515 Waterfront Drive - Thomas Davidson Manufacturing Co. Building (R.I.P.)

 © 2026, Christian Cassidy

Place: Thomas Davidson Manufacturing Co. Building
Address: 25 May Street, now 515 Waterfront Drive
Constructed: 1905
Demolished: April 2026
Architect: John Woodman
Contractors: Waterworth and Fee

I'm sad about this building. In the heydey of construction along Waterfront Drive, I thought that this would be a super building to convert into residences. It's right on the water, should have been well built as it was a metal manufacturing plant, had plenty of space next to it for parking or a modern entrance, and loads of windows! Rest in peace.

April 5, 1905, Manitoba Free Press

This building was constructed in 1905 for the Montreal-based Thomas Davidson Manufacturing Company Ltd, "makers of enameled steel ware, pressed pieces, and jappaned tinware." 

It was designed by local architect John Woodman, who had just worked on Winnipeg's massive Eaton's department store.

In May 1905, the construction tender was let to the short-lived firm of Waterworth and Fee on McDermot Avenue. It also constructed the initial Marshall Wells building on Market Avenue, though not its 1906 four-storey addition.

The brick and stone building measured 60 feet x 120 feet, was four storeys* tall with a "tall basement" and cost between $45,000 and $50,000 to construct. A Tribune article noted that "it is of heavy mill construction and equipped with electric elevators and all kinds of modern machinery."

(*Yes, I realize it appears to be three storeys tall, the tender and article after its opening mention four.  This could be due to the "tall basement", or the 1944 may have required a floor to be removed.)

It originally advertised with an address of 25 May Street, but later became 15 May Street. May was changed to Waterfront Drive around 2002.

November 22, 1919, Winnipeg Tribune

Under general manager J. Taylor Webb, the plant manufactured enamel plates, metal cutlery, tin shingles for outbuildings, enamelled advertising signs, and canisters for food products. For the most part, its dealings were with industry, so it did not need to advertise in local newspapers. One exception was marketing its own stove briefly in the 19-teens.

In late 1927, what the Canadian Press called "one of the largest industrial mergers in the history of the Dominion" took place when the McClary Manufacturing Co. of London, Ontario, Sheet Metal Products of Canada Ltd, Thomas Davidson Manufacturing Co. of Montreal, and a couple of smaller entities agreed to merge into a single General Steel Wares Company.

This appears to have  been the end for Davidson in Winnipeg. The 1928 street directory shows this address containing "McLeod's Ltd. warehouse no. 4."

By 1936, the building was vacant and was purchased the following year by By 1937, clothing manufacturer J. L. Morton and Co. It took out a $5,000 permit to upgrade its electrical.

Morton did not need the entire building, so it rented warehouse space to Falcon Hardware, a division of Merchants Consolidated, and the United Stores grocery chain.

A huge fire took place at the building in 1944, wiping out much of Morton's clothing and material. After that, the company disappeared, and its space was filled by a couple of smaller companies.

Falcon Hardware ghost sign on north wall

By the early 1950s, Merchants Consolidated owned the building and used it as its goods warehouse and distribution centre for its various divisions, such as Solo, Allied Hardware, and Family Fare.

It's likely that the company remained here until 1973, when a new distribution centre was opened in Transcona that consolidated its offices and various warehouses around the inner city.

Vitafoam Products Canada Ltd. of Toronto, now known as the VPC Group, appear to have first established a Winnipeg plant in 1975, thanks to an economic development grant of $30,000.

The company produced polyurethane foam for cushions, mattresses, carpet underlay, and other applications.

It's unclear when the factory closed. As late as 2017, Vita Foam trucks can be seen in the loading bay.

A search of the city's meeting agendas show no zoning or variance hearings for the land.

802 Magnus Avenue - Tiny House

 © 2026, Christian Cassidy

802 Magnus in 2009 (Google Street View)

Place: Private residence
Address: 802 Magnus Avenue (Map)
Constructed: 1907
Size: 707 square feet
Status: Burned out, for sale as a tear down

According to the city’s property assessment records, the building permit for this house was issued in 1907, though the first resident is listed in the 1907 street directory, the data for which would have been compiled in 1906.

Its first owners were the Benditt family. Louis Benditt, an Austrian Jew, came to Canada from his home country in 1901. He was joined by his wife, Raisa, and first child, Nathan, the following year. The couple would have two more children, Harry and Ethel, before moving to Magnus Avenue, and one more, Anna, after.

Mr. Benditt worked for fish wholesaler W. J. Fish Company,  located at 90 Alexander Avenue near the Alexander Docks.

The family moved to a larger house at 752 Stella Avenue in 1916, where the couple would live for the rest of their lives.

May 28, 1940, Winnipeg Tribune

Ethel Bendit (who dropped a "t" from the last name) would go on to the U of M and graduate with an education degree. She was, what her obituary describes as, "A strict disciplinarian and most effective teacher" at Gimli and Teulon, then in Winnipeg, at Aberdeen and Tec Voc schools.

Bendit was politically active in the late 1930s and early 1940s with the Young Liberals / Junior section of the Manitoba Liberal Progressive Association, the 20th Century Young Liberal Club, and the Greater Winnipeg Youth Council.

An overgrown 802 Magnus in 2024 (Google Street View)

The house sat empty for a year or two and then went through a phase as a grocery store! It's unclear how a 700-square-foot house could contain a grocery store with an owner's residence in the back, but according to street directories, several people made it work. Perhaps a small lean-to was added to the front?

This was known as Harry Harrison's grocery in 1918, Peter Guti grocery in 1920, Mike Ostapolich Grocery in 1921, and Fannie Zeidel's in 1922. All of the owners are listed as living at the same address.

It appears to have reverted to a house in 1923, then had several short-term owners until 1931, when John Smolak and family arrived.

1931 Census of Canada, Library and Archives Canada

John Smolak, a bricklayer, was born in Poland around 1892 and came to Winnipeg in his late teens. He married Frances, a fellow Pole, and they had five children. The 1931 census entry above captured them at their old Manitoba Avenue address. By the end of the year, they were living at 802 Magnus and stayed until 1940.

In 1945, the Sawackis arrived. Nicholas Sawacki was born in Ukraine and came to Winnipeg in 1928 with his wife, Julia. He worked for the CPR until his retirement. The couple had one son, and Julia had two children from a previous marriage. 

Nick died at the home in 1954 at the age of 67, and Julia died there in 1963 at the age of 77.

April 30, 1988, Winnipeg Free Press

The online versions of Winnipeg street directories end in 1965, so you'd have to go to the Local History Room at the Millennium Library to find residents up to 1999 in paper copies of the guide.

There are no newspaper article mentions of the house or any residents in recent decades, though it did go up for sale at least three times. In December 1969, it was described as "5 room, 1/2 basement, gas heat" house for sale for $8,500. In May 1979, it was listed for $25,900. In March 1988, it was listed for for  $43,500.

Realtor.ca

The interior was damaged by fire in the 2020s and the house was boarded up. It was for sale as was for sale as likely a teardown in early 2026 for $59,900 but appears to have been sold.

28 Woodrow Place - Gloucester Apartments

© 2026, Christian Cassidy

Name: Gloucester Apartments
Address: 28 Woodrow Place (Map)
Built: 1914

November 15, 1913, Winnipeg Tribune

Woodrow Place was subdivided in 1913 and the lots were marketed by real estate firm Aikins and Peplar. A tender to lay a sewer along the street was let in June 1914, and one for paving the roadway came the following month.

Gloucester Apartments, sometimes referred to as Gloucester Court in early street directories, was constructed in 1914. The architect of the building is not known. According to the Manitoba Historical Society, the builder was George E. Baldry who specialized in small apartment blocks.

There does not appear to have been any grand opening ads or even early "for rent" ads by a rental company, which suggests the block was able to rent by word of mouth. Apartment blocks were popular during wartime as many families or couples downsized when the "man of the house" was off at war.

The building was inhabited by the end of 1914, as a classified ad to sublet a suite appeared in a December 1914 edition of the Winnipeg Free Press. Later for rent ads show that the suites boasted balconies, electric appliances, and fireplaces.

1916 Census of Canada, Library and Archives Canada

The 1916 census shows the building housed many young couples and several families. The heads of households had occupations such as bookkeepers, lawyers, an auditor, and a doctor.

Several 1920s wedding notices mention the block, so it was also popular for newlyweds to start their married lives.

In January 1915, Evelyn Nicholson and Allan Bell had their wedding reception in suite 10. They were still living there in 1916 when they had their first child. Sybill Howes and Timothy Lemoine had their wedding ceremony in suite 5 in April 1927.

September 13, 1919, Winnipeg Tribune

Several men associated with the Gloucester Apartments were involved in the First World War, and all appear to have made it home alive. (The same can be said for the Second World War.)

Douglas Newcombe was included in a Winnipeg Tribune photo spread of babies that would meet their fathers for the first time when C. K. Newcombe's troop train arrived in Winnipeg in September 1919.

Several doctors lived in the building over the decades. This was no doubt thanks to its proximity to the Misericordia Hospital across the street and the Winnipeg General Hospital at the other end of the Sherbrook streetcar line.

A prominent resident of the building was Doctor W. Russell Gorrell.

Originally from Pilot Mound, he graduated from the University of Manitoba's School of Medicine in 1915. After practicing in Minnedosa for 12 years, he came to Winnipeg around 1930.

Gorrell was made the province's acting provincial coroner in 1940, and the appointment was made permanent in 1942. He lived at suite 10 with his wife and died at the residence in February 1946.

The man who was appointed assistant coroner under Gorrell, Dr. Irvin O. Fryer, eventually moved to suite 5 of Gloucester Apartments with his wife around 1944. When Gorrell died, Fryer took over as provincial coroner.

Raised in the Sanford, Manitoba area, Fryer graduated from the University of Manitoba's Medical School in 1913 and worked as a doctor in the Virden area before coming to Winnipeg. He retired as provincial coroner in 1971 at the age of 85. During his tenure, he ruled on the deaths of 23,000 Manitobans and was involved in some very high-profile coroner's inquests.

Remarkably, Fryer still lived at the Gloucester Apartments in 1980. That year, he was one of thousands of Winnipeggers who signed a petition against skyrocketing rents across the city. He told the Winnipeg Tribune that his proposed rent increase for the year went from $195 to $300 per month. He said the increase was unwarranted considering the deteriorating conditions inside the building., "I don't think they've painted the walls in my apartment in 30 years".

A couple of years later, Fryer relocated to B.C. to be nearer to his daughter, as his wife and son had predeceased him. A 1986 Barry Mullin column in the Free Press noted that at age 100 Fryer still lived independently and played golf as often as he could.

Fryer died in February 1987 at the age of 101.

Mrs. Ethel Stone, originally from Brandon, was the wife of military man Major William R. Stone. (He may have at one time been a commanding officer in the Royal Horse Artillery.)  The couple moved a lot, but returned to Winnipeg briefly in the early 1930s and lived at suite 6  of the Gloucester Apartments in 1933 – 34.

Mrs. Stone made the building a very busy place. She regularly held teas and other functions, usually to welcome senior military members and their families who had transferred to Winnipeg, or to see them off when they left.  Her most ambitious event appears to be a New Year’s Eve dinner in 1933 for military bigwigs before they went off to the big dance at Fort Osborne Barracks.

The building appears to have had a quiet existence. No newspaper stories about major crimes, unsavoury deaths, or fires can be found.

In the 2010s, the building was converted from an apartment block to Winnipeg Condominium Corporation No. 744.

Despite some building renovations, its age, lack of maintenance, and proximity to the river began to catch up to it. In March 2018, owners were notified that the building required at least $171, 625 worth of immediate work to address water damage and the removal of unsafe fire escapes and sunrooms. Foundation and other work that was needed brought the total repair bill to $1.1 million.

The cost was too much for some owners, and the city acquired units 1, 2, 3 and 15 in October 18, 2018 through the tax sale process. it sold them off in 2019.

Also in 2019, an offer to purchase the building was made to the Condominium Corporation. It is unclear if the building was sold. Google Street View shows the building was still inhabited in 2022.

The Gloucester was eventually vacated and boarded up. It then suffered interior fires in December 2024 and December 2025. 

It is currently for sale for $199,000 as a teardown property due to significant foundation failure and interior damage.

121 Kate Street - Private Residence

 © 2026, Christian Cassidy

Place: Private Residence
Address: 121 Kate Street
Constructed: 1882
Architect: Unknown

T. M. Fowler's Bird's Eye View of Winnipeg, 1881. Juno Street top right. (Source)

This house at 121 Kate Street, with its intricate brickwork, was built in 1882 for William Ashdown Sr.. He was the father of hardware tycoon and one-time mayor James Ashdown.

Lots around McDermot Avenue and Kate Street were once part of the A. G. B. Bannatyne estate and this section of it was sold off for development in 1881. It could be considered an early suburb of Winnipeg, offering close proximity to the commercial district around city hall but situated far enough from the hustle, bustle and pollution of its factories and warehouses to make it attractive for middle and upper middle class residents to live. 

The above excerpt from Fowler's 1881 Bird's Eye View of Winnipeg shows Juno Street under development.

September 23, 1882, Winnipeg Daily Sun

The Winnipeg Daily Sun of September 23, 1882, explored the housing being built in the neighborhood. It noted that this house, originally numbered 7 Kate Street, cost $4,200 and, “It has a spacious parlour, large kitchen, handsome library… It is nicely laid out and deserving of its occupant.” 

The property included a stable and out kitchen.

Google Maps showing back-to-back houses

The article went on to mention that George Ashdown, one of William's sons, was finishing up a house with a stable at 120 Juno Street. The two properties backed onto each other and extended through to Bannatyne Avenue, creating a little family compound.

The Ashdowns did not stay here long. By 1887, William Sr. was quite ill and had moved in with James. When James built his new home at 337 Broadway in 1889, both William and George reided there.

William Ashdown died in 1902 at the age of 84.

July 6, 1891, Winnipeg Tribune

John O'Donohue and family were the next residents of the home, circa 1890. Born in Ireland, he came to Winnipeg from London, Ontario and established a farm implement store on King Street. He lived here with his wife Ellsie, and daughters Kate, Hattie, Ida, and Baby, who ranged in age from 13 to 22. 

O'Donohue was a promoter of more Irish Catholic immigration to the West. He was on the executive of the local St. Patrick's Society and in 1894 was elected to the school board. Daughter Kate, a school teacher, became principal of Pinkham School in 1893.

Tragedy struck the family when their youngest daughter, Baby, died at the home in April 1892, aged 16. No cause of death was given. Perhaps as a result of her death, the family moved the following year to Balmoral Street.

March 6, 1882, Winnipeg Free Press

The next resident was photographer Israel Bennetto and family in 1893. At the time, Bonnetto and his wife, Anna Lauretta, were in their early thirties with two young children, Litta and Israel Jr.. A third, Marjory, was born in 1897. (Read more about Bennetto here.)

Bennetto was born in Hamilton, Ontario, in 1860 and came to Winnipeg in 1880, and soon opened Bennetto and Co. photography studio on Main Street. He was one of just four or five five photography firms listed in the street directories of the early 1880s.

By 1891, the studio was located at 436 Main Street and sold photography supplies and stock images of events and street scenes around the city. This was a common practice for photographers as an additional income stream and way to generate publicity for their services.

One of the most famous photos attributed to Bennetto and Co. is this iconic image of Louis Riel that is still used today. (It's unclear if it was Bennetto himself who took the shot.)

Bennetto ca. 1884, City of Winnipeg Archives

Bennetto was an executive member of the Knights of Pythius and dabbled in property speculation, as many businessmen did back then. He closed his studio in 1906 and spent most of his time in real estate.

A later newspaper recollection of the house's history from a former neighbour said that during the early Bennetto years, the property still extended to Bannatyne and the family kept a cow in the stable.

It appears that in later years, Bennetto subdivided parts of the property and sold them as residential lots.  Assessment records show that all of the houses along the north side of Bannatyne between Kate and Juno streets, and a house next door to 120 Juno, were built in 1903. The large apartment at Bannatyne and Kate, famous for being on the cover of the Guess Who's So Long Bannatyne album cover, was built in 1910. 

August 1917 classified ad, Winnipeg Tribune

After the Benettos, the Finch family moved in ca. 1911. It consisted of Mrs. Martha J. Finch, widow of James, and seven children ranging in age from 13 to 27. There was also an elderly couple, Robert and Sophie Austin, perhaps her parents(?), who lived here as well.

The Finches remained at the house until around 1915, then it sat empty for a year or two. When it came back on the market in 1917, it had been bought by investors and converted into suites.

Classified ads can be found in 1917 offering a main floor suite for rent, and the following year for two suites on the upper floor. 

December 30, 1920, Winnipeg Tribune

In 1920, the rooms were listed as "room and board", which meant that rent included "LH", (light housekeeping), and at least on meal per day. These services would have been provided by someone living in the main suite, often a housewife whose kids had moved out or a widow, as a way of earning extra income. 

During its time as a rental property, lodgers at 121 Kate included:

1917 - 1920: Frederick P. Dawson, a clerk at the railway mail service.

1919: Leopolde Caron, dressmaker. Emma Hansen, a telephone clerk.

1920: Walter Sellers, gardener, with his wife and at least one adult child. Margaret William, an Eatons clerk. Helen Zinger, a milner at Eatons. 

1925: Martin A. Young, an accountant at Dr. White Medical Co.. Charles Wilson, an Eatons employee. Charles Brewer, an Eatons employee.

January 20, 1976, Winnipeg Free Press

The next owner of the house was Jacob J. Hildebrand and his wife Katharina in 1932.  Hildebrand is listed as retired during his time here, and it is unclear what his occupation was, as his obituary is very brief.

A possible identity comes in the street directories of the late 1920s. There was a Jacob J. Hildebrand listed, who was the "special representative,  CN Express", the cargo division of the CNR. Around the same time, there were newspaper mentions of "J J Hildebrand" from Mennonite Immigration Aid of Winnipeg welcoming trains with new Mennonites arriving in Western Canada. This was likely the same man.

This J. J. Hildebrand, sometimes using the 121 Kate Street as an address, wrote several lengthy letters to the Editor of the Free Press and Tribune in the mid to late 1930s in favour of Germany's rising prominence in the world.

August 20, 1965, Winnipeg Free Press

The longest-term owners of the house were Erik and Tekla Moberg, who originated from Sweden. They arrived at 121 Kate in 1941 and raised five sons here. The couple were heavily involved in Grant Memorial Baptist Church

Mr. Moberg was a carpenter by trade, first an independent contractor, then working for the provincial government in the 1950s and 1960s. 

There was some excitement at the house in August 1965, when a neighbourhood youth decided to do some target practice in the nearby back lane. One of the bullets ricocheted and went through the kitchen window while Mrs. Moberg and one of her sons were in it. It narrowly missed Mrs. Moberg, who later told a Free Press reporter, "I'm five feet two and I'm glad of it."

Tekla died in 1969, and Erik lived here until shortly before his death in March 1987 at Princess Elizabeth Hospital at the age of 87. An estate sale was held at the house later that year.

June 6, 1987 Open House and, Winnipeg Free Press

The house was then sold to John Cardoso and family. (Likely this John Cardoso, who ran for public office several times.)

It was during this time that the house received a Grade II historical building designation from the city for being a fine example of what was a dwindling number of early 1880s Queen Anne brick residences. The designation allowed the owner to apply for a small grant to help renovate the property.

This, and hundreds of other lower-level listed buildings, were purged from the historic buildings list circa 2011, and it currently has no historical designation. This is the historical building assessment of the building originally written in 1988.

The house at 121 Kate Street still stands and is well maintained. Close-up images of the building and some interior shots can be found in the city's historical building assessment.

114 Higgins Avenue - Richelieu Hotel / Roman Hotel / King's Hotel

© 2026, Christian Cassidy

King's Hotel in 2008

The King's Hotel on Higgins Avenue is up for sale for just shy of $1 million. It has been closed for over a year and looks worse for wear than in 2008 when I took the above photo. (UPDATE: It has been sold; new owners took charge on March 1, 2026.)

I was only there once, when scouting out places for my Historic Hotels Walking Tour back in 2015 or so. A younger couple had taken over the bar, did some renovations and were reintroducing live entertainment. Unfortunately, most of my interior photos are lost on an old hard drive somewhere, except for this and this.

The hotel was too far off the beaten track to add to my tour, which may have been the issue that plagued the business in its earliest years as a hotel as well.

Here's a look back at the history of the King's Hotel:

1904 Henderson's Street Directory of Winnipeg

Place: Richelieu / Roman / King's Hotel
Address: 114 Higgins Avenue (Map)
Constructed: 1903

Cost: $18,000
Architect: Unknown

Original owner: Joseph Napoleon Levesque
Contractor: Henri Soucisse

The King’s Hotel at 144 Higgins Avenue was constructed in 1903 as the Richelieu Hotel for Joseph Napoleon Levesque and constructed by Henri Soucisse.

Levesque was originally from Quebec and can be found in Winnipeg street directories as far back as 1900. He was self-employed as a blacksmith at 103 Higgins Avenue at Gomez Street, which is across the street and three lots down from the hotel site.

The above 1901 census entry for Joseph "M" Levesque is likely him. It shows Joseph, wife Marie, and their three children living together in Ward 5. Also living there were two of Levesque's younger brothers, also from Quebec, Philius and Louis.

In April 1902, Levesque took out a building permit on Higgins Avenue at Gomez for a two-storey frame building with a blacksmith shop on the main floor and residence upstairs. This may have been for his own use as his home address changes from Gomez Street to the same 113 Higgins address as his shop the following year.

In 1903 newspaper lists of building permits, both Joseph and Marie Levesque are noted at different times as the applicant for the new hotel.

June 6, 1900, Le Manitoba

The architect of the building is unknown, but the builder was Henri Soucisse.

This was one of the last substantial construction projects of Soucisse's career. In the 1880s, he worked on many high-profile government buildings, such as Winnipeg's Dominion Post Office, a new Manitoba legislature, and Government House. There was also a Dominion Posts Office, central jail, and the NWMP No. 1 drill hall in Regina.

You can read more about the life and buildings of Henri Soucisse here.

December 12, 1903, Winnipeg Tribune

It was noted in a September 1903 edition of the Tribune that Levesque was "pushing on work on the new Higgins Avenue hotel". It was a three-storey, 28-room hotel that included a pool hall, restaurant and barber shop on the main floor.

The first general manager, William C. Germain, was in place by mid-December. He came from Brandon, where he had managed the Langham Hotel. 

A liquor permit application was submitted once Germain was in place, but Levesque's permit hearing didn’t happen until April 1904, and it was granted in early May. 

Commissioners advised Levesque to be sure to keep his hotel open to visitors to the city rather than fill it with longer-term boarders. (The city was in a housing crunch with many people living in hotels, which in turn caused a hotel crunch with not enough rooms for short-term visitors.)

The advice wasn’t taken as there are at least four boarders listed in the street directory during the hotel’s first year of operation: Frank Butler of Shamrock pool rooms; E. Gault, a carpenter at J Y Griffin and Co. pork and beef packing plant; W. Secord, a butcher at J Y Griffin and Co,; and Minnie Hull, hotel employee. By 1911, there were 20 people listed as boarders.

King's Hotel in 1903 and 2008

In September 1906, Levesque sold the hotel to the partnership of Morris Liss and Ralph Glube. If this genealogy entry is for the same man, he may have sold it due to poor health, as he died the following year at age 34 and is buried in St. Mary's Cemetery. No local obituary can be found for him and it is unclear what happened to Marie and his children.

Liss moved to the site with his wife and child, while Glube was the resident manager of the Dominion Hotel. A few months later, the partnership was dissolved, and Liss took over the hotel himself until June 1911.

The Richelieu went through a series of short-term proprietors in its early years. It could that its location, off the beaten track of Main Street, meant it did not draw in a lot of business. It could also mean that the building was owned by a company or partnership that leased it out to others to manage and it never put the effort or money into finding the right people. It's difficult to know who the actual "owner" of a hotel was unless the sale of the building was noted in a newspaper story.

The hotel was then transferred to Thomas Fell. He was born in Hamilton, Ontario where he was in the hotel business and came to Winnipeg in 1909 and worked at the Stock Exchange Hotel before taking over the Richelieu. His wife, Frances, and four children lived with him at the hotel.

Fell ran the hotel until 1917, then took over the King George Hotel for a year before moving to Emerson, Manitoba.

July 20, 1917, Winnipeg Tribune

The new proprietor of the Richelieu Hotel was Edward Berger, who often flaunted the law.

In July 1917, which must have been just weeks after taking over, he was arrested for selling liquor at the bar and fined $200 (well over $5,000 in today's money). This was during Manitoba's prohibition era.

Berger was in the news again in October 1917, when he was remanded for a week for both selling liquor and “keeping an immoral resort”, which was a catch-all phrase that suggested he allowed prostitution, gambling or other illegal activities to take place.

Soon after, Berger lost his hotel license. 

March 9, 1918, Winnipeg Free Press

By the start of 1918, Edward W. Woods was the proprietor and couldn't escape the bad clientele the hotel had been attracting.

The Richelieu was raided on New Year’s Eve 1917 by the morals squad, and four people, including Woods, were charged under the Temperance Act.

Later in January, Woods lent an unemployed man named Johnson $5 on the promise that he would repay him once he got work. Over a month later, Woods bumped into Johnson, who had been avoiding him, grabbed him by the collar, and removed a tie pin from his shirt. He told Johnson that he would get it back when he repaid the $5. 

A few days later, Johnson stole a revolver, "a massive, ugly looking weapon" according to the Free Press, and went to the hotel to demand his jewellery back. His weapon was pointed at Mrs. Woods when Mr. Woods and another customer walked into the room. They wrestled Johnson to the floor and the police soon arrived.

February 6, 1920, Winnipeg Tribune

The proprietorship changed again in 1919 to Eli Gates. (Perhaps Mrs. Woods didn't appreciate being threatened with a weapon.) 

In February 1920, it was announced that Stanley Pong had bought the hotel, though his name never appears again in relation to the hotel. It could be that the deal was never finalised.

By 1921, Michael Syzek was the proprietor, and a few hotel patrons were mentioned that year in news stories being fined for minor alcohol and gambling offences.

April 11, 1928, Winnipeg Free Press

The hotel finally found the stable, longer-term ownership it had been missing in 1922 when Frederick T. Gates and family took it over. They also changed its name to the Roman Hotel.

Crime stories related to the hotel and its patrons dropped off immediately, and though the Gates still relied heavily on longer-term lodgers to fill the beds, they did advertise for tourists from time to time.

Roman Hotel, 1931 Census of Canada (Library and Archives Canada)

The Gates family, highlighted in yellow above in the 1931 Census of Canada, consisted of Frederick "Fred" and Annie Gates from Romania. She came to Canada in 1904, and he came in 1912. They married here and had two daughters, Olympia, born ca. 1923, and Elizabeth, born ca. 1925.

Looking at the entire role of residents listed at the hotel in the census, a majority of them were either Romanian or Austrian by 1931. In fact, the vast majority of residents on that block of Higgins Avenue, which includes the King's Hotel, several houses and an apartment block, are listed as Austrian.

The Gates must have been prominent in the local Romanian Community. When Queen Marie of Romania visited Winnipeg in November 1926, it was reported that 10,000 people came to the Legislative grounds to see her. At a ceremony on the Legislative steps, two young children, including Olympia Gates, presented her with flowers.

The family kept to themselves and ran a clean hotel. There was only one liquor infraction, a 1926 fine to Annie for having liquor in a place other than the bar. 

By April 1934, the Gates had disappeared not only from the hotel but from the Winnipeg street directory. This is a sign that they likely moved to another town or province, perhaps to run another hotel.

June 10, 1940, Winnipeg Tribune

After nearly a decade of stability under the Gates, the hotel got a new name by the end of 1934: the King's Hotel.

According to the city's historic buildings report, at some point the hotel fell under the ownership of Drewry's Brewery, and this is likely that time.

Many hotels faltered under increasing debt load during the Depression, and often their biggest creditor was a brewery. This caused several owners to cheaply sell, or just hand over the keys, to a brewery.

Two of Winnipeg's largest breweries, Shea's and Drewry's, amassed several properties each and created hotel subsidiaries that renovated and sometimes rebranded the establishments, then hired managers or leased them out to others to run. Drewry's hotel division at one time included the Sutherland, Yale, Vendome, and King's.

In the late 1950s and through the 1960s, as the regional breweries were swallowed up by national brewers, they divested themselves of their hotel divisions.

The King's had a quick succession of managers, the term used next to their names in the street directory. They were: A. M. Kiedyk (1934), N. Steafiniv (1935), and John Russell (1936-1937).  

(The above image appeared in the Winnipeg Tribune in 1940 to show some of the signage on the building. It was never called the Elgin, so that must have been part of an advertisement or related to the neighbouring building.)

October 13, 1939, Winnipeg Tribune

By October 1939, there was a new proprietor named John Bednar. He notes even in classified ads that he was Czechoslovakian, and that would become a focal point for the hotel in the years ahead.

Winnipeg had a strong Slovakian community. In 1932, George Rodos co-founded the National Canadian Slovak League in Winnipeg. Several big events sponsored by the Slovak league were held at the hotel, including a dinner to commemorate the anniversary of the death of General Milan Stefanik in 1936 and 1937. Also in 1937, a concert and dinner was held to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Slovak League.

The dinners suggested a dining hall or conference room at the hotel, which is not something noted in earlier years. 

The Bodnars ran the hotel until 1940, then disappeared from the street directories. This suggests they moved out of town.

King's Hotel in 2008

Medard "Case" Mourant and his wife Anna were the proprietors starting in 1941.

Case was born in Lauve, Belgium and came to Canada in 1914 with his parents and settled in Rosewood, Manitoba. He became a trainer and breeder of horses. Anna was also active in the horse industry. Both were members of the Belgian Club and Horsemens Benevolent Protective Association. 

The Mourants ran the hotel until 1949, when William and Martha Hay took over. Martha died in 1951, but Mr. Hay continued at the hotel until 1959.

George and Maria Sredzyk

George (Yurko) and Maria (Izyk) Seredycz were the new owners and proprietors in 1959. (Presumably, the hotel was sold off by Drewry's) 

The couple were married in Ukraine in 1942 and came to Canada with their young son Boris in 1948. They first worked on a beet farm near Lethbridge before moving to Winnipeg in 1950, where they had a daughter, Irene.

The couple ran a grocery store on Sutherland Avenue that they sold to buy the King's Hotel in 1959. George ran he bar, Maria the restaurant, and together they ran the hotel.

Live entertainment in the 1960s

Like most hotel and motor inn owners, the Sereddzyks took advantage of changes in liquor laws to create a "beverage room" and have live entertainment. One of the first ads for its live shows was a Talent Night on Tuesday nights in April 1966.

The bands on offer at the King's often had a Ukrainian flair, such as the D-Drifters 5 and Interlake Polka Kings.

The Sereddzyks were also business partners in the Lincoln Motor Inn and Seven Oaks Motel.

They sold up around 1968, when they moved to Regina and continued in the hotel business.

December 10, 1971, Winnipeg Free Press

The hotel used the phrase "under new management" in its ads through 1968.

It was purchased in 1971 by Peter and Rita Bartmanovich. The couple married in 1955 and previously ran a chicken and pig farm near Howden, Manitoba. 

The live music continued in the beveridge room. Through the 1970 and early 1980s, the hotel fielded baseball and fastball teams in various commercial leagues.

In 1985, Marjorie Zelinki died. She had been the manager of the hotel restaurant for 14 years.

After the Bartmanoviches left in 1992, ownership becomes harder to pin down. By this time, most of these older hotels were owned by hotel companies that had several properties, and news about them and ownership changes didn't make the newspapers as they did decades earlier.

A liquor permit application for the hotel in 1992 shows a numbered company.

August 30, 2018, Winnipeg Free Press

The next owner whose name can be found in newspapers is that of Michael Bruneau, who owned several hotels in Manitoba.

In 2008, he was interviewed about the possibility of a new football stadium being built in the Point Douglas area. He made news again in 2018 when he began a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to help send area residents to the Aurora Treatment Centre for meth addiction after two residents of the hotel died from the drug. 

October 7, 2014, CBC Manitoba

During Bruneau's tenure, local musician Dustin Harder took over the management of the bar in June 2014 - 2015 with the hope to make it "a meeting place, bridging the condominiums on Waterfront Drive and the Point Douglas neighbourhood", according to this CBC News story. This Shaw video is a visit to the hotel in 2015. 

The hotel's kitchen also became home base for Althea Guiboche, "The Bannock Lady", during Harder's management.

Michael Bruneau died in 2025, but had sold the hotel circa 2020.

Kings Hotel, February 2026

The new ownership was the death knell for the already struggling hotel.

The Liquor, Gaming and Cannabis Authority of Manitoba cancelled the hotel's vendor license on March 15, 2021, "until it is confirmed by Manitoba Health that the Health Hazard Order is no longer in effect and by the inspection it is confirmed that the required rooms are in a rentable condition."

Its liquor license was cancelled on February 14, 2024, after the owner was one of six people charged with several drug-related offences and will not get it back until "pending charges have been resolved through the courts, and the LGCA reviews this resolution and makes a determination of its impact on the principal’s eligibility to hold a licence under the Act."

As late as March 2024, presumably until the charges led to arrests, the owner was advertising for a hotel manager.

After her arrest, the hotel was closed and is now up for sale.

UPDATE 2026: The Winnipeg Free Press confirmed with the listing agent that the building has been sold as of March 1, 2026. Owners could not be reached, but the agent says he believed the plan was to renovate it.

Interior, September 2015

PAST OWNERS,  PROPRIETORS, AND MANAGERS

This list is pieced together from newspaper notices and street directories. The latter lists the "proprietor" of the hotel, but it is hard to tell if that means they owned the building or were leasing it from the owner, unless a sale is confirmed by a newspaper story. Street directories were not as accurate as a census, so the years and descriptions of roles might not be exact.

Richelieu Hotel
1903-1906: Joseph Napoleon Levesque (owner), William C. Germain (manager)
1906-1911: Morris Liss and Ralph Glube (Just Morris Liss by 1907)
1911-1917: Thomas Fell
1917-1917: Edward Berger
1918-1918: Edward W. Woods
1919-1920: Eli Gates
1920-1921: Stanley Pong
1921-1922: Michael Syzek

Roman Hotel 
1922-1934: Fred and Anne Gates

King’s Hotel (likely owned by a division of Drewry's Brewery from 1934 to 1959)
1934-1935: A. M. Kiedyk (manager)
1935-1936: N. Steafiniv (manager)
1936-1937: John A Russell (manager)
1938-1940: John Bodnar 
1941-1949: Medard "Case" and Anna Mourant
1949-1959 William and Martha Hay (Martha died 1951)
1959-1968: Mary and George Seredycz
1968-????: "New Management"
1971-1992: Peter and Rita Bartmanovich
1992-????: Numbered company
ca.2008-ca.2020: Michael Bruneau
ca.2020-2026: Harpreet Mangat
March 1, 2026, new owners

Related:
114 Higgins Avenue City of Winnipeg History Building Report
King's Hotel My photo album on Flickr
My CBC Manitoba radio interview about the hotel