634 - 640 Portage Avenue - McNaught Motors

© 2019, Christian Cassidy

Place: McNaught Motors
Address: 636 Portage Avenue (Map)
Constructed: 1928 (W. A. Irish and Co., contractor)
1949 (Moody Moore, architects and Baert Construction, contractor)

Top: Feb. 23, 1928, Winnipeg Tribune.

This building, which is currently being demolished, spent most of its 91 years as a car dealership.

In 1928, Universal Motors Ltd. opened a dealership for Canadian-made Durant Motors, (also see), and American-made Falcon-Knight automobiles at 640 Portage Avenue.This original section of this building building, nestled next to the Casa Loma Block, was 55 feet wide and around 100 feet deep. The contractor was W. A. Irish and Co.

Universal began adverting as early as February 3, but the official opening took place on February 19 after the Winnipeg Auto Show was held.

An initially unrelated news item from February 1928 was that E. E. Lehigh Motors of Brandon was named the Manitoba distributors for Durant and its subsidiaries. In September, Lehigh bought out Universal. It rebranded the dealership to Durant Sales and Service and the distribution department was E. E. Lehigh Ltd.

In February 1931, Lehigh moved the business to a larger location at 700 Portage at Sherbrook.

As a Hudson Essex Dealer, 1933

Over the next couple of decades a number of dealerships came and went.

In May 1931, it became home to Manitoba Hudson-Essex Ltd. which was the distributor for Hudson and Essex cars in Manitoba. The company's president was L. H. Leavins, a long-time Hudson dealer from Stonewall. The vice president was George Cobbs, that former Manitoba sales manager for Hudson Essex for a dozen years.

Hudson-Essex also operated a used car lot adjacent to the building.

The last ads for the dealership, by the end known simply as L H Leavins, appear in April 1936.

April 18, 1936, Winnipeg Free Press

The next dealership to call the building home was Ellis Motors. It was established in April 1936 by Arthur M. Ellis and sons, Mortimer and Arthur Jr.

Ellis was the Manitoba distributor for Graham line of automobiles. A year after they opened, they also became the Manitoba distributor for Studebaker and, like Lehigh, moved to larger premises at 700 Portage Avenue.

There was a brief respite from the automobile industry when Maytag Appliances came to town.

In May 1937, they opened their Winnipeg sales office and showroom here. It is at this point when the lot next door, 636 Portage, became a stand-alone used car lot. It was used by Breen Motors until the early 1940s, then became Leonard McVicar's Liberty Motors into the 1950s.

In February 1947, the building was purchased for $42,500 by Wright Motors Ltd. Wright operated REO Motor Sales Ltd from this location for a couple of years.

July 19, 1951, Winnipeg Tribune

Big changes were in store for the block after Dickson Motors was established in early 1948. It was the successor to Western Canada Motors Ltd., a Pontiac, Buick and Cadillac dealership, service centre and parts depot located in a three storey, 50,000 sq ft building at Graham and Edmonton Street.
Harry Dickson, the company's president, had been western zone manager for GM for some years.

Not long after Dickson began operating, it announced that it was constructing a 30,000 square foot new and used car show room, service centre and parts depot here at Portage and Furby.

Designed by architects Moody Moore and constructed by Baert Construction, the $200,000 structure  incorporated the existing 640 Portage Avenue building and the neighbouring used car lot under one roof. The entrance was changed to the intersection of Portage and Furby and a 200 foot long wall of glass was created along Portage Avenue.

Other features of the building included a large customer lounge and a lunch room and shower area for employees. (It is unclear if it was during this renovation that the 60-car rooftop parking lot was added.)

Dickson opened here on December 19, 1949. Mayor Garnet Coulter cut the ribbon at the official opening on February 2, 1950.

Within a couple of years, Dixon was operating three more used car lots, including a two-storey showroom, (the "Carorama") at Portage and Beverley, and a newly-built Esso station at Broadway and Sherbrook.

March 15, 1966, Winnipeg Tribune

In March 1966, Raymond Du Bois bought Dickson and renamed it Towne Pontiac Buick. (This included the Portage Avenue showroom and the Carorama.)

His son, John,was a popular drag racer in the 1960s and 1970s racing under the Towne name.

September 25, 1975, Winnipeg Tribune

The building's last incarnation as a car dealership began in 1975 with McNaught Pontiac Buick Cadillac, (Your Little Cheaper Dealer), with Gordon McNaught as president.

In the spring of 2003, the dealership moved to moved to 1717 Waverley and the old location became home to Brent McNaught Automotive Centre, which sold used cars and operated the body shop and service centre.

In 2005, McNaught introduced a Vespa dealership with a show room in the original section of the building.

The building was listed as "for sale" as early as August 2011, though McNaught continued to operate the Automotive Centre until at least the summer of 2012. It was still listed as "for sale" in April 2016 with an asking price of $2 million. It was marketed as a "redevelopment opportunity".

The building is currently being demolished. It is unclear what will replace it.

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