© 2021, Christian Cassidy
Address: 1188 Wellington Crescent (Map)
Size: 3,700 square feet, 4 bedrooms
Constructed: 1929
Architect: Richard Collard
Contractor: Carter-Halls-Aldiger
August 31, 1929, Winnipeg Tribune
This home was constructed in 1929 for the Collard family: Richard and Mildred and their daughter Patricia. It featured six rooms on the ground floor and five rooms on the second floor which included a a billiard room, laundry room, four bathrooms, and two maids quarters in the basement.
The $20,000 building permit was taken out in April 1929. By comparison, the average permit amount for residences at the time was in the $3,500 to $5,000 range. It is constructed of reinforced concrete with stucco finish.
The contractor was Carter-Halls-Aldiger, the construction company that Richard Collier was vice president of. One newspaper article mentions that the house is Collard's own design, (he was an engineer by trade.)
November 2, 1935, Winnipeg Tribune
Mildred Gordon Collard was born and raised in Ontario, graduating from the Ontario Ladies College and Alma College in St. Thomas. She married Richard Collard in 1912 and they had their only child, Patricia, in 1916. The family moved to Winnipeg in 1920.
Richard Collard was vice president of the Carter-Halls-Aldiger Co.
which is one of the preeminent construction and engineering firms in
the city's history. Created in 1907, it is responsible for hundreds of
projects across the West, from Winnipeg's Minto Armouries and HBC
department store, to Vancouver's City Hall and the Banff Springs Hotel.
One of the biggest society events of 1935 was a November ball at the
house to celebrate their daughter Patricia and about 35 other
debutantes. A Tribune article noted that "The whole of the main floor
was arranged for dancing" which included an orchestra headed by Claude
Turner. The night ended with a lavish midnight buffet.
In October 1939, Collard was taken on by the RCAF as director of airport construction which included the hundreds of Commonwealth Air Training Plan facilities that had to be built across the country. He eventually achieved the rank of Air Vice Marshall and was awarded a CBE, the highest ranking Order of the British Empire awards with the exception of a knighthood, for his service.
The Collard family had to relocate to Ottawa in November 1939 for the wartime post and returned to the city and 1188 Wellington Crescent in December 1944.
Carter-Halls-Aldiger was reorganized as Commonwealth Construction in the late 1940s with Collard as president and general manager until his retirement in 1957. He died in 1963.
Mildred Collard, who was heavily involved with St. Stephens Broadway United Church Women's Auxiliary and a lifetime member of the St. Agnes Guild and Winnipeg Humane Society, died in 1968.
After the Collards, the history of the house is a bit of a mystery as starting in the 1970s newspapers stopped reporting the addresses of people in articles.
The house was listed as for sale or rent in 1997 and in 2002 was for sale for $494,900. It was put up for sale in again in 2021.
Related:
More about the work of Collard during World War II
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