© 2021, Christian Cassidy
It was recently in the news that 573 Mountain Avenue is going to be converted into housing units for Indigenous women and their children by Raising the Roof.
Here's a look back at its history.
1916 Census of Canada, Library and Archives Canada
The early history of this building is tied to Rudolph Alexander Puls and family.
Rudolph and Margaret Puls were Hungarian. They married and had their first child, Otto, in their homeland. In 1905, the family embarked for Canada with daughter Rita (Reda) born at sea. Their two youngest children, Rudy and John, were born in Manitoba.
The first sign of the Puls in Winnipeg can be found in the 1911 census living at 567 Mountain Avenue. Rudolph's occupation is listed as a butcher.
The 1913 Henderson street directory, which would have been compiled in 1912, shows that the Puls had moved to 573 Mountain Avenue. Rudolph was working for the large meat packing firm Gallagher-Hollman-Lafrance Co.. There are two other Puls, Henry, a CPR conductor, and B.A., a carpenter, also living at this address. They may have been brothers of Rudolph.
Rudolph opened his own butcher shop and grocery on the main floor of the home in 1913 which was simply called R. Puls, butcher.
573 Mountain April 28, 1917 Tribune
The family continued to live above the store and the children went to Strathcona School where Rita had a couple of her entries published in the Winnipeg Tribune’s young peoples’ page in the mid-19-teens.
As the children grew up and moved on, the family rented out a couple of suites in the home. In the mid-1940s it was to retired couple John and Mary Dyck, and a signwriter for Claude Neon named John Van Dyck.
Margaret Puls is listed as the manager of the butcher shop store starting in 1945. This may have been because Rudolph was sick. He died in January 1946 and is buried in Riverside Cemetery.
The store continued under Margaret until about 1948. It then disappears from the street directory with no other commercial business listed in that space.
Margaret Puls died in 1959 at the age of 75. Rita continued to live in the house through the early 1960s.
Dr. Anne C. Percheson, U of T yearbook, 1961
Mr. Percheson specialized in proctology and also had an office at the Winnipeg Clinic. Anne got her B.Sc. from the University of Manitoba and graduated from medical school at the University of Toronto in 1961. They had at least one son, Brian.
The family lived upstairs and their medical practice was on the main floor until the late 1960s. They eventually relocated to Ontario.
The Student, (Ukrainian Canadian Students Union newspaper), December 1977
Dr. William Bohonos purchased the building around 1966 with the thought of it becoming home to the optometrist practice of his son, B. William Bohonos, when he graduated in a few years.
In the meantime he rented space to Dr. Michael Lasko, a 1967 U of M dentistry grad.
In 1972, the building was renovated to hold the practices of both Lasko and Bohonos.
In 1985, Bohonos opened a second office on Lakewood Boulevard and left 573 Mountain Avenue in February 1990.
Dr. Lasko, University of Manitoba yearbook, 1967
Dr. Lasko continued to operate his practice from the building until 2004 then joined a practice in the Garden City area.
Lasko served in many executive capacities with the Manitoba Dental Association, including as registrar. In 2004, he received the Distinguished Service Award from the Canadian Dental Association. In 2010, he was co-recipient of the University of Manitoba's Alumni of Distinction award for dentistry.
An online 'for sale' ad for the building in 2003 listed it as a 2,576 square foot property with a second floor residential suite, main floor office, and full basement.
From at least 2005 to 2008 it was the constituency office of M.P. Judy Wasylycia-Leis. It became 9 Leaf Nail and Spa Salon in 2014.
Raising the Roof purchased the building in 2021 and will convert it into three suites of affordable housing. This is the organization's first project outside Ontario.
Related:
Video tour of the renovations Raising the Roof
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