run the family business. He was also the driving force behind the creation of the Hong Kong Veterans Association. 

Captain John Norris died at the shop in 1949 at the age of 44.

For a history of the Norris Block. For more of the story of Captain John Norris.

Cleaning tips for men by Kay Middleton, circa 1943

Source: November 9, 1943, Winnipeg Tribune

Kay Middleton was the Winnipeg Tribune's Home Economics Editor from 1935 - 1948 and credited with writing 4,000 "A Page for Winnipeg Homes" columns. Unlike her counterparts in later generations, she had to counsel Manitoba housewives on everything from shopping tips and recipes to household budgeting and cleaning advice during some of the province's darkest years.

The Depression, of course, was all about making a dime go as far as they could and how to keep a sense of normalcy when there was no money for birthday parties or holiday functions. During World War II, society was turned on its head with the huge number of single parent households and thousands of women working outside of the home. Food shortages and rationing added stress to an already stressful period.

Here, Kay takes on one of those oddities of the World War II era: the house husband ! Yes, many men had little choice but to pick up an iron or get on their hands and knees to scrub the kitchen floor. She offers sound advice for clumsy men and tips for housewives on how to tolerate their improper cleaning instincts.

For more on the interesting career of Kay Middleton, who ended up being a U.S. television pioneer, and a collection of her World War II era Christmas columns check out my post from last year Holiday Entertaining with the Winnipeg Tribune's Kay Middleton !