471 William Avenue - Victoria Court Apartments

© 2019, Christian Cassidy

Place: Victoria Court Apartments
Address: 417 William Avenue
Architect: Paul Melsted Clemens
Developer: Joseph Johnson

The 22-unit Victoria Court Apartments were constructed in 1910 for developer Joseph Johnson. Its architect was Paul Melsted Clemens.

Clemens and Johnson were part of a group of Icelanders that collaborated to design, finance and construct many dozen three-storey walk-up apartments in Winnipeg from the mid-1900s through the 19-teens.

Victoria Court's first "for rent" ads appear in local papers in October 1910. According to a 2003 city report the suites ranged from 500 square feet to 894 square feet and included fifteen one-bedroom and seven two-bedroom units.

The early years of Victoria Court appear to have been quiet ones. There are no major fires or crimes that made the local papers from this address.

Among the block's first residents was Mr. and Mrs. Edgar Prain in 1910. This would have been at the very start of his long and illustrious architectural career. The couple lost an infant son, three-month-old Fred Kennedy, during their time there. His funeral took place on Christmas Eve 1910.

In 1913, Victor Cumming of suite 34 lost his drivers licence, number 384, due to "drunkenness while driving a car". This was surely one of the province's first cases of a DUI.

Edward Ng lived in suite 20 with his parents in 1972. That year, the 17-year-old Gordon Bell High School student placed first out of 20,000 students in the ninth annual national mathematics test administered by the University of Waterloo.It was the first time a Manitoban took top honours.

November 27, 1918, Winnipeg Tribune

Another resident of the block was Albert Morley Atkinson, his wife Mary Mildred and their infant son of number 21. Atkinson, a clerk at Banfield's furniture store at 492 Main, was known for playing intermediate baseball and hockey with the Thistles Athletic Club.

Atkinson enlisted in 1915 and was shot in the arm in October 1917. He recovered in hospital though refused the surgery to remove the shrapnel from his arm. He went back into service with another unit, but, as predicted by his doctors, his arm got worse and he was medically discharged due to the limited use of his arm and transferred back to Winnipeg arriving around June 1918.

Like many soldiers he contracted "Spanish" Influenza and died November 10, 1918 at a special emergency room annex set up on Logan Avenue for flu cases. He was 30 years old.

October 7, 1930, Winnipeg Tribune

The building became vacant and boarded up in 2003. Three years later, a zoning application was approved to a group who wished to renovate the building. That work was completed in 2007.

Victoria Court again spiraled downwards in the 20-teens. In 2018 it was closed down again.

On December 4, 2019, fire broke out in the abandoned building.

Related:
More photos of Victoria Court Apartments
Mass Destruction: Meth dealers taking over apartments CTV News (2018)
Boarded up block a drug den CBC News (2019)
Fire breaks out in vacant building CTV News (2019)