© 2026, Christian Cassidy
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The interior was damaged by fire in the 2020s and the house was boarded up. It is currently for sale as likely teardown for $59,900.
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