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)

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

271 Princess - Peace Tower Housing Complex

 

Project: Peace Tower Housing (website)
Location: 271 Princess Street at Logan (Map)
Cost: $12.7m
Architect: Raymond S C Wan
Developer: Chinatown Development Corporation
Size: Seven storeys, 48 units

Background

In February 2011 the tripartite Winnipeg Housing and Homelessness Initiative announced the funding of The Peace Tower, a 48 unit housing project for immigrant and refugee families at the corner of Princess and Logan. The project is led by Winnipeg's Chinatown Development Corporation.

Construction began in June 2011. It included the demolition of the building across the street at 271 - 273 Princess.

The Peace Tower was officially opened on June 21, 2013.

Related:
Peace Tower website
Grand Opening Province of Manitoba (Jun. 2014)
Housing Announcement Government of Manitoba (Feb. 2011)
Chinatown to get affordable housing Winnipeg Free Press (Feb. 2011)
A history of 271 - 273 Princess West End Dumplings

Updates:

April 2012


May 2012


June 2012


August 2012


September 2012

232 Princess - The Edge on Princess

Project: The Edge on Princess Website
Address: 232 Princess Street Map
Status: Completed 2009
Cost: $4 m
Size: 4 storeys, 43 apartments

Background

The Frost and Wood Warehouse, designed by James Cadham, was custom built for the Ontario-based farm implements company in 1906. By the end of the decade another Ontario-based implements manufacturer, Cockshutt Plow Company, took over Frost and Wood. Conveniently, the two companies were next door neighbours on Princess Street !

By the 1940's Cockshutt was gone and 230 Princess housed a number of businesses over the decades. In 1979 Williams Restaurant Supply, (Williams-Cassidy, Cassidy's), occupied the space until 2000 when the company, which was Canada's third oldest operating company behind HBC and Molson's, closed down.

After sitting vacant for a number of years the partnership of Mark and Rick Hofer (owners) and Colin Neufeld (5468796 Architects) took over the property, gutted it and by August 2009 began renting out the 43 loft-style apartments. The major main floor retail tenant is Jeld-Wen Windows.

That partnership won a 2010 Heritage Winnipeg Award for their work and have now moved onto the conversion of the Avenue Building on Portage.

Related:
Loft-style apartments up for grabs in Exchange WFP Jun 8 '08
230 Princess Street U of M Building Index
Frost and Wood Warehouse Historic Buildings Committee

33 Pricness Street - The Peck Building

Place: The Peck Building
Address: 33 Princess Street Map
Opened: 1893
Architect: Charles H. Wheeler

Background

Top: circa 1903 (Virtual Heritage Winnipeg)

Bottom: October 15, 1892, Winnipeg Tribune

The roots of the John W. Peck Company of Montreal go back to 1880s Winnipeg and a business partnership between John W. Peck, a sales representative from eastern Canada, and Winnipeg businessman J. D. Carscaden.

In 1881 they decided to go into business together on a clothing wholesaling company named Carscaden and Peck. They were one of the original tenants of the Odd Fellow's Hall at 72 Princess when it opened in 1884.

A decade later, they purchased what was known as the "Watson property" at Notre Dame Avenue and Princess Street and hired architect Charles Wheeler to design their new headquarters.

At 100 feet by 92 feet and four storeys tall plus a basement, it was the largest warehouse built in the city, beating out Galt's by an entire floor.

Construction got underway in Spring 1893 but things quickly bogged down. There was so much construction going on in the city that there was a severe brick shortage. A new brick yard was opened in St. Boniface in June, which helped increase the supply.

Each floors, only four of them originally, has 28 windows to allow for a maximum amount of natural light and air movement. It also featured an electric elevator and lights, water closets on each floor and a speaking tube system - an early form of intercom.

In January 1900, fire destroyed the upper floors of the north section of the building. A stone firewall saved the entire building from going up in flames. The building was rebuilt with two additional floors.

October 28, 1916, Winnipeg Tribune

Cascaden, the senior partner, left Winnipeg to manage a new Vancouver branch in 1890 and retired in 1894. The company was renamed John W. Peck and Co. with Peck and Alexander Bethune, who had worked in the company's finance department, as partners.

Around 1905, the partners moved to Montreal and built a large manufacturing plant and soon relocated the firm's headquarters there. They kept branches in Winnipeg and Vancouver.

At its peak in the early 1910's the company employed about 2,000 people across the country, not including travelling salesmen.

Peck pulled out of most of the building in 1927, deciding to do most of their wholesale operations from Montreal. The company went out of business during the Depression but the building remained home to a large number of garment trade companies, including Sterling Stall, for many decades to come. 

Around 1990 it became home to the Antique Exchange. 

In recent years there have been a couple of failed redevelopment attempts.

In 2004, building owners Mike and Del Stevens, who ran Gray's - Carter's Auction and Appraisals, wanted to turn it into condos. That did not work out. 

Source: Sceintologynews.org

In March 2007 the Church of Scientology bought it for a reported $2.2 million. They planned to spend $10 million to convert it into a church, outreach centre and regional office. That, too, never materialized.

Related:
My Flickr album of the Peck Building
To read a 1915 era Peck's wholesale catalogue, see Peel's
33 Princess - Historic Buildings Committee Report
33 Princess - Winnipeg Building Index