123 Princess Street - Miller & Richard Building

Source: MB Historical Society ca. 2011

Place: 123 Princess Street (Miller & Richard Building)
Location: 123 Princess Street (Map)
Opened: 1905
Architect: Frank Peters
Contractor:
Cost: Unknown

April 21, 1905, Winnipeg Free Press

The building was designed by Frank Peters and constructed in 1905 as the Western Canadian branch of the Scottish company Miller & Richard.

April 21, 1905, Winnipeg Free Press

Miller & Richard was a type foundry whose roots went back to 1809. They created numerous popular type fonts used in magazines, catalogues and newspapers around the world. In fact, some fonts used today, such as Century Oldstyle and Bookman, are descendants of their work.

The general manager was Harry Patterson, who had been the Western sales rep for M & R for a number of years.

Ad ca. 1906

The company carried their entire line of type face, cast in Scotland, and typesetting equipment. They were also sales and repair agents for a number of printing press manufacturers and dealt in related machinery such as bindery equipment and paper cutters.

Ad ca. 1906

The third floor of the building was rented out to Douglass McIntyre Printing Company, a commercial print shop. They used the address 171 Princess.

Miller and Richards closed the branch in 1931, though they kept a sales office for a time on the third floor of the Nokomis Building on Cumberland. Douglass and McIntryre stuck around until the early 1940s.

Lögberg, August 26, 1948

In 1932 the Western Elevator and Motor Company / Power and Mines Supply Company bought the building. Created in 1919, Western was one of the city's first elevator firms.

The Electrical News, 1921 Edition

The creator was George E. Miles. Born in Britain in 1886 he trained as an electrical engineer and came to Canada in 1906 to work stints with Otis Elevator then the CPR. After time in Minnesota he came to Winnipeg to work for Canadian Westinghouse.

In World War I Miles served as a captain with the Canadian Mounted Rifles. When he returned in 1919 he created the Western Elevator and Motor Company and Power and Mines Supply Company. He spent a number of years on the board of the Manitoba Electrical Association and served on the school board in 1931 and 1932.

In 1948 he sold his companies and he and wife Gladys retired to their Yale Avenue home, though he continued to consult for the Department of Defence. George Miles died in July 1961

Lögberg, August 26, 1948

In 1948 Grettir Eggertson bought the company and brother Ragnar Eggertson became Vice President. They were sons of Icelandic businessman and developer Arni Eggertson.

From 1948 - 1971 the tenant's space was leased to Crabb and Company, a real estate agency with roots back to 1923.

Grettir Eggertson was born in Winnipeg in 1903 and graduated from the U of M in 1925 with a degree in electrical engineering. His work took him around the world. During World War II he supervised the construction of a number of hydro-electric plants in Iceland, including the power distribution grid for the city of Reykjavik. For this work there he was later awarded the Commander Cross of the Icelandic Order of the Falcon.

Ragnar died in 1961 and Grettir retired from Western Elevator in the early 1980s. In 1988 the firm merged with another elevator company called Excel Elevators to create Excel Western Elevators. The Princess Street location soon closed and the company appears to disappear in the late 1990s.

The building sat underused or vacant until 1999 when a new owner decided to try something unique: residential style lofts in the west side of the Exchange. At that time the Ashdown Warehouse was one of the few, if not only, legal conversions that existed. In 2002 the Western Elevator Lofts went on the market.

The building was converted into six residential units and a penthouse suite was added. The main floor and basement became commercial units. Currently, the commercial space is home to Vixin Salon and in February 2012 Winnipeg's Cultural City Hall, (the new incarnation of Aqua Books), announced that they will relocated there.

Related:
Winnipeg's Cultural City Hall Finds New Home West End Dumplings
Condo conversion case study CMHC
123 Princess Heritage Winnipeg
121-123 Princess Historic Buildings Committee
Living in the Past Winnipeg Free Press (2003)

290 Waterfront Drive - The Excelsior

Place: The Excelsior (Website)

Address: 290 Waterfront Drive (Map)
Opened: July 2008
Developer Architect:

Cost: $17m

Background

On May 10, 2005 Sherwood Developments' Fausto Pereira climbed into a backhoe and broke ground on a first for Winnipeg: a condominium project on Waterfront Drive. The Excelsior is made up of two 8 storey towers containing 48 units with 11,000 sq ft of retail on the main floor.

The land on the west side of Waterfront Drive between Bannatyne and James was a former industrial site owned by the City of Winnipeg. A deal brokered through CentreVenture allowed for the sale of this first project, the neighbouring Sky Condominiums soon followed.

Related:
Waterfront Drive Transformed ... Winnipeg Free Press
Waterfront Set for Leap Forward Winnipeg Free Press
The Excelsior (slideshow) Bill Thiessen.com

110 Princess Street - Fairchild Lofts

Project: Fairchild Lofts (no website)
Address: 110 - 120 Princess Street (Map)
Status: Opened 2006
Size: 50 Units
Cost: $7m

Background

Fairchild ad ca. 1903

Westbrook and Fairchild was formed in 1877 as grew to be one of the city’s largest manufacturers of farm machinery and carriages. Though Frank Fairchild died in 1897 the company carried on as Fairchild Company with H.W. Hutchinson the new owner.

The company needed larger manufacturing, warehouse and display space and in 1906 announced that they would construct a new headquarters right next door to their existing one. The six storey, 63,000 sq ft Fairchild Building would take the addresses 110 - 120 Princess Street.

Fairchild Company logo

The John Deere Plow Company, for whom Fairchild were agents, was eager to enter the Canadian West but wanted to do it through acquisition of Fairchild, whose network included properties in Regina, Calgary and Edmonton. It took a while but Hutchinson told the Free Press on October 4, 1907:

“The consummation of the sale of this business to the John Deere Plow Co. of Moline, Illinois terminates negotiations that originated four years ago by the purchasers…”

The rumored price was $1 million.

February 1, 1908. Winnipeg Free Press.

On December 1, 1906 John Deere assumed control of Fairchild and its brand new headquarters. Deere leased out excess warehouse space in the building to other companies, usually under the address 120 Princess. They remained the owners until 1951 when they relocated to smaller premises.

Source: 1945 Directory of Western Manufacturers

In 1953 the Sterling Cloak Company, formerly located in the Whitla Building, took over the building. They were large scale clothing manufacturers and had contacts for making outfits for the likes of the Canadian Forces. (The more familiar name of Sterling Stall came about in the late 1970s.)

Sterling Cloak rented out a great deal of excess space. Tenants included the federal government’s Unemployment Insurance Commission, Robinson-Alamo (machinery dealers) and long-time retail tenant Charles Home Ltd (fabric wholesaler).

Sterling Stall remained associated with the building until 1984. From that point forward there were numerous tenants and any one time including Penthouse Furniture Warehouse Store, General Doray Enterprises.

In 2001 the University of Manitoba studied the feasibility of leasing the building as a downtown campus space. Nothing came of it.

In 2004 an Edmonton-based developer announced that they had purchased the building for conversion into loft-style condominiums with office and retail space on the main floor. The $7 m conversion saw the construction of 50 residential units ranging from 635 to 1,673 square feet.

Related:
Fairchild Lofts image gallery GWH Construction
110 Princess Historic Buildings Committee
110 Princess Winnipeg Building Index
Fairchild Building Heritage Winnipeg

358 Langside Street: Richardson College for the Environment and Science

Project: University of Winnipeg's Richardson College for the Environment and Science (Website)
Address: Portage Avenue at Langside Street (Map)
Status: Opened June 2011
Size: 150,000 sq ft
Cost: $66.58m

This project began in 2006 after a collective $3.5 m donation from the Richardson's business, family and foundation. It was the largest single donation to the University of Winnipeg at the time, (Since then John and Bonnie Buhler surpassed it).

The University of Winnipeg's Richardson College for the Environment and Science will house the departments of Biology, Chemistry and Environmental Studies as well as numerous other offices ranging from the Institute of Urban Studies and Indigenous Studies program. Over 2,000 students a day are expected to use the facility.

Designed by Number 10 Architects, it is a Silver Certified LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) building.

Its completion caps off what has been quite a transformation for the block of Portage Avenue between Furby and Langside. The square block also boasts the UWSA's 112 child daycare and a 200 person student residence.

Reference:
Richardson College ... Fast Facts U of Winnipeg
Richardson College .... Homepage W of Winnipeg
Richardson College Grand Opening (News Release)
U of W Scientists Ready to Roll Free Press
New Science Centre a Work of Art Free Press

Here is a look back at the block's transformation:

Top: Furby Theatre (1912 - 1952)
Bottom: Used car lot / parking for Winnipeg Roller Rink (until 2006)

Here are interior shots from the grand opening on June 11, 2011:

443 Webb Place - Webbsite Condominiums

Project: Webbsite Condominiums
Location: 443 Webb Place (Map)
Constructed: 2006
Architect: Cohlmeyer Architects
Cost: $900,000
Status: Completed

Before the Waterfront Drive projects there was Webbsite.

The project was actually commissioned by The Forks North Portage Partnership on a surface parking lot they owned on Webb Place. When construction began in Spring 2005 an infill, new-build condominium complex in the core had never been done before.

Ellice Avenue (rear) view

The main constraint of the project was the size of the lot: just 50 feet by 130 feet. When space was allowed for parking the frontage of the complex became 25 feet wide.

Webbsite contains seven units ranging from from 825 sq ft to 1200 sq ft.

Cohlmeyer Architects won a 2008 Prairie Design Award and a 2005 Award of Merit at the Canadian Architect Awards of Excellence

Related:
Webbsite Canadian Architect
443 Webb Place Former 'for sale' ad
(Perhaps ironically, Webbsite does not have a web site)

662 Main Street - The Bell Hotel

Place: The Bell Hotel 
Location: 662 Main Street (Map)
Constructed: 1906-07 (Reopened 2011)
Architect: Unknown (1906); BIOS (2011)
Cost: $5 million (2011 renovations)

April 2, 1907, Manitoba Free Press

In 1905 - 06 businessman Joseph Bernhardt was assembling a chain of local hotels. He bought the Windsor, the Winnipeg and one other along Main Street. On a vacant property he owned at Main and Henry, he decided to construct his first custom-built hotel.

April 16, 1907, Manitoba Free Press

Perhpas Bernhardt overextended himself as sold off the 72-room hotel before construction was completed. In April 1907 the keys were handed over to the new owners, Harry and Thomas Bell. 

The Bells arrived in Winnipeg in the early 1880's. It appears that Thomas was in the retail grocery business while Harry started out working as an employee at a livery stable, which eventually led to him being a horse breeder. It seems neither had any hotel experience.

The Bell years were uneventful ones. The hotel catered to a steady stream of middle class travelers and traveling salesmen who set up shop for weeks at a time to ply their goods.

ca. 1913 (source)

In July 1912 the Bells sold the hotel for $200,000 to the Bronfman family. They were Russian Jews who came to Manitoba around 1889 and settled in the Brandon area. In 1903 they got into the hotel industry by purchasing the Anglo American Hotel in Emerson then spread out across the prairies. The Bell was their largest property to-date. 

Son Sam Bronfman was dispatched to run the Bell. The family invested $15,000 in renovations to provide the latest in fire protection, a first class pool hall, a comfortable restaurant and a barber shop.

July 3, 1914, Winnipeg Free Press

Under Bronfman the Bell found itself on the wrong side of the law on numerous occasions. In 1914 it was part of a political scandal that saw a number of non-existent hotel guests registered as voters in the provincial election. There were also numerous citations for selling liquor after hours.

As is still the case with many small hotels, the main source of income did not come from renting rooms but from selling booze. When prohibition was proclaimed in Manitoba in 1916 many hoteliers were ruined.

The Bell not only survived but thrived, thanks to a gap the existed between the federal and provincial liquor laws. Manitoba could ban alcohol consumption within its own borders but it could not prohibit the local production and / or trade of alcohol if it was for consumption in other provinces. The Bronfman family's chain of prairie hotels meant that Sam had an already existing out-of-province distribution network in place. He went from selling liquor by the glass to selling it by the boxcar.

By 1918 the feds and provinces closed this loophole and Sam moved to Montreal where he bought a liquor distribution company that he wold grow into the Seagram's empire.

The next owner of the Bell had even more trouble with liquor laws. Proprietor William Hogan was charged in 1922 with possessing liquor with the intent to sell and was fined $500. He was charged again in 1924 and sentenced to six months in jail, (which was later quashed on appeal). In 1925 his liquor license was pulled.

Prohibition ended in 1923 but by that time many of the province's small hotels were owned by breweries which had taken them over due to the non-payment of invoices. Most of those that survived as independents were hit hard by the Depression and sold out.

The Bell appears to have held out longer than most. Around 1933 George Adam Swan bought the Bell Hotel (and the Brunswick Hotel in 1939). He died a bachelor in 1943 at the age of 55 and left almost all of his $82,000 estate to his employees.

September 10, 1963, Winnipeg Free Press

The Bell eventually became a Labatt hotel, part of the brewery's 42-property Community Hotels Ltd. In 1963 Labatt began selling off these properties and the Bell was purchased by a group of employees led by manager O. A. LaFreniere. The next newspaper mention of an owner is Ben Luffman in 1970. By 1983 the Bell Hotel's final owner, Donald Marshall, was in charge.

August 25, 2007, Winnipeg Free Press

The fortunes of Main Street and its single room occupancy (SRO) hotels began to decline in the 1950 and 60s and the Bell was no exception. 

In the 1990s the began an initiative to purge Main Street of many of its SRO hotels, with the hopes that it would help revitalize the area. Hotels that closed included the Leland in 1996, the Brunswick in 1999 and the Savoy in 2000. The Bell's turn came in 2007 when CentreVenture purchased it from Donald Marshall.

In 2010 the federal and provincial governments along with CentreVenture announced a $5.2m renovation of the hotel to create supportive housing units for the homeless or those at-risk of being homeless.

The 75 single occupancy rooms were reduced to 42 as each room now has a private washroom and kitchenette. The main floor consists of common areas and offices of social services. There is no bar.

The Bell reopened June 30, 2011.

Related:
Bell Hotel Overview Historic Buildings Committee (pdf)
The Winnipeg SRO Hotel West End Dumplings
Innovative Housing Initiative to promote stability, independence for homeless Joint News Release, April 23, 2010
Photos of the Bell renovations The Bios (architects) Bell Hotel Supportive Housing Factsheet
Bell Hotel ready to welcome new tenants WRHA News Release, June 30, 2011
Inside the Bell Hotel WRHA

Media:
Bell Tolls for Downtown Hotel CBC Aug. 31, 2010
Bell to become homeless haven Winnipeg Free Press, April 23, 2010
A home for the homeless Winnipeg Free Press, July 2, 2011

September 12, 1915, Manitoba Free Press

Downtown Places: Manitoba Children's Museum

Project: Manitoba Children's Museum Renovation (Website)
Location: The Forks (Map)
Constructed: 1890 (as museum 1994)
Project Cost: $10m
Status: Completed

Background:

Circa 1980s Source

The Manitoba Children's Museum building has had a long and varied life.

It was constructed in 1889 - 1890 as a mechanical shop for the upstart Northern Pacific and Manitoba Railway.

The NP & Man was a partnership between the the Government of Manitoba under Premier Greenway and the American company Northern Pacific Railway. The purpose was to get around the CPR's painfully slow expansion of their branch lines within the province. NP & Man's main line ran from Winnipeg to St. Paul, Minnesota (68 miles of track) with branch lines from Brandon / Morris (185 miles) and Portage la Prairie (55 miles).

The railway's depot and signature building was the Manitoba Hotel, situated where the Federal Building is now at Main and Water. It was destroyed by fire on February 9, 1899.

The building remained a repair facility until the railway was swallowed up by Canadian National. From then it served a number of functions including an immigration hall and soup kitchen and eventually was renovated into CN offices.

When CN vacated their East Yards in the early 1980s the "Bridges and Structures" building was included in the plans for The Forks National Historic site. Though it would sit vacant for a number of years.

It was in 1993 that the Manitoba Children’s Museum, operating in the Exchange since 1986, began a $4 m fund raising drive to take over the building. They opened at the new site on June 1, 1994.

In September 2010 the museum temporarily closed to allow for a $10m refurbishment and expansion. Aside from all new attractions the museum is building the Buhler Welcome Centre, thanks to an $800,000 gift from John and Bonnie Buhler. The centre will act as the new admissions and visitor services area.

The museum will reopen on June 4, 2011 which is also its 25th anniversary. For an inside peek at the renos check out the museum's video page or interactive map.

Related:
The Northern Pacific and Manitoba Burrows and Masters
Manitoba Children's Museum Winnipeg Building Index
Provincial Heritage Site No. 88 Manitoba Heritage
The NP and Man. Railway Engine Shop MHS
Manitoba Children's Museum History Museum website
Museum gets big boost from Buhlers Free Press

UPDATE: June 2011

Children’s Museum Reopens to the Public