Downtown Places: 238 - 240 Portage Avenue

Place: 238-240 Portage Avenue (former Dreman Place)
Address: 238 - 240 Portage Ave (Map)
Opened: 1963

Background:

Dominion Post Office (left)

This was the site of Winnipeg's main post office from 1908 to 1958. It's actually an L shaped lot as the post office proper faced Portage and the annex, built in 1928, faced Garry Street.

When the post office vacated in 1958 the fate of the original building was debated. A number of civic projects ranging from a downtown library to cultural space were floated but, in the end, a consortium of buyers headed up by grain trader I. J. Dreman purchased the land from the feds for $221,000.

Architect's drawing, June 4, 1962 Winnipeg Free Press

In 1962 council gave the go-ahead for demolition and the construction of a six building that contained retail, office and parking. A unique feature was the extensive basement level - of the 56,000 sqare feet of office and retail space, 31,000 of it was underground.

August 8, 1963, Winnipeg Free Press

It was billed as the first "automobile age" building in Winnipeg. A modern office building with central air conditioning and built-in covered parking. On the hottest or coldest of days you were only steps away from car to door.

The original tenants were mostly financial: Mercantile Bank, National Trust, Royal Bank. Over the decades as more modern office towers were built at Portage and Main these 'natural tenants' began to leave. By the late 1990's the building was virtually empty. The only tenant was Peace Hills Trust.

WFP November 14, 1963

Jospeh Dreman still owned the building until his death in July 2000 at the age of 90. Considered an icon of the Winnipeg grain trade, the Winnipeg Commodity Exchange ceased trading to observe a minute of silence in honour of him. Sherrill Hershberg, Dreman's daughter and a social worker by trade, took over the building.

Hershberg said she wanted to make that section of Portage Avenue 'funky' and pedestrian friendly. Hartford invested $400,000 and aside from existing tenant Peace Hills Trust, attracted new ones like Soup Pierre, Second Cup and Clark Huot. It was used as a Fringe Festival venue and even hosted a downtown run of Shakespeare in the Park on the top level of the parkade.
For her work Hershberg won a Manitoba Women Entrepreneur Award in 2005.

In May 2002 the structure was also given a name: I. J. Dreman Place

Since that time, Royal Canadian Properties has taken over ownership. The 'I. J. Dreman Place' is gone, replaced by 238 - 240 Portage Avenue. In Fall of 2009 that massive underground space will feature parking spaces.

News: Restoration work to begin soon at Met

Restoration work to begin soon at Met, says Canad Inns
Winnipeg Free Press 20 August 2009
The Canad Inns hotel chain insists it is still committed to renovating downtown’s Metropolitan Theatre in the wake of rumblings about a city agency repossessing the building....

News: Hydro Tower RBC Now Open !

The RBC branch inside the Manitoba Hydro Tower is now open bringing street life to the south side of Portage. Marcello's, other retail tenant on Portage Avenue, has 'coming soon' signs up but is in the early stages of construction.

300 Portage Avenue - Timothy Eaton Statue

© 2009, Christian Cassidy. Updated 2018.

Place: Timothy Eaton Statue
Address: 300 Portage Avenue -  Bell / MTS Place (map)
Artist: Ivor Lewis
Unveiled: December 11, 1919

The imposing, 3,500 lb Timothy Eaton bronze statue was unveiled in Eaton's Winnipeg store on December 11, 1919. It, and an identical one at the Toronto store unveiled three days earlier, were a gift from Eaton's employees to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the retailing empire.

The sculptor was Welsh immigrant and Eatons executive Ivor Lewis. An accomplished artist and singer, Lewis is noted for his contributions to Toronto's arts and theatre scene.

Timothy's son and company president Sir John C. Eaton came from Toronto for the unveiling that was attended by "thousands of employees." It began on the main floor at 8:00 a.m., a half-hour before store opening.

After the singing of O Canada, Mr. H. McGee, an Eaton's vice-president and their oldest-serving employee, did the honours. In his speech, he noted that the Winnipeg store was known as "J. C.'s Baby" as it was Sir John who was instrumental in having the store and mail order catalogue house built here, even going so far as to personally select the site.

Sir John C. Eaton (source)

 

Eaton was suffering from a severe cold and his response had to be read on his behalf. He wrote, in part: "...to me it is most gratifying....that the deeds of my father still live and will be perpetuated for all time by the erection of this magnificent memorial."

In return for the gift, Eaton announced that beginning January 2, 1920, the store would close at 5 pm, a half hour earlier than usual, to lighten the workload of employees. It was noted that the store was already closed Saturdays in July and August as a thank-you to staff who had worked so hard to get the Winnipeg location up and running.

That evening, a gala dinner was held in honour of the retailer's Golden Jubilee.

During its eighty-year presence at the department store, the statue became a landmark at which people would meet up when visiting downtown. A superstition developed that rubbing the toe of Eaton's foot would bring good luck.

Luck eventually ran out for the Eatons themselves. In 1999, the retailer went bankrupt and the fate of the statue was in question.

It had a brief stint at Polo Park Shopping Centre when Sears Canada tried unsuccessfully to revive Eatons as an upscale department store chain.

After the second collapse in 2002, the Eaton family announced that the Winnipeg statue would go to a museum in St. Mary's, Ontario, the Eaton family's home town. That prompted negotiations between the family and heritage advocates that ended in a compromise: the statue would become a provincial heritage object owned by the province and it would be placed in a yet unknown 'site of significance'.

In 2003, the Hudson's Bay Company took over the former Eatons space in Polo Park and the statue was removed by the builders of Winnipeg's new arena, True North Entertainment.

After some time in storage, Timothy Eaton was unveiled in 2004 sitting in almost the exact spot, just one floor up, from where he had sat for 80 years. Also unveiled at the time across from the statue were the bronze war memorial panels from the store and a bronze window surround further east on the same floor.

Toronto's Eaton statue is now at the Royal Ontario Museum. The Eaton family were long-time benefactors of the institution.

Eaton's Golden Jubilee ad, Dec. 11, 1919

Related:

My Eaton Statue Photo Album

Eaton Statue Declared a Provincial Heritage Object
Manitoba Gov't Press Release, Oct. 22, 2002

Eaton due for a move, angering Winnipeggers
CBC News (video) April 19, 2002

Eaton Statue finds a new home
CBC News, December 1, 1999

True North relocates Timothy Eaton Statue... 
True North press release, April 21, 2004

201 Portage - Canwest Global Plaza

Project: Canwest Global Plaza
Address: 201 Portage (at Notre Dame)
Website: Canwest Place
Status: In Process
Cost: undisclosed

Background A year after Canwest, through Creswin Properties, acquired the TD Building and Albert Street parkade in 2004, David Asper announced an ambitious multi-million dollar plan to "jazz up" the north-west section of the property.

Before the tower was built in 1990 (click for source)

Click images for source

Aspects of the Canwest's Global Plaza were to include:

- Demolition of the 1962 Electric Railway Chambers Annex (completed 2006)
- Move Global Winnipeg's operations to Canwest Place (completed 2008)
- Construct a multi-media broadcast centre on the Annex site (which was tied to a proposal to have the Manitoba Hydro Tower locate to the north-east, which did not happen. Neither has the media centre).
- The plaza, which would sit between the tower and broadcast centre, was to receive the "Times Square" treatment. Major upgrades in the surroundings, a sound stage, multimedia screens.

Electric Railway Chambers Annex

Originally to be completed in 2007, the project has been scaled back. Most recently, the "Aspertron", a 470 sq ft media panel, was unveiled in Spring 2009.

Related:
- Annual Report 2006 Historic Buildings Committee Report (Source of the Annex photo)
- Aspers Jazzing Up Portage and Main WFP Oct 2005
- $40m broadcast centre planned for Winnipeg Archiseek Oct 2005
- Architect Dynamo and Friend of Masonry Manitoba Masonry
- CanWest Global Plaza McGowan Russell

Downtown Places: The Aspertron

Place: The 'Aspertron'
Address: CanWest Global Plaza (Portage and Notre Dame)

Well, it's not really called the Aspertron. It's just that "the really big monitor" doesn't sound so glam !

The 470 sq foot monitor was unveiled in CanWest Global Plaza in Spring 2009. It's the the largest monitor east of Toronto showing mostly Global media items, of course, and to simulcast events plaza events such as the 2009 summer concerts.

From top: Jan, March, June & Aug '09

Related:
- CanWest Global Plaza McGowan Russell
- Biggest TV Screen City's Seen Coming Soon WFP Jan 8 2009