811 St. Matthews Avenue - Arlington Station (Substation No. 4)

Sept. 7, 1929, Winnipeg Tribune

Place: Arlington Station (Substation No. 4)
Address: 811 St. Matthews Avenue (Map)
Constructed: 1929
Cost: $25,000

Winnipeg Hydro saw a steady increase in its customer base through the 1920's as the city's population grew and a host of new, electrically powered appliances hit the market. To keep up with demand, the utility spent over $2.5 million to expand its power delivery infrastructure in 1929 alone.

One of these projects was the 20,000 horsepower Winnipeg Hydro Substation No. 4, as it was initially called, on St. Matthews Avenue at Arlington Street. The building permit indicated that the building was to measure 50 feet by 90 feet and cost $25,000 plus at least that amount for the equipment inside it.

September 3, 1927, Winnipeg Tribune

Hydro did not have to pay for the land on which Substation No. 4 would stand.

It had been home to the St. Matthews Tennis Club from 1921 to 1928. It was associated with nearby St. Matthews church, though anyone could be a member. Not much information can be found about the club other than it had at least two grass courts and contained a small clubhouse.

Sometime after the close of the 1928 tennis season, the city seized the property from the owner, (which was not the church), for unpaid property taxes and turned it over to Hydro for the substation.

The single-storey building was built of reinforced concrete and brick with Tyndall Stone trim. The architect and contractor are not known.

As the project neared completion, Hydro issued a release noting that: "Careful attention has been paid to the architectural features of the building with a view to enhancing rather than depreciating property value in the adjacent neighbourhood."

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The building has been enlarged since the time it was first constructed.

Comparing the 1929 photo to the site today shows there are three more window bays to the north of the building and a garage door to the east. The brick used on both these sections is slightly different than the original material. An overhead shot of the structure shows that they were likely both built at the same time to create an L shaped open air section around the original building.

A unique feature of this substation is that it was one of the city's first custom-built "automatic" stations, meaning that there was no staff working there. Its switches were controlled from the Rover Street terminal or Scotland Avenue substation. It was how all substations going forward would be controlled.

The building appears to have had a a quiet existence with the exception of a small exposition in May 1966 when a high voltage circuit breaker blew. It caused a small fire and $3,000 in damage.

In 2002, Winnipeg Hydro was sold to Manitoba Hydro and Substation No. 4 was renamed Arlington Station.