225 Fort Street - The Coliseum / Alhambra Hall (R.I.P.)

  © 2025, Christian Cassidy

Source: Google Street View

Place: The Coliseum (Dec 1912-1917), Alhambra Dance Gardens (1917-1926), Diamond Taxi (1926-1931), Fort Market garden (1931), Moore's Taxi garage (1931- ca. 1972); various (ca, 1972 to ca. 1989)
Location: 225 Fort Street (map)
Constructed: 1912
Demolished: ca. 1989
Architect: Alexander Melville

December 14, 1912, Winnipeg Tribune

In August 1912, the Coliseum Amusement Company took out a $40,000 building permit to construct The Coliseum dance hall on the east side of Fort Street between St. Mary’s and Graham.

The president of the company was J. A. Schubert, the former owner of the Bijou Theatre (back when it was known as the Empress). Other principals included John Nash of the Province Theatre and John M. Cooke, a former manager of the Bijou Theatre. Victor Josselyn would be the facility manager.

The Coliseum was considered to be the city's first year-round, all-season dance hall. There were, and had been, year-round venues such as hotel banquet rooms and general halls for rent able to host banquets, concerts and dances, but The Coliseum would produce its own dances.  

A Tribune reporter predicted that a year-round dance hall "...is something that Winnipeggers have vaguely wanted for a long time - something they have desired without really knowing what it was”.

I cannot find detailed photos of the building, which in one newspaper article was described as "handsome". This is hardly a surprise as the man who designed it was Alex Melville whose work already included ten Winnipeg fire halls and the Startland Theatre on Main Street.

*** Addition: Someone was nice enough to send me an archived copy of the Historic Buildings Report done before its demolition that contained the above photos. As can be seen, Melville's drawing shows a far more opulent, theatre-like facade that never materialised.

225 Fort Street ca. 1912 to 1917 (full sized image here)

225 Fort Street after 1926 (full-sized image here)

The Coliseum boasted a steel frame construction and red brick walls with stone accents. It measured 100 feet wide by 120 feet deep, and the ceiling height in the hall was nearly 30 feet.

It featured the latest in ventilation and heating systems and was lit with 5,000 lights and 2,000 venetian lamps. There was a small stage and an orchestra stand at the front of house.

The dance floor had the capacity for 500 couples and the venue could seat 1,200 for banquets.

Early dance ads

The Coliseum opened on December 16, 1912, just in time for the Christmas season. Dances were held nightly until midnight, except for Sundays as per Lord's Day laws. In later years, weekend dances would go as late as 2 a.m..

For those worried that a dance hall might be a seedy place for women to be seen in, the hall was alcohol free, had a women's waiting area and was patrolled by chaperones headed by Miss Helen Buck, a former governess in England. They made sure that The Coliseum lived up to its billing as "The Home of Clean Dancing".

The Coliseum made the most of its lighting system in what it called its "electrical dances". All of the lights in the hall went to a central switchboard that could be operated by a single technician. Using the switches and a collection of well-placed mirrors around the hall, he could create light shows for the type of dance that was on offer.

The Coliseum's opening also coincided with the tango craze that was sweeping European ballrooms. The hall's local dance instructors, Mr. and Mrs. Wirth, would put on tango demonstrations and the venue would show short films of tango dancers in action to get Winnipeggers up to speed.

Early program ads

Like any independent theatre or hall, The Coliseum couldn't rely on just one activity to make money. 

The management hosted a variety of activities during the daytime to bring people through the doors, ranging from a Kodak photo and moving picture exhibition, to baby shows, to live World Series score updates. Many dance nights began with short film reels or gimmicks like pillow fights or fake snowball fights.

The odd boxing match was advertised in 1914 and would become a much more regular occurrence as the years went on.

Newspaper ads for the regular dances dropped off in early 1915. They were still taking place on a nightly basis, but advertising that people could dance the night away while the war was raging may have been seen as in bad taste.

In the fall of 1915, the venue hosted many fundraising dances and other events for organizations like the Women's Volunteer Reserve, the Returned Soldiers' Association, and the Lonely Soldiers' Christmas Fund. Several battalions also had dances or dinners there. At a 44th Battalion public dance in September 1915, it managed to sign up 22 new recruits.

Promotional postcard ,undated

The Coliseum closed in the summer of 1916 for renovations.

It made “elaborate improvements” to the décor and reduced the orchestra stand in favour of an expanded stage and increased occupancy. This could be confirmation that dancing would not be its sole focus going forward.

The first item on the winter 1916 schedule was Labour Day dance, followed by regular dances on Monday, Wednesdays and Saturdays. There were also more military-related fundraisers as well as semi-regular boxing matches.

Events in 1917

The action continued at The Coliseum until February 1917, then newspaper mentions of the dance hall disappear. There was one large boxing card in May, but the tickets were sold at the Royal Albert Hotel, not the venue.

It is unclear what happened to The Coliseum as the newspapers didn't report directly on its closure.

It could be that at the height of the war, there just weren't enough customers who wanted to go to nightly dances. As for boxing, as the war dragged on it likely would have been a challenge to find enough fit young men to put on a lengthy card. The constant fundraising events likely didn't pay the venue's bills.

It could also be that some or all of the investors in Coliseum Amusements Company wanted out. Some theatre men, like hoteliers, tended to invest in projects for the shorter term and then moved on to build their next big project.

Whatever the reasons, The Coliseum was no more. (Read more about Victor Josselyn here.)

September 27, 1917, Winnipeg Tribune

The next newspaper mention of 225 Fort Street comes in August 1917 when it was announced that new investors were renovating the building into the Alhambra dance hall. (This is not to be confused with the 1902 -1904 Alhambra Hall on the third floor of the Northwest Hide and Fur Building on Rupert Avenue, which was a popular spot for dancing and other activities in its day.)

Victor Josselyn, an investor and manager of The Coliseum, would stay on in the same roles with the rebranded venue. The owner of the building was apparently the Goodman family of England.

The Alhambra would still offer dancing, though only two nights a week at first, and promoted that it could be rented for banquets, conferences and concerts.

Its first big event in September 1917 was The Winnipeg Electric Show from September 3 to 8. It was a chance for utilities and companies to show off the latest in electrical lighting and home appliances. Trade shows and conferences were few and far between at the Alhambra and it was soon back to its dances and fundraising events.

At one Saturday night dance in November 1917, the police raided the venue looking for draft dodgers. After rounding up nine men, Josselyn announced from the stage that the dance would resume.

December 15, 1917, Winnipeg Tribune

Christmas 1917 was a busy time at Alhambra Hall. On December 21st, the Kiwanis Club hosted a party and presented gifts to 1,000 war widows and orphans. Dances were held on Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Year's Eve and New Year's Day.

The following year carried on much the same way, with two dances a week and many charitable events mixed in.

During the summer 1917 closure, Josselyn went to New York to visit dance halls and ended up signing the New York Society Syncopated Orchestra, a black jazz band, to be the Alhambra's house band from September to the end of January 1918. It was replaced by the New York Jazz Orchestra through April 1919, then the Jazz Babies until the 1918 summer closure.

The Alhambra was a little too eager to provide entertainment to the masses. In late November 1918, it hosted a dance attended by about 80 couples. Unfortunately, it fell during the public gatherings ban for the "Spanish" flu pandemic. Manager Vic Josselyn and the band leader were the first two people in Winnipeg to be charged with violating the ban.

August 30, 1919, Winnipeg Tribune

After its usual summer closure, the Alhambra reopened in September 1919 with renewed vigour. With the war over, Winnipeggers seemed to be in the mood to dance and the Alhambra was happy to provide the entertainment.

The Broadway Syncopated Jazz Band was the main house band. There was a secondary house band which allowed for continuous music every eventing, (except Sundays, of course), from 8:30 pm to 12:30 am. On stage there were 16 "cabaret entertainers" to keep the mood strong throughout the night.  

A change made to the venue over the summer was the addition of a "mission gardens", a more formal seating area by the kitchen.

It was announced in May 1920 that thanks to an improved ventilation system, the Alhambra would for the first time open during the summer months.

Also introduced that summer were free / pay by donation Sunday concerts. (Free/by donation was likely a way to get around Lord's Day Act laws.) Members of the house band were in attendance but local bands and singers were invited to come and perform to promote themselves or get experience working on professional stage. These concerts became so popular that they became part of the Alhambra's year-round programming.

In 1921, three house bands were on hand for the dances: the Alhambra Syncopated Orchestra, Hunt's Saxophone Band, and Soli's Marimba band. The Sunday night concerts grew into a big deal with shows featuring a dozen bands and singers. Some of the singers were local, others were professionals in town for their own show who would sing a number or two to promote it.

September 3, 1921, Winnipeg Tribune

The Alhambra closed in the summer of 1921 for $18,000 in renovations that included a new dance floor, the relocation and expansion of the band stand, and a larger ladies' check room. The gardens seating area next to the kitchen was expanded, as were the kitchen's offerings, and you could book a table in advance.

The venue reopened on September 3, 1921, with a modified name: Alhambra Dance Gardens with Victor Josselyn staying on as manager.

For the next three years, it was business as usual at the Alhambra with nightly dances, a Sunday concert, limited dancing during the summers, and various house bands.

Changes began to appear in late 1925. Regular advertising stopped, and the Alhambra hosted its first boxing match in December. Boxing and wrestling soon became a weekly event and by the end of January 1926, dancing was held on Wednesday and Saturday nights only.

The last sporting event at the hall was a night of wrestling and boxing matches on Tuesday, April 6, 1926. The last dance appears to be an I.O.O.F. ceremony and dance on Friday, April 9, 1926.

For 225 Fort Street, it's time as the city's first year-round dance hall was over. On the morning of Thursday, April 15, 1926, the contents of the building were auctioned off - everything from pianos to lights to the kitchen sinks.

February 26, 1930, Winnipeg Tribune

The building was purchased in March 1926 by Arthur T. Henderson for his Diamond Taxi Company. Created in 1922, it boasted Winnipeg's largest fleet of cars and desperately needed bigger space.

Diamond made extensive renovations to the building to hold its 45 taxis. It also had parking for a small rental car fleet and offered covered parking for tourists who wanted to leave their cars and take taxis while staying in the city. In all, the building had capacity for 125 cars.

Henderson kept the side rooms in place so that there was a ladies lounge, men's smoking room and a canteen for the drivers.

August 21, 1931, Winnipeg Tribune

Diamond Taxi moved to smaller premises at Fort and Graham in 1931 and in July, the building became a public market. the floor space was divided into 10-foot stalls for market gardeners, small producers and florists to sell their wares

The venture didn't take off, likely due to the huge number of stalls it needed to fill, and closed in November.

December 24, 1932, Winnipeg Tribune

The building returned to the taxi industry in December 1931 when it became one of Moore's Taxi Company's parking garages. Car owners could rent parking by the day, week or month and could get their car washed or minor maintenance done.  By 1937, Moore's added bodywork repairs to the site and car sales in 1939.

The space was subdivided in 1935 and shared briefly with the Athletic Academy, a club featuring eight badminton courts and at times hosted basketball games and even a dance. It only lasted a year.

It remained a Moore's taxi garage, mainly for vehicle storage for various individuals and companies, until at least 1965. It was likely sold off by 1972 as that was when Morris Neman, the owner of Moore's, Grosvenor, and half-owner of Yellow, decided to get out of the taxi business and signed the agreement have the companies convert to a workers' co-op called Unicity Taxi.

Circa 1967.

The building appears to have sat empty or was used as storage until 1978 when it became the Fort Auto Inn, a car repair shop. It went bankrupt before the year was over.

The building was next mentioned in 1987, referred to as a "vacant building", for a plan to convert it into a 400-seat celebrity dinner theatre. Construction was to begin on June 1, but the financing didn't come through and the project never got started.

In 1988, a rezoning application was made for 225 Fort Street to "permit the establishment of a parking facility" on the site. It is doubtful that this meant the conversion of the existing building, as construction of the neighbouring 200 Graham Avenue and its underground parkade was about to start. the entrance to that parkade is on part of the 225 Fort Street site.

The exact year of demolition of 225 Fort Street was likely 1989.

705 Fisher Street - Fisher Park

  © Christian Cassidy, 2025

Fisher Park in 2023 by C. Cassidy

Place: Pembina Park / Fisher Park*
Address: 705 Fisher Street
Constructed: 1912 - 13

October and December 1903, Winnipeg Tribune

The origins of Fisher Park date back to the launch of the Riverview Realty Company's proposed Riverview subdivision in 1903. A greenspace is indicated at this location in their original site plan for the neighbourhood.

Riverview Realty Co. donated 2.96 acres at Florence Avenue and Fisher Street and another 2.16 acres elsewhere in the community, (likely what is now the Arnold Street Tot Lot), to be converted into parks.

The fact that the company did not develop the land itself could mean that it was swampy, which made it unsuitable for home building and too expensive for Riverview to make into a park. Some of the city's other residential parks, like Central Park and Notre Dame Park, (now Jacob Penner Park), started off as land developers rejected.

August 24, 1928 Winnipeg Tribune

* The park has gone by various names over the years.

At the December 1909 parks board meeting, before work began to convert the land into a  park, the Winnipeg Tribune reported that "Park View will henceforth be known as 'Pembina Park', this name having been submitted by T. Wilson." That is the name the park was known by for many decades.

It was an unusual choice for a name as the parks board had a pretty strict policy of naming smaller parks for the street they were on, (Cornish Park, Notre Dame Park, Logan Park, etc.) and bigger parks for the district they were in, (St. John's Park, St. James Park,  Assiniboine Park, Kildonan Park, etc.)  At the time, the south end of Osborne Street was called Pembina Street, so it was close by but still an anomaly.

In a September 1946 Winnipeg Tribune column called "It used to run between farms – now we call it Baltimore Road” by Lillian Gibbons, she spoke to an area resident at the park who told her that it is was known as Fisher Park or Florence Park, but a schoolgirl came up to them to let them know that its official name was Pembina Park!

In 1992, an inquiry to the city by the Winnipeg Free Free Press' "Answers" columnist about a land-related question in Riverview it was noted that the park went by either Pembina Park or Fisher Park.

The city's 2019 Report on Parks and Open Space Assets lists this address as Fisher Park. When the name changed, or if it was ever officially renamed, is not clear.

Parks board inspection of park, August 1938
City of Winnipeg Archives

Work began on converting the land into a park space in June 1912 when the land was graded, seeded, and the outline for a unique circular sunken garden was dug. The garden feature was completed the following year.

Why a sunken circular garden? 

At a 1923 public parks board tour of the park for media and VIPs, a Winnipeg Tribune reporter noted: "The sunken garden at Pembina Park was perhaps the beauty spot of the whole trip and amazement was expressed when it was explained that the garden had been formed to save the filling in of an old sewer."  (The sewer was likely a drainage feature for surrounding land as there would not have been a sanitary sewer here before this development.)

The park was also fenced during this time with 1,550 linear feet of wrought iron fencing and gates. This was fairly common for residential parks at the time as Central Park, St. James Park (now Vimy Ridge), and Notre Dame Park (now Jacob Penner) all started out as fenced.

For more about the development of this part of Riverview, see my West End Dumplings post.

1385 - 1405 Sargent Avenue - Real Canadian Superstore

 © 2025, Christian Cassidy

Place: Former Manitoba Gypsum Co. / Real Canadian Superstore
Address: 1385 - 1405 Sargent Avenue
Constructed: 1906 and 2004

November 8, 1923, Winnipeg Tribune

The Manitoba Gypsum Company started operations in 1904 after it built a mine and small factory near Gypsumville, Manitoba. When the plant burned down in 1906, it was relocated to Sargent Street at St. James Avenue in Winnipeg and was expanded several times over the decades.

The company is credited with being the first in Canada to produce and sell wall plasterboard commercially. They also produced other items like plaster of Paris, wood fibre plaster, and stucco. 

Winnipeg was a major player in the national plaster industry by the First World War and Manitoba Gypsum employed 150 men at its plant and several more at its mine. By 1927, it manufactured seven to eight million feet of plasterboard per year.

Nor-West Farmer, April 20, 1920

The company, and a subsidiary it owned in B.C., were bought out in March 1928 for $3 million by Canada Gypsum and Alabastine Ltd.. William Armstrong, the company's founder and president, got a seat on the national company's board.

In 1959, what was by then known as Gypsum, Lime, Alabastine Canada sold out to Domtar Construction Materials Ltd. which also had a tar-based building materials plant in St. Boniface.

Domtar sold all of its Canadian gypsum-related business interests to Georgia Pacific Canada Ltd. in 1996.

Georgia-Pacific announced the closure of the Winnipeg gypsum plant, along with two others in the U.S., in 2001.

The land at 1385 - 1405 Sargent Avenue was then sold to Loblaw Companies and in March 2004 it was announced that the site would become home to a 150,000 square foot Real Canadian Superstore with a 38,000 square foot mezzanine level fitness centre.

It would be the largest grocery store in Winnipeg and the same size as Superstore's largest flagship store in Calgary.

The store opened on November 12, 2004.

Related:
The death of Peter Hutzel and others at Manitoba Gypsum Co. West End Dumplings
Gypsum in Canada Department of Mines, Ottawa, 1913 (start at page 77)
Gypsum in Manitoba Government of Manitoba, ca. 1983
"Empire" Gypsum Products Catalogue Manitoba Gypsum Company, 1910

421 Sherbrook Street - Private Residence

 © Christian Cassidy, 2025

421 Sherbrook in 2018 (Source: Google Street View)

Place: Private Residence
Address: 421 Sherbrook Street (Map)
Built: 1905
Size: 1,260 square feet with basement
Contractor: David J. Ross (?)

The building permit for this two-storey house was issued in 1905. It was one of more than a dozen residential permits issued for the block of Sherbrook Street between Portage Avenue and Ellice Avenue in a year of great change for the area. 

The city was desperate to open up new land for residential development and around 1903 began to build proper streets, boulevards, and sewer lines in what is now called the West End west of the University of Winnipeg. A July 1, 1905 Winnipeg Tribune story noted that the resulting residential lots were "selling like hotcakes".

This house may have been built by David J. Ross, a carpenter who lived at 145 Mayfalr Street. According to city records, "D. J. Ross" is the only builder listed on two building permits for houses on the east side of the block in 1905, (which could be this house and the "twin house" on the lot next door at 419 Sherbrook).

Sherbrook St. looking north from Portage, ca. 1912 (Rob McInnis postcard collection)

Sherbrook(e) Street, (the "e" at the end was dropped around 1915), was a desirable street to live on. It was on the edge of the city and away from the bustle and pollution of the downtown and warehouse district. Despite its distance from the city's core, it had great connectivity as it was serviced by a streetcar line that ran from Portage Avenue to Notre Dame Avenue. 

Many large, middle-class homes were constructed on both Sherbrook and Maryland Streets during this period and it wasn't unusual for them to sell in the $3,000 to $4,000 range, a thousand dollars more than houses on neighboring streets.

One person who chose this block of Sherbrook on which to build his family home in 1905 was Thorstein Oddson, a well-known and successful developer of homes and apartment blocks. 

Charles and Margaret Mather (Source: The Asquith Record)

The first residents of 421 Sherbrook Street were the Mather family made up of Charles L. Mather, wife Margaret (Maggie), and four children ranging in age from a few months to eight years old.

Charles Mather was originally from Peterborough County, Ontario where he taught school before coming to Morden, Manitoba in 1881. He married Margaret Hamilton Shaw and they moved to the Rosebank District to farm and start a family.

Asquith, circa 1910 (Source: Peel's Prairie Provinces)

In 1903, Charles and his brother Andrew purchased a large tract of land in Saskatchewan from the CPR on which the village of Asquith would be established. Charles moved his family to Winnipeg in 1905 and became the real estate agent for the Asquith town site and surrounding farmland.

Charles had a residence built in Asquith in 1907 and the family relocated there. He went on to serve as the village's first mayor from 1908 to 1912 and then as president of its board of trade.

October 2, 1914, Winnipeg Tribune

After the Mayer family left this was likely a rental property as a steady stream of short-term resident families came and went. Most years, the street directory notes that in addition to the main family there were usually two lodgers renting rooms. It's unclear if these rooms had a separate entrance but it would be odd to have several families in a row willing to have strangers living in their home. 

The house sat empty in 1907 but by 1909 real estate agent James Blanchard lived there with his family. There were also two lodgers: William. T. Millard, an employee of the government telephone service; and Edward Parkla, a clerk at Vulcan Iron Works.

In November 1910, Andrew R. Dodds, a foreman at Brydges Engineering and Supply Co., married Margaret Clark and the couple moved into the house on November 15. The 1911 census roll shows a whole other family of four, the Bartleys, living with them. 

The Dodds moved on to 499 Sherbrook Street in 1912 and Catherine Clark, widow of Neal, and her four grown children lived here. The lodger was carpenter Peter Hay. 

In 1913, this was home to Robert McAllister and family. He was a baker at Milton's Bakery. The grown children also living there at the time were Bert, an Eaton’s clerk, Thomas, a bookmaker, Samuel, an Eaton’s clerk, and William, an engraver. There was also a lodger named Walter Hearne who was a machinist.

November 11, 1916, Winnipeg Tribune

The next family to move in was that of Hugh and Sophie Mewha.

The Mewhas were from Portarlington, Ireland and came to Winnipeg in 1910 with their sons Percy, Tansley and Norman. Hugh was a salesman at a dry goods wholesaler called Tees and Persse.

Like the families before them, the Mewhas stayed just a couple of years from 1915 to around 1917 before moving to Furby Street.

Percy Mewha, who was a clerk at Eaton’s, enlisted with the 179th CEF Cameron Highlanders of Canada in August 1915, just days after his 17th birthday. He arrived in England aboard the S. S. Saxonia in October 1916.

According to Percy’s personnel record, he spent most of his time in England and made it through the war uninjured, unless you count his 28-day stay in hospital for tonsillitis. He returned to Canada aboard the RMS Baltic in March 1919 and arrived at the CPR Depot on Higgins Avenue by the end of the month with hundreds of other returning soldiers.

Percy lived a long life and died in 1971.

Top: September 1923. Bottom: April 1924.

The house appears to have become a formal boarding house or rooming house in the 1920s. Ads appeared throughout the decade which noted three rooms for rent on the "bathroom floor" and three rooms for rent on the main floor with the option of laundry or light housekeeping (LHK) service.

At times, the entire house was advertised for lease as a business opportunity. In those ads it was noted as having seven rooms, the seventh was presumably where the caretakers lived. Such rooming or boarding houses were often run by a retired couple or a widow.

Cecil S. Gunn, who took out the classified ads, was a real estate agent, property manager, and mortgage broker who came to Winnipeg in the early 1900s with the Merchant's Bank. He left the bank in 1910 to work in a real estate partnership then in 1920 created C. S. Gunn and Company. It is unclear if the company owned the house or acted on behalf of an owner. Gunn advertised for the house until 1931.

November 27, 1924, Winnipeg Tribune

Many dozens of tenants came through the house in the 1920s. One who lived there very briefly in late 1924 was Frank T. Matthews.

Matthews graduated from Brandon College's music program under Professor W. T. Wright around 1908 and taught there for a while. He then moved to Minnedosa where he gave piano lessons and was an organist and choirmaster at area churches. 

Matthews came to Winnipeg for a time in the 1920s and taught from various addresses, including this one in 1924. He returned to Winnipeg in the 1940s to be the organist and choirmaster at St. Mary's Cathedral and then at Christ Church on Henry Avenue.

June 21, 1933, Winnipeg Tribune

Gunn's classified ads for 421 Sherbrook Street ended in 1931 and the following year Mr. and Mrs. Lester T. Currie are listed in the street directory as the owners.

Lester Currie, 35, was a gardener by trade and graduated from the Prairie Nurseries Ltd. School of Horticulture and Landscape Gardening in Estevan, Saskatchewan in 1926. His wife was Violet Eugene Puffer, 31, from Saskatchewan. They came with their five children ranging in age from 6 months to 11 years in age and another daughter was born here in 1932. Sadly, their youngest son Ervin died the week before Christmas in 1933 at the age of three.

The Curries rented out two rooms with a shared front room and light housekeeping service. The 1933 lodgers were Miss E. Leeyus, a merchandise marker at the HBC, and John Norlen, a painter/decorator.

The rooms for rent ads disappeared in 1934 as the Curried family grew up.

August 31, 1939, Winnipeg Tribune

The year 1939 was a busy one for the Curries.

In January, daughter Cora got married at nearby St. Matthews Church. In May, Lester took out a $400 building permit to make foundation repairs to the property as the family made preparations to move.

New classified ads by C. S. Gunn appeared by the end of the year for a six-room house. It's unclear if the Curries owned the house outright and sold it back to Gunn when they decided to leave, or if they rented it from him the whole time and kept the six rooms for themselves.

The Curries relocated to Riverton, Manitoba where both died young. Lester in 1948 at the age of 48 and Violet in 1953 at the age of 53.

February 26, 1944, Winnipeg Tribune

Gunn's new  "rooms for rent" ads ended by 1940 and the homeowner listed in street directories from 1940 to 1943 was Leonard Smith, a baker at Bryce Bakeries, who returned to taking in lodgers.

Rooming or boarding houses were popular during wartime as many young couples and families downsized their accommodations due to the coming financial strain as the "man of the house"  going to war for an unknown period of time. For single men who enlisted, renting a room in a rooming or boarding house meant not having to live in barracks in the months leading up to their deployment and provided a local mailing address while overseas.

There were at least three men associated with 421 Sherbrook who participated in the Second World War and all appear to have survived. There was Warrant Officer Joe Linsday, shown above, Glen Richardson lived there in 1945 and was listed in the street directory as being "on active service", and Jean Benoit who graduated from No. 7 Bombing and Gunnery School at Paulson, Manitoba in December 1944.

Lillian J. Benoit (Source: Free Press Passages)

The house's ownership found stability in 1944 with the arrival of the Benoit family which consisted of  Jean and Lillian and their children John, Raymond, and Gloria.

The Benoits first appear in 1944 with "Mrs. Jean Benoit" listed as the head of household. As noted above, her husband was away at No. 7 Bombing and Gunnery School at Paulson, Manitoba and graduated in December 1944. Most years there were a couple of lodgers also listed at the address.

Mr. Benoit then appears as the head of household from 1946 to 1949 with his occupation listed as a mechanic at Trans Canada Airways until 1949 when he became a plumber at Cotter Bros. in Winnipeg.

The head of household changed again in 1950 to "Mrs. Lillian J. Benoit" and Mr. Benoit disappeared from the Winnipeg street directories. It is unclear what became of him. A clue may be that in the 1955 directory the word "widow" appears after Lillian's name. (Curiously, it only appeared in that one edition. Normally, when someone is labelled a widow they retain that title through multiple directories.)

If Lillian Benoit was widowed, no obituary for Jean J. Benoit can be found in either local newspaper to confirm this.

Lillian lived at this address until at least 1999 when the publication of local street directories end. During her time here there is no occupation listed next to her name, though starting in the mid-1980s the word "retired" appeared.

As mentioned, Lillian had at least one lodger through much of her time at this house. A constant from 1951 until 1969 was James Wright.

Wright was a veteran of the First World War who worked for the Manitoba Telephone System until his retirement in 1945. His wife died in 1951 and he soon moved into 421 Sherbrook Street. He died in January 1969 at the age of 89 and his obituary noted that he was survived by a daughter named Lilliam J. Benoit!

Lillian Benoit died on June 22, 2011 at the age of 95. (Also see)

421 Sherbrook and twin house next door in 2007 (Google Street View)

This house ran into disrepair and by 2004 had been condemned by the city.

It was sold for $1,000 by the city to Lazarus Housing. This program, which bought up and extensively renovated derelict West End houses, was created by Harry Lehotsky's New Life Ministries. Some of the properties were sold off and others were kept as rental properties operated by the church. This article says that the program renovated 26 houses and over 100 apartment units while it was in operation.

421 Sherbrook Street was sold in 2005 and remains a single family home.

785 Main Street - The Sutherland Hotel

© 2025, Christian Cassidy

Sutherland Hotel in 2010

Place: Cosmopolitan Hotel / Palace Hotel / Sutherland Hotel
Address: 785 Main Street (Map)
Built: 1882 (with subsequent extensions)

Like many of Winnipeg's old hotels, the Sutherland has had many names, renovations, and owners throughout its history.

The bones of the building, or at least some of them, “bones” date back to the Cosmopolitan Hotel built in 1882 with J. J. Gavin and R. J. Swayze listed as proprietors. It was described in a December 30, 1882 Free Press article as simply “a huge brick structure”.

The Cosmopolitan opened just in time to host 100 CPR men for Christmas dinner paid for by the train master. Street directories show that of the 36 first residents, all but a handful worked for the CPR and were renting rooms on an ongoing basis. This close association with the railway and railway workers lasted for decades. 

A sign of how busy the hotel was is that it did not advertise rooms in local newspapers.

Within a year, Joseph Bernhart leased the hotel and went on to purchase it outright in January 1891.

Bernhart, who lived at the hotel with his family, made several improvements to the building, such as a major interior renovation in 1895 and the Free Press noted that "a handsome new front is being put onto the Cosmopolitan Hotel, Main Street North" in September 1899.

Bernhardt sold the hotel in September 1902 for around $30,000, which was triple what he paid for it. He used the money from the sale to begin buying up other hotels and by 1907 owned the Imperial, Windsor, and Winnipeg. He started construction on the Bell Hotel but sold it before it was completed.

Soon after, Bernhardt's hotel empire crumbled and had to sell them off. He ran hotels in Saskatchewan for a while before returning to Winnipeg where he died in 1923.

As the Palace Hotel, right, ca. 1906, (Martin Berman Postcard Collection)

September 12, 1905, Winnipeg Free Press

Frank Currie of Killarney, Manitoba bought the hotel in October 1902 for $35,000 and in Spring 1903 renamed it the Palace Hotel. Currie, who also owned racehorses, sold the hotel to Charles F. Bunnell in the fall of 1906 for a reported $100,000. 

To give a sense of how valuable the Sutherland was due to its proximity to the train station, the Free Press reported that around four months after the purchase, Bunnell was offered $150,000 or the hotel but turned it down.

Instead of selling, in late 1907 Bunnell had the interior of the hotel renovated and renamed it the Sutherland Hotel.

June 9, 1908, Winnipeg Tribune

Bunnell likely ran into financial difficulty in 1908 as that June his house and all of its contents were sold off "at a bargain". It seems that the sale was in aid of keeping the hotel afloat as newspaper ads continued to list him as the proprietor until spring 1912.

A familiar name was back by 1913 when Frank Curry, who had been managing the West Hotel across the street, returned as proprietor of the Sutherland with a great deal of capital to spend. 

In 1913, Currie took out an $18,000 building permit for an additional storey to the building. The architect was T. R. Evans and the builder was W. Horner.

Curry's return was short-lived as he sold the hotel around 1917 just after the start of prohibition which lasted until 1922.

Initially, the hotel seemed to survive prohibition with proprietors James Turner ca. 1919 and Andrew Sorenson in the early 1920s. Both men, it should be noted were caught and fined at least once for having liquor on the premises.

Sorenson was an Icelandic immigrant who initially settled in Selkirk. His career as a hotelier was short-lived as he died in October 1922 of Bright's disease at the age of 47. He left behind a widow, five sons, and five daughters.

April 16, 1924, Winnipeg Free Press

In 1924, the United Veterans Association of Canada took over the hotel, likely in a lease agreement, to be used as lodging for ex-servicemen. The organization ran it as a dry hotel and even seemed to have temporarily renamed it as a classified ad for one of their dances invites people to come to the "Daniels Hotel" at Sutherland and Main.

April 4, 1928, Winnipeg Tribune

In 1928, the hotel was renovated and reopened as a hotel under manager A. J. Fletcher, though the business was owned by an entity called Sutherland Hotel Company Ltd. He and his wife lived at the hotel and ran it until 1934. The next manager was John M. Turner, a native of Beausejour and a graduate of Wesley College, followed by C. G. Hutchinson to round out the 1930s.

The hotel eventually became the property of Drewry's Brewery. 

Many hotels faltered during prohibition and not being able to sell alcohol meant many went bankrupt or owners simply handed their keys over to their biggest creditor - usually a brewery. 

Some breweries did not take well to running hotels, but Drewry's created a new company that bought even more hotels in subsequent decades. These included the Sutherland, which it owned at least into the 1950s, the Yale, Vendome, and Kings.

Sutherland Hotel in 1978 (Source: Peterson Projects)

The last long-term owner of the hotel appears to have been Boris Kirjner.

Kirjner wrote a letter to the editor of the Free Press in 2008 taking exception to using a photo of the hotel to illustrate a story about the problems of the Main Street strip. He noted that it was a family-run business and 80% of its customers were older regulars, not the people out causing trouble on the streets around the hotel. He was still the owner in 2015 when the hotel had its liquor license suspended.

A December 2024 Free Press story notes that the hotel had been up for sale for the third time in four years. The building had been gutted in an attempt to redesign the space for commercial space on the main floor and larger rooms upstairs, but the rebuilding did not proceed.

On January 15, 2024, the vacant hotel suffered a major fire. 

The first Christmas dinner after being rechristened the Sutherland.
December 24, 1907, Winnipeg Tribune

248 Princess Street - R. Smith Co. Block

© 2025, Christian Cassidy

Google Street View, 2024

Place: R. Smith Co. block
Address: 248 Princess Street (Map)
Constructed: 1904 - 05
Architect: J. H. G. Russell (also see)
Contractors: John Heslip and Samuel McComb

The Winnipeg Granite and Marble Company purchased a coal and wood yard owned by M. Bawlf and Company at 248 Princess Street in 1904. It then applied for a $13,000 building permit for this stone and brick, two-storey block with full basement

The architect name listed on the building permit is John Heslip, but he was just a stone mason. Thanks to Jordan M., who researches building histories for the Manitoba Historical Society, for pointing out two brief 1904 Winnipeg Free Press mentions attributing the the project to the prolific architect J. H. G. Russell, including this one from July 1904: “Architect Russell is calling for tenders for the erection of a stone warehouse on Princess Street ... for the Winnipeg Granite and Marble Company.”

Jordan sent a second mention from a November 1904 article that states “The Winnipeg Granite and Marble Works' (sic) company's new bullding, on Princess street is 40x90, two-storeys and high basement, is another manufactory added to the list of Winnipeg industries. The structure is a very substantial one and reflects credit upon the architect J. H. G. Russell.”

We agreed that it is most likely that the architect name on the building permit was recoded incorrectly, which sometimes happened. It makes more sense that a building this substantial would be designed by someone like Russell given that Heslip is not mentioned in newspapers as being the architect of any other buildings.

April 3, 1906, Winnipeg Free Press

Heslip likely came from Ontario and first appeared in Winnipeg street directories in 1903 as John Heslop and Co., a brick and stone contractor. By 1907, he was a foreman at May-Sharpe Construction Co. and in 1911 appears to have returned to working for himself.

Heslip's name is only mentioned in a few building permit-related newspaper articles, always as a contractor. Once was in 1911 for a warehouse on May Street (now Waterfront Drive), likely now demolished, and the following year for a warehouse on Macdonald Street, also demolished. One of his buildings that still stands is the 1912 Sparling Methodist Church on Elgin Street West.

It is likely that Heslip's elderly father, John Heslop Sr., came to live with him. When the father died in 1916 at the age of 87, both Heslips disappeared from the Winnipeg street directory. Heslip Jr. may have relocated to Shoal Lake, Manitoba. 

May 20, 1907, Winnipeg Free Press

Samuel McComb was Irish-born and came to the West in 1872, living in both Calgary and Winnipeg. He was a stonemason by trade and a prominent Orangeman. 

Until August 1900, McComb worked in partnership with George A. Mitchell as Mitchell & McComb before starting is own firm. He was also the stone and brick contractor for the Boyce Carriage Works building on Ross Street. 

McComb died at Stonewall in 1907 at the age of 64.

July 15,  1905, Morning Telegraph

The Winnipeg Granite and Marble Company was established in December 1903 by brothers Alex L. and John A. MacIntyre who had been in the stone monument business since the mid-1890s. Their new company was based in Winnipeg with branches in Morden and Portage. Another branch opened on Scarth Street in Regina in spring 1904.

The company's new building at 248 Princess Street opened in 1905 and contained its offices, showroom, and a work area out back.

Winnipeg Granite rented extra showroom space in the building to the Moffat Stove Company and in the summer of 1907, Moffat took over the entire building. Winnipeg Granite then relocated its offices to 37 Rorie Street and later to the McIntyre Block on Notre Dame Avenue. The company disappeared around 1909.

Moffat Stove was joined in the building by the Simpson Produce Co. and by 1911 the latter appears to have taken over the whole building. It was then home to Neal Bros. wholesale grocers until around 1919.

The building found stability in 1920 with the arrival of the Smith family. Initially, R. Smith Wholesale Produce opened on the main floor and was followed in 1921 by the R. Smith Company.

Richard Smith came West with the construction of the CPR in 1879. Stationed in Emerson, he was in charge of providing food and personnel, such as cooks and cleaners, to boarding cars and boarding camps for the railway. (It appears that boarding cars were the "coach" class cars with few amenities used for transporting immigrants, troops, etc.. The camps were railway workers' camps and sidings where stations had not yet been built.)

The Smith family then moved to Fort William (now Thunder Bay) to run the CPR hotel there and around 1886 Smith began contracting the boarding car services to the CPR under the name R. Smith and Co. based in Winnipeg. He soon secured the contract to service boarding cars from Thunder Bay to the B.C. coast.

Richard Smith died in 1906 and one of his six sons, Nelson Noel, took over the business and ran it until his death in 1941. The Smith family continued to operate R. Smith and Co. from this address until shortly after the death of Agnes Smith in 1959.

After sitting mostly vacant for a couple of years the building became home to the Esdale Stationery and Printing Company in 1963.

Esdale Stationery and Printing was established in 1935 by Matthew Esdale in the basement of the Great West Permanent Building at 356 Main Street, (now demolished). Esdale was a master printer by trade who was born in Ottawa and relocated to Edmonton in 1913. In 1927, he came to Winnipeg where he was a long-time department manager for Willson Stationers.

Matthew Esdale ran the company until his retirement in 1962.

The company was then purchased by printer Harry S. Turner who relocated it to 248 Princess Street. It shared the space with John G. Turner's General Office Machines Ltd.. The two men were likely brothers.

Harry S. Turner was Esdale's president until his death in July 1974 at the age of 59.

The company was then purchased by Ron Hughesman, a long-time employee of Esdale dating back to the mid-1950s. He was later joined by sons Dale and Darren. The third generation of the Hughesman family now run the company. 

July 23, 1974, Winnipeg Free Press

J. G. Turner Ltd. / General Office Machines continued on in the building. As office technology expanded, they sold and serviced everything from computerized cash registers to various brands of photocopiers.

The company went into receivership in 1990 and 248 Princess was put up for sale at a mortgage auction in February 1991. 

The building became home to Generic Computer Systems Ltd. until 1993 and then for what was described in classified ads as a "busy embroidery company" until at least 2001.

As J. G. Turner's General Office Machines, 1975 (U of M Building Index) 

In 2006, three local film producers, (Jeff McKay, Merit Jensen-Carr and Ruth DeGraves), purchased the building as Princess West Enterprise Ltd. for a reported $250,000. It is now home to several film production companies, including Merit Motion Pictures.

The mural on the north wall of the building was painted in 2013 by CRISP, an Australian street artist based in Bogota, Columbia.