© 2026, Christian Cassidy
Address: 115 Garry Street (Map)
Built: 1911
Architects: Woodman & Carey (John Woodman and Raymond Carey)
This building was constructed in 1911 as part of the ever-growing footprint of the HBC's first department store at Main Street and York Avenue.
The store was constructed in 1881 and expanded to the west a couple of times. In the early 1900s, several modern outbuildings were added to the streets around it, such as a stable/livery, a power plant, and this garage for its fledgling fleet of motorised vehicles.
The garage was designed by architects Woodman and Carey of Winnipeg. That same year, they designed a $200,000 CPR laundry building near the CPR Depot (now demolished), the Free Press Building on Carlton Street, and the HBC Wholesale Warehouse on Main Street (now Gibraltar House.)
When the Bay's new department store opened on Portage Avenue in 1926, its collection of buildings around Main and York fell out of use. The last year this building is listed in street directories as the HBC garage was 1930.
The building continued to serve the motor vehicles industry for several companies. The first was Watson Motors from 1931 to 1932, McRae and Griffith Ltd. garage from 1940 to 1944, then Red Wing Cartage and Storage from 1944 to 1964. It then sat vacant for several years.
A very different enterprise came along in 1975.
The Keg 'N Cleaver restaurant chain began in Vancouver in 1971, and by 1975 it had 16 restaurants operating in Canada and six under development in the U.S..
It applied for a liquor permit for 115 Garry Street, at what would be its seventh location, in February 1975, and held its grand opening in June. By 1984, all of its restaurants had rebranded to simply "The Keg".
In 1989, the restaurant closed temporarily for a $1.6 million renovation that saw a new entrance and patio added to the south side of the building and the original Garry Street entrance was closed.
In 2022, construction began on a new mixed-use development at Donald Street and St. Mary Avenue that was to contain The Keg as a retail anchor. The developers ran into financial trouble, and construction came to a halt.
The project was revived by Carrington Real Estate in 2024, and the project was rebranded DSM (short for Donald St. Mary). The 14-storey building will contain two floors of retail, including The Keg, and 160 rental units on the upper floors.
In a 2025 Free Press story about the 50th anniversary of The Keg in Winnipeg, Scott Stephen, the director of operations for Winnipeg's restaurants, confirmed that “For now, the plan is to continue to operate out of our Garry Street location right up to the time we move over in summer or fall of 2026.”
The Keg closed its 115 Garry Street location on July 29, 2026.
115 Garry Street Historic Buildings Report City of Winnipeg
115 Garry Street Manitoba Historical Society
115 Garry Street Winnipeg Architecture Foundation
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