© 2021, Christian Cassidy. Updated 2026.
Place: Winnipeg Saddlery Building
Address: 284 William Avenue (Map)
Constructed: 1903 - 04
Architect: James Cadham
I first wrote about this building in 2021, with a notice that "This building is currently boarded up and expected to be demolished soon due to foundation issues." The 2026 update below shows how things have changed in the past five years!
Wright in 1874 (City of Winnipeg Archives)
The roots of the Winnipeg Saddlery Company date back to the late 1860s.
Archibald
Wright was born in Scotland and came to Manitoba in 1869. He invested in a saddle and harness-making business that one historic newspaper article claims was the second commercial manufacturing enterprise in the Red
River settlement after James Ashdown's tin shop. He was on the city's inaugural city councils in 1874 and 1875.
Like most businessmen of his era, Wright purchased land whenever he could, particularly around his shop at Main and William. As the area transformed into the city's heart, boasting its city hall and public market, some of it was on land he once owned.
Wright was also an original investor in the Leland Hotel, which was built on his land, and in 1885, he sold a 2,000-acre farm he owned on the Assiniboine River, likely near present-day Maryland Street, for $130 per acre.
Wright & Van Vliet, ca. 1900 (City of Winnipeg Archives)
Thomas
Van Vliet was born in Lacolle, Quebec, in 1856. He came to Winnipeg in
1879 and soon began work at the Wright and Arbuckle harness and tackle
shop on Main Street next to city hall. By 1890, he had gone into
partnership with Archibald Wright, and the firm was renamed Wright and
Van Vliet with a new address of 284 William Avenue.
When the Leland Hotel Co. was reorganized in 1894, Van Vliet became one of its 12 investors along with Wright.
September 12, 1903, Winnipeg Free Press
Business
must have been good as the company hired prominent architect James Cadham in 1903 to
design a new, five-storey building on the site that would cost around $35,000.
While under construction in January 1904, a worker
named William Beckett of 307 Alexander Avenue was taken seriously ill.
He
was working on the fourth floor unloading goods from a hoist, when he was
stricken with a "severe case of cramps". Newspapers didn't go into detail
about what exactly happened, but Beckett, who appears to have been a
saddlery employee helping out with construction work, died not long
after being rushed to Winnipeg General Hospital.
The remainder of the construction appears to have taken place without serious incident.
Postcard of Old Market Square, ca. 1905
As construction was underway, the company relocated to temporary premises on Bannatyne Avenue. It also reorganised under the new name "Winnipeg Saddlery Company" with business partners Archibald Wright, Thomas Van Vliet, James H. Billington, and Thomas Billington.
The new building opened in July 1904. The entire structure was dedicated to the saddlery business, with floors for retail, manufacturing, and warehousing.
July 19, 1904, Winnipeg Free Press
Business was good at Winnipeg Saddlery as it supplied those who were opening up the West for settlement.
A government figure published in the Free Press noted that the value of harness and saddlery production in Manitoba in 1901 was $94,398, and that total nearly quadrupled to $371,500 in 1906.
The
company gave back by providing saddles and other
prizes for Winnipeg's big horse shows and at various horse racing events.
The thriving business came to a sudden halt in December 1906, when the building suffered a major fire.
December 14, 1906, Winnipeg Free Press
At
around 11:00 a.m., on Thursday, December 13, 1906, a boy working on the fourth floor of the building stepped on a match that had fallen onto the floor. He ended up striking it, which
set fire to discarded fibres and a stack of sweat pads next to it.
James
Billington, the manager for that area, noticed the fire and called on the staff to run for their lives.
Flames spread so quickly through the floor that the 19 men and two boys on
the fourth and fifth floors of the building could only go up and escape to the roof through a skylight. They then climbed to a neighbouring
building's roof to safety.
Billington was held up
when he stopped to help a one-legged employee. By the time he made it to
the top floor, flames had blocked his path to the skylight. He had to
break a front window and hang from the ledge until firefighters rescued him.
The ledge was just nine inches wide and
frozen with snow and ice. At times, Billington couldn't be seen from the
sidewalk through the thick smoke billowing from the windows around him. It was considered a miracle
that he held on long enough to be rescued.
Damage estimates for the fire varied between $35,000 and $50,000, most of which was to stock and was covered by insurance.
December 15, 1906, Winnipeg Free Press
The fire shone
a spotlight on an issue the city spent much of 1906 trying to tackle.
Earlier that year, the city toughened up its fire escape bylaw, which stated
that buildings taller than three floors needed to have an external fire escapes affixed to them. Building inspectors stepped up their enforcement, but
many building owners fought the new regulations. They argued that nobody slept at commercial premises, so the cost of installing fire escapes for just ten working hours a day was unfair.
It was reported that by September 1906, there were still 61
properties that hadn't complied with the new bylaw. This included Winnipeg Saddlery. In October, the company was given a third and final warning with a toothless "or else" as the bylaw carried no fines.
More building owners fell in
line after the Winnipeg Saddlery fire, as it proved that a potentially deadly fire cold happen even during working hours.
Ca. 1912, winterbos on Flickr
Though
the building is currently only two storeys tall, it was not the fire of
1906 that brought the upper floors down. The photo above is circa 1912 (note the Confederation Life Building under
construction in the background), and it shows the building at full height.
According to the City of Winnipeg's historic building report for 284 William, the top three floors were removed in 1962 after the building suffered structural issues.
August 31, 1935, WInnipeg Tribune
Archibald Wright died in 1912. James Billington died in 1925. Thomas Van Van Vliet died at his Balmoral Place home in 1931. Thomas Billington died in 1935.
After Thomas Billington's death, the company's assets were put up for sale and it appears they were bought by A. M. Bannerman who
expanded it to include luggage repairs and small farm supplies.
Around 1945, Bannerman, an agronomist, split the business into two divisions: Winnipeg Saddlery Ltd. and Farm Equipment and Seed Ltd. He sold off the harness and luggage side of the business to J. Jones and Son in 1949.
The street directory of 1949 shows the lineup of businesses operating from 284 William to be: Winnipeg Saddlery, Farm Equipment and Seed Co, Imperial Casket, and T and T Seed and Chemical Company.
Farm Machinery closed around 1955, and the building appears to have sat empty until 1958, when Samuel and Abraham Dreman took it over as a wholesale clearance outlet store until at least 1964, when digitized version of the street directories end.
The Dremans may have been there much longer, as short classified ads for an unnamed business at this address regularly advertised discount, unclaimed, and factory return clothing such as pants, men's suits, children's wear, and jeans for sale until the early 1990s.
Since that time, the building has sat largely vacant. The odd short-term tenant, like Outlaw Books or art show installations, have been there, but the building saw its last tenant in 2007.
Souvenir of Winnipeg's Jubilee, 1924
The issue that has hobbled the building is its failing foundation. This was first flagged by the city in a building inspection in the 1930s, which led to the upper floors being removed in the 1960s, and caused the closure of the second floor and removal of the building's elevator in the 1970s.
In 2021, the neighbouring building at 288 William had to be vacated due to concerns about the foundation issues at 284. The owners of the restaurant sued the building owner and won their case in 2025.
With the building on the verge of collapse, CentreVenture, the arms-length development agency of the City of Winnipeg, stepped in.
As described in the agency's 2022 and 2023 annual report: "In 2021, CentreVenture was advised by City Administration that this heritage building, in the heart of the nationally designated heritage district, was on the verge of collapse and requested the Corporation’s assistance in seeking a solution to save the building. CentreVenture was able to negotiate the purchase of the building and proceed to do the urgent work to stabilize it."
The foundation repairs were completed in 2022, but it took another couple of years to do extensive interior and exterior work to bring the building up to 21st century standards. It will soon be for lease.
The building received a 2026 Heritage Winnipeg Preservation Award on April 1, 2026.
Related:
Unbridled Potential: The Winnipeg Saddlery Building Heritage Winnipeg (2022)
284 William Avenue Historic Building Report City of Winnipeg (2015)
Here's a story written by Lillian Gibbons for the Tribune in 1934 about Mrs. Archibald Wright that gives a sense of what her pioneer life was like. To see the full view, you'll have to right click and "view image":
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