Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE City of Winnipeg Historical Buildings Committee October 2002 Updated: June 2018 Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 2 This building embodies the following heritage values as described in the Historical Resources By-law, 55/2014 (consolidated update July 13, 2016): (a) It is one of downtown Winnipeg’s most iconic buildings – The Bay Store – opened in 1926 and the completion of the early commercialize of Portage Avenue; (b) It is associated with the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC), fur trading company that evolved into a world-wide retail giant; (c) It was designed by Ernest Isbell Barott, an important Montréal-based architect and built by local contracting firm of Carter, Halls, Aldinger; (d) It is designed in the subdued Neo-Classical or Classical Revival style which became the HBC’s corporate style for buildings after 1926; (e) It is a conspicuous building in downtown Winnipeg; and (f) The building’s exterior has suffered little alteration. Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE HISTORY: The Company of Adventurers Trading into Hudson’s Bay, or more popularly, The Hudson’s Bay Company, (HBC), received a royal English Charter on 2 May 1670. Over the next two centuries, the HBC used its charter rights to establish a firm economic hold upon its trading area, Rupert’s Land. The area corresponded to most of Western Canada up to the Rocky Mountains, including parts of Northern Ontario, Québec and present-day Nunavut. There, the Company engaged in fur-trading activities. By 1870, the HBC was a powerful economic and political force in the British Empire. Also by that time, economies had shifted and the fur trade was no longer the business dynamo it had been earlier. Recognizing this, the owners of the Company came to terms with the government of Great Britain by 1869 to transfer Rupert’s Land to the recently created Dominion of Canada. In 1870, their former domain became the Province of Manitoba, as well as the future Provinces of Saskatchewan and Alberta, and the future Territory of Nunavut. Under the Terms of Surrender, the Company retained the right to “reserves” around each of its trading posts. The Company had located its chief trading post, Upper Fort Garry, at the future site of Winnipeg in the late 1830s. The reserve around the Upper Fort amounted to some 500 acres (202.5 h), and took in everything south of present-day Pioneer/Notre Dame Avenue; everything west of the Red River, and north of the Assiniboine, up to Colony Creek/Balmoral Street. Until 1880, the Hudson’s Bay Company conducted its retail sales at the Upper Fort. That year, a three-storey, red brick sale shop was built at the southwest corner of Main Street and York Avenue. Completed in 1881, and with enlargements during 1895 and 1899, this structure served as the Hudson’s Bay department store until November 1926. [PLATE 1] Though the Company had begun demolishing Upper Fort Garry in 1880, completing the clearance of the property (except the still extant Gateway) by 1888, the HBC had located its retail store on south Main Street in an effort to draw downtown development to its fiefdom, the Hudson’s Bay Reserve. The Company had first subdivided the Reserve in 1872, with further elaborations during 1879 and 1881. The Reserve attracted such government buildings along Main as the Customs House and Dominion Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 2 Lands Office. The Central Business District (CBD) which emerged as a result of the Boom of 1881-1882 did not extend south on Main beyond Graham. As a result, the Hudson’s Bay store, though it enjoyed a fair patronage, was considered off the beaten track from the business district after 1885.1 Winnipeg’s retailing until 1905 was dominated by specialty stores, as well as by the departmental stores of the HBC and its smaller rival, Jerry Robinson and Company, founded in 1881 near the northwest corner of Portage and Main. The Boom had coalesced the CBD around the Robinson store and far from that of the HBC. The latter, however, continued to enjoy the patronage of loyal shoppers who came despite the relative isolation. For two decades, Main Street north of Portage Avenue remained the home of the CBD with the city’s highest realty values. In the meantime, Portage Avenue realty had languished, though a few visionaries remained convinced of that thoroughfare’s great future. This situation changed almost overnight in the spring and summer of 1904 when two events altered the business district. Winnipeg had begun to rapidly grow once again after 1900 as a result of immigration. This put pressure upon commercial facilities along Main which were more in need of expansion. As well, the 1886 Post Office was also in need of enlargement. None of this was possible because of high realty values. This drove these facilities to lower value areas such as Portage Avenue. In the spring of 1904, the Dominion Government chose a new Post Office site on the south side of the avenue between Fort and Garry streets. Two months later, the giant T. Eaton Company acquired a one-square block site two blocks west for a new departmental store. These events caused a shock in local realty circles as entrepreneurs scrambled to get in on rising values.2 This was not without effect on the HBC in their south Main bastion. Commissioner C.C. Chipman considered that The entrance of this large and well-known firm makes it the more necessary for the Company to improve the facilities for business at the Winnipeg store. In some directions the competition of the T. Eaton Co. will be more difficult to meet than any we have at present, but the Company’s trade as a whole should suffer very much less than that of several store keepers nearer the center of the city. Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 3 The Company already had John Woodman, the pending architect of the new Eaton building, working on a design that would add two storeys to the Main Street store. Though Commissioner Chipman believed the addition would allow the HBC to “meet the opposition on equal terms,” the Governor and Committee in London did not, fearing that the large outlay on the additions would only mean a temporary solution. By December 1904, this expansion was dead. All the while, branches of other eastern firms were coming to Winnipeg, and this had also contributed to the Eaton decision as well as to the Company not expanding the Main Street store. This left the local management in a quandary as to what should be done to improve their trade prior to the Eaton opening. By the spring of 1905, rumours were rife that the HBC intended on erecting a new building on Portage Avenue. The site was placed as the Curry property, on the north side between Notre Dame Avenue and Garry Street. Though the rumours were false, they did draw a communication from A.W. Pritchard, the real estate agent who had orchestrated the Eaton purchase, and who was trying to work up some interest in the Jerry Robinson store site: You know as I do that the retail business of any importance does not extend south of Portage Avenue on Main and that it is working its way up Portage Avenue and now that the T. Eaton Co. Ltd. of Toronto have purchased a large property on the avenue…it establishes Portage Avenue as the coming retail street of the city…You either have to either be in the business or out of it. Therefore, if you are in it, you must be in it for all its worth. Pritchard’s offer, despite his reasoning, was ignored.3 The establishment of the Eaton store began the retail shift of business to Portage Avenue. The giant store was expanded over the next seven years to encompass 21 acres of floor space. In that time period, other retail stores and office buildings continued to change the face of Portage Avenue. By 1912, the business district had been pushed as far west as Edmonton Street, where the prestigious Boyd Building was rising at the southwest corner of Portage. In the meantime, the HBC with its south Main store was feeling the effects of the retail shift. Indeed, the effects had been noted as early as February 1906, when Commissioner Chipman reported that the large departmental stores opened by the T. Eaton Company in July last have undoubtedly obtained considerable of the unstable and fluctuating trade, which Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 4 has, however, had a much more serious effect on the business of the “down town” stores than in the Company’s trade… The result for the Company’s retail sales was a decrease of 11.24% for the year 1905. While some of this could be blamed on keen competition, much of it coincided with the opening of Eaton’s, with that firm’s ability to attract the masses “because of their novelty and size combined with costly advertising.” Though Chipman had recommended the expansion of the Main Street store to five storeys, that project was dead. He suggested that the HBC instead develop a specialty trade. This was not pursued either; instead, the Main Street store was rearranged for more efficient use of internal space. This included expansion into an attached warehouse building on Fort Street. This area was fully given over to the retail end of business after the 1911 construction of the new HBC warehouse at 77 Main Street.4 Such patch-ups could not save a floundering operation. An August 1909 inspection by Richard Woodman Burbidge, London headquarters Inspector of Saleshops (and formerly of Harrod’s Department Store) was very pointed in its observations: [the] premises are right away from the business quarter [Portage Avenue] and it is very doubtful if the new [Union] station will improve the situation; but although substantial and in good repair, the [saleshop] premises are not suitable to meet the competition of Eaton’s, which is a very fine establishment…This store was very disappointing, no life in the place at all… Three years later, Burbidge revisited the Main Street store, stating that it was “impossible to do an increased trade in its present position.” Unlike the T. Eaton Company, which was familyowned and therefore could make relatively quick decisions, the HBC management was ponderous, with every decision, no matter the size, going through the Governor and Committee in London, England. This prevented local management from even exploring a Portage Avenue site until some sort of sanction was had from the conservatively-minded London end. Sometime during 1910, Richard Burbidge’s comments were taken to heart, and approval was given to the search for a new site. Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 5 Saleshop Commissioner Herbert Burbidge had an interview with William Gardner of the Winnipeg realty/financial brokerage firm of Oldfield, Kirby and Gardner. This took place probably in late 1910 or early January 1911. Gardner had told him that forces are steadily advancing owing to frequent important purchases made of late on Portage Avenue and its vicinity and if we are to secure the site at the corner of Colony Street and Portage Avenue which is the cheapest and best one for us, we should do so at once. Burbidge went on to say that properties in the area of this site had advanced 20 per cent in the last few months because of the realty boom then prevalent in Winnipeg. He remained convinced, however, along with the Deputy Governor, of the necessity of moving to Portage Avenue. He felt that though the site appeared somewhat large, the purchase had to be made in order to avoid further purchases in the future at what were expected to be steadily increasing realty prices. Burbidge observed that Eaton’s purchased too small a site and it has cost them heavily to buy additional properties for the extension of their business. This would refer to properties bought for a new power house at Hargrave and Graham, as well as on Hargrave south of Graham. Gardner had estimated that the proposed HBC site was worth $1,000,000, but it was felt by Burbidge and others that Colony Street was to become an important thoroughfare because of a proposed streetcar line extension. It was also felt that the Winnipeg Electric Company, the operator of the streetcar service could be pressured into placing a line on Vaughan Street once the new store was built. Lastly, Burbidge’s letter was hand-written to ensure secrecy.6 The Portage and Colony site was approximately 7 acres (2.8 h) in size and extended to Vaughan Street to the east and St. Mary Avenue to the south. This took in the Blackwood property at the southeast corner of Portage and Colony, as well as a number of residences on Colony, Vaughan and St. Mary’s. The Blackwood property had been the site of William Blackwood’s residence at 311 Colony, as well as the family’s soft drink factory and bottling works to the north. [PLATE 2] Much of the plant which dated back to the early and mid-1880s, had been destroyed in a May 1910 fire. Blackwood’s did not intend to rebuild the Colony facility, as they were planning an expansion of their Fort Rouge works on Mulvey Avenue. Neighbours of the Colony Street plant considered the fire a godsend, as the facility was viewed as a local eyesore. Parts of the property Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 6 ran along Portage Avenue, and a narrow strip actually extended along the south side of Graham Avenue east to Vaughan. It ran through an area which was actually the filled in bed of Colony Creek, and housed a number of long wooden buildings and shacks that were partially hidden by the Colony Street bottling works. These, however, were fully visible from Portage Avenue which was vacant between Vaughan and Colony. [PLATE 3] South of the Blackwood property were a number of houses which ran along Colony and around the corner eastward along the north side of St. Mary Avenue. These had been built between the 1880s and 1903 and consisted of wood frame or brick veneer single family, duplexes and terrace housing. These were also influenced by the waste area formed by the former Colony Creek bed which was a part of their back yards. Similarly, there were nine wood frame or brick dwellings situated on the west side of Vaughan Street, south of Graham Avenue. These had been built between 1884 and 1904. Most were substantial houses, having been built at the isolated western end of the Hudson’s Bay Reserve where it terminated on Colony Creek. Around the corner from there were the eight large houses of St. Mary’s Place. These had been built during 1903-1904 by local speculative builder Victor Bouche, who had purchased the large backyards of the houses at 206-218 Vaughan and had created a rounded crescent with lots radiating onto a narrow cul-desac. Portions of the proposed HBC site were pleasant, middle-class residential neighborhoods that were poised on the eve of a great change in 1911 because of increasing realty values.7 [PLATE 4] In mid-February 1911, Herbert Burbidge was authorized to begin acquiring the new store site. Oldfield, Kirby and Gardner acted as agents, and worked in the strictest secrecy. While rumours had been circulating since October 1910 about HBC interest in the site, nothing surfaced in the local press until 17 March 1911, when the Manitoba Free Press reported that the greater portion of the site had been purchased for cash or placed under option. At the time, HBC involvement had not been confirmed, though the Morning Telegram regarded the involvement as “accepted fact.” Indeed, the activity on the west side of Vaughan Street had the effect of accelerating values on nearby properties. In the meantime, Herbert Burbidge had kept London informed of his activities, stating that he had secured the most important Portage Avenue frontage by 5 March, and that total acquisition was nearly complete. Negotiations bogged down by 15 March Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 7 when some of the St. Mary’s Place holders held out for high prices. As well, the owner of one Vaughan Street lot had died in England. London cabled Winnipeg on 28 March not to bother with the St. Mary’s Place houses. However, three of the properties had already been purchased, with Burbidge feeling that the remaining five were not of much use to anyone outside of the Company. The secrecy was broken on 22 March when the Winnipeg Tribune made public the news that the Company was behind the purchases, and that work on a new store was to begin in April. With this store, the HBC was to discard “antiquated merchandising methods” to be replaced by “the most modern methods known to commercial science.” The Tribune also stated that the Company intended on building great departmental stores in Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary and Edmonton. In all, the purchase price of the new site, according to a letter written by Burbidge to London was under $950,000 and did not include the five St. Mary’s Place houses nor the northeast corner of St. Mary and Colony.8 The Tribune was premature in its announcement of HBC plans. A legal case tied matters up into the summer of 1911. As well, there were also matters of planning such a building, which took a fair degree of time, given the nature of the HBC’s decision-making apparatus. In April 1912, the Company announced a new standard plan building for its western operations. New stores were announced for Calgary and Vancouver to be designed by the prestigious Toronto firm of Burke, Horwood and White, [PLATE 5] with a smaller store at Yorkton, Saskatchewan being designed by Winnipeggers Woodman and Carey. Woodman, it may be remembered, also designed the Eaton store in Winnipeg in 1904. Herbert Burbidge stated that while the Calgary and Vancouver stores were to be nearly identical, the projected Winnipeg store, to begin construction in 1913, was to be a mammoth building done in the same genre. However, a series of events put the brakes on the store project for the next thirteen years. These included the new Legislative Building project, town planning, a cross-town highway project, the collapse of the real estate boom, a world war and a business depression.9 South of York Avenue and west of Kennedy Street, 50 acres of land had been taken out of the Hudson’s Bay Reserve in the early 1870s as a reserve for the Dominion Government. This had been split on a north-south axis in 1874 with the Ottawa government giving the Province of Manitoba 25 acres for its public buildings. An ambitious building program from the early 1880s Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 8 into the new century had provided the Province with a set of government structures of various popular designs. These included a Second Empire Provincial Parliament Building, Government House, Educational Building and a Court House, with a second Romanesque Revival Court House, a Neo-Classical Land Titles Building and a Queen Anne Style Gaol to round out the collection. By 1910-1911, most of these structures were too small or too dowdy – looking to either house or represent the government’s expanded functions. Negotiations were opened with the Ottawa government for the acquisition of the Fort Osborne Barracks property south of Broadway and west of the Provincial Reserve. This would give a magnificent parcel of land in order to construct a new Neo-Classical Legislative Building, an impressive, dignified structure to match Manitoba’s heightened aspirations. The new Legislative Building was to be finished on all four sides, having its principal elevation facing north. By this, it would be facing the University of Manitoba and its grounds on the north side of Broadway, as well as the backs of various houses and buildings to the north of York Avenue, such as those which the Hudson’s Bay Company had recently purchased as a store site. While the new Legislative Building was as yet not designed in 1911, it was agreed that it was to be of a magnificence hitherto unknown in Winnipeg, or indeed, in Manitoba. What the new structure faced represented the old, unplanned frontier nature of Winnipeg which was being supplanted by the sophisticated metropolis. In June 1911, the City of Winnipeg had created a city planning commission composed of 18 members selected from City Council as well as from various interest groups in the larger community. Its mandate was “to consider and report to the Council upon a City Planning Scheme for the City of Winnipeg.”10 That autumn, a map engraver at the Stovel Printing Company, Leo Warde, brought forth his concept for a cross-city highway, using Kennedy Street as his downtown thoroughfare. Warde’s plan was meant to alleviate motor vehicle congestion problems that were beginning to plague downtown Winnipeg. His concept factored both the proposed government buildings on Broadway, as well as the new HBC store site. His proposal featured a bridge over the Assiniboine River, linking Kennedy Street with River Avenue. At the time, Osborne Street did not exist north of Broadway and the Warde plan showed it as a secondary crossing point over the river. [PLATE 6] The plan did not appear to perceive the cross-city highway as a grand boulevard, but rather was a bread and butter motor vehicle path. His concept, however, Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 9 evidently sparked some thinking in the architectural community during the winter of 1911-1912. In March 1912, former Chicago architect John D. Atchison submitted his design for a mall connecting the new Parliament Buildings with a civic center to be located at the Manitoba College grounds, on Ellice Avenue opposite the north end of Vaughan Street. [PLATE 7] The Atchison plan incorporated the cross-city highway concept, preferring a grand boulevard between the two centers, and putting the cross-town route along an extended Osborne Street corridor. Atchison’s plan was ultimately adopted by the Winnipeg City Planning Commission in its January 1913 Report. The four reasons for using the Atchison plan were: 1. The opportunity which now presents itself is such as few cities have the fortune to have, as it gives Winnipeg the opportunity for making the finest group of buildings in the Dominion of Canada. 2. The site will be the center of activity by the time the City can afford to build a Civic Centre worthy of its size. 3. The scheme places both the Legislative and Civic Centres on a highway which will be one of the chief routes of the City. 4. The Provincial Government is apparently not only willing but anxious to co-operate in making the scheme worthy of Greater Winnipeg. Seen in a bird’s eye view published in June 1912, the Atchison scheme was quite monumental. [PLATE 8] This marked the beginning of a serious re-planning of the area, and had been inspired by Haussman’s reconstruction of Paris, as well as by Burnham’s plan for Chicago, the latter city being Winnipeg’s role model for growth.11 The HBC property with its 7 acres (2.8 h) figured into the scheme quite handily, as it meant that soon many of the obstructing buildings in the path of the Capitol Approach would be removed. As well, the site was in the hands of one owner, which made negotiations somewhat simpler. In acquiring their site for a “clean slate,” the HBC had no intention other than to build a retail/administrative complex worthy of its Canadian headquarters, including a power house, garage, stables and factory. In December 1912, Commissioner Burbidge advised the Head of the HBC’s Canadian Committee, A.M. Nanton, that he felt it was “advisable to proceed with the preparation of plans for the new store at Winnipeg. The Committee agreed with this, but Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 10 instructed Burbidge to cooperate with what was now known as the Winnipeg Town Planning Commission (WTPC). Burbidge felt, however, that the HBC would be in a stronger bargaining position with WTPC if Graham Avenue west of Vaughan Street was first acquired by the Company. Negotiations with the City produced a deal where the right-of-way of the nearly nonexistent Graham Avenue was traded for 14 feet off the western end of the HBC’s Colony Street lots for a proposed street widening which took place after 1915.12 In June 1913, it was reported that the HBC would build a 10-storey skyscraper costing $2.25 million dollars. This would stretch across the entire Portage Avenue frontage. This was announced by Commissioner Burbidge, who had just returned from London, England. The Free Press stated that foundation work was to begin in July with completion in the fall. The steel frame was to be built in the spring of 1914. The information also specified floor heights, and the fact that stables, a garage, factories and a warehouse would be constructed at the rear of the property. The article did indicate, however, that no architect had yet been selected. The news stimulated property sales in the area, at a time when an attempt was being made to revive the collapsing real estate market. A member of the Norris and Norris realty firm was quoted as saying that because of the new HBC store, “Portage Avenue is now certain to be the greatest retail thoroughfare of Winnipeg.” By mid-September, however, despite the settlement of the Graham Avenue affair, the HBC commissioners had not yet decided upon a design, though the new store in Vancouver was being built, and the two in Calgary and Victoria were now open. All had been designed by Burke, Horwood and White, and it was assumed that they, too, would be the architects at Winnipeg. The matter continued to drag, however, and in February, 1914, A.M. Nanton of the Canadian Committee reported that It was the intention of the Company to have started long ago, but the matter was delayed owing to the Capitol Approach. We understand, however, that the scheme in connection with this has fallen through. Possibly, however, it may be taken up again. By early 1914, the planning factions had been split by the creation of the Winnipeg Housing and Town Planning Association, which was now associated with the Winnipeg Industrial Bureau. At the forefront was realtor William Pearson, formerly with WTPA, as well as E.B. Reynolds, a Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 11 local financial agent. Reynolds was on record as saying that his organization had “plans underway that [would] easily make the year 1914 the banner year in the history of city planning and housing in Winnipeg.” As it turned out, it was not. Evidently, the force of the local town planning movement had become factionalized, and had spent its force prior to the start of the European War (World War I) in August 1914.13 While the town planning movement had brought the HBC store project to at best a temporary halt, its operations had fixed two important concepts in the public mind – the need for a crosstown highway, as well as that of a Capitol Approach. The two had been visualized in two similar plans which had appeared in August and September of 1913. [PLATES 9, 10] Visually, a perspective drawing by J.D. Atchison in the Free Press in September gave a three dimensional aspect to the concept. [PLATE 11] At least one of these placed the HBC store on the west side of the Capitol Approach, while Atchison’s work emphasized the monolithic nature of the buildings alongside the Approach. Some years later, an assessment made of the efforts of 19131914 stated that they failed because they required too much working capital in a new era where money was becoming scarce after the end of the Boom. The coming of the war further diverted attention.14 The HBC, in spite of the delays fostered by the town planning advocates, went ahead with their plans for a new store. In November 1916, Commissioner Burbidge was instructed to employ an architect to prepare sketch plans, though the Company emphasized that they were under no obligation to give further work to that particular designer. Burbidge recommended John C.B. Horwood of Burke, Horwood and White, as that gentleman was “thoroughly conversant with what is required and has certainly given us satisfactory buildings at Vancouver and Calgary.” Part of this activity had been occasioned by the T. Eaton Company’s announcement of the re-development of its Winnipeg store site as well as the construction of a mail order complex. Both of these were to be massive structures by which HBC operations would pale in comparison. Though Burbidge did not think that Eaton’s would do all they said, the first part of the mail order was begun in 1916. At the HBC, there had been some talk during 1916 about putting up a temporary three-storey building on the new site. Burbidge had objected to that on the grounds that Company trade would be disrupted once construction on the permanent building took place. Horwood, at any rate, had plans in place by July 1917. These were for a massive, 12-storey Renaissance Revival structure complete with a Roman dome.14 Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 12 The plans turned out to be a disappointment for the HBC officials. This was chiefly from the design being so different from the “standard design” adopted when the Calgary store was built in 1912. By this, the Company intended to “enable travelers who had seen one store to recognize the others at a glance as HBC stores.” Indeed, The Board wish this store to be worthy of the chief center of the Company’s operations in Canada and, to ensure this, there should be a certain distinction about the interior arrangements – a distinction which should be possible in view of the great area of the site available. The Company wanted to dismiss Burke, Horwood and White and have an open competition for a store design. Burbidge strongly advised against firing that firm, as they were “eminent in their profession, and I am sure there are no architects in Canada possessing greater knowledge than Mr. Horwood in connection with the designing and construction of departmental stores.” Horwood was given another chance by the HBC, as long as the latter was not legally bound to use that firm’s services. By 1918, what the Company wanted was a permanent, six-storey steel frame building with provision for an additional six floors. They wanted to repeat the rounded façade columns and interior column spacing of the Vancouver and Victoria stores over the flat columns, etc., of the Calgary facility. These features, including the white terra cotta of the facades, had established their particular corporate style as a recognizable entity. And they wanted this recognition to carry on to Winnipeg, where the old store was currently being seen by customers as “down at the heel.” If the corporate style were to prevail, Burbidge suggested that the Winnipeg building be a “warm tint of grey,” as he felt that the clear air in Winnipeg meant for a great deal more sunshine, which caused the white terra cotta to appear bright and even harsh in appearance. Grey, in his opinion, would also make the new building appear heavier, and the colour was suitable for architectural ornaments of various colours. It is unclear if these discussions produced anything more than ideas as to the nature of the new store – a design was remote given the drawings of the architects and the attitude of the Company towards them. Nonetheless, in August, Deputy Chairman Edward Fitzgerald telegraphed London that he wanted the new store commenced in 1920, to coincide with the Company’s 250th anniversary.15 Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 13 This was not to be. In the wave of post-war patriotism, the Capitol Approach scheme was being revived as a “Victory Mall,” a tribute to Canada’s fallen soldiers. [PLATE 12] As well, by late 1919, Frank W. Simon, the architect of the new Legislative Building, had gained some influence with provincial government officials such as S.C. Oxton, the Deputy Minister of Public Works. Simon was promoting a “straight mall” scheme which would run perpendicular off Portage Avenue to the new Capitol. [PLATE 13] This had very serious implications for the new HBC store, as the “Simon Plan” cut the Company’s property in two with an extremely wide boulevard, leaving the HBC with unusable sites on either side of the proposed thoroughfare. Simon even went to City Council in January 1920 to plead his case for the “beautiful avenue of approach to the Capitol.” Mr. Simon “emphasized the fact that delay meant defeat of the project and that defeat meant the loss of an unexampled opportunity to beautify and make impressive, our city.” The Provincial Government, which under the Roblin regime had been so favourable to the Mall, had narrowed its vistas under T.C. Norris to push for Simon’s model. The Province controlled all of the land between Broadway and a westward extension of York Avenue, and thus, their cooperation was a necessity.16 The “Crooked Plan,” took into account the aspirations of the Hudson’s Bay Company. This version, promoted by what was then known as the Greater Winnipeg Plan Commission, deflected the new thoroughfare three degrees from the perpendicular, thus allowing the Company an ample building site. This was an elaboration of the 1913 Atchison plan [PLATE 11], one which would put the new HBC store back on the “downtown” side of the Mall. [PLATE 14] To this mélange was added a third plan by architect John Woodman. He acted for a group which was promoting a cross-town thoroughfare known as the Vimy Highway. That group was against a Victory Mall as being unnecessary given the name of their route. [PLATE 15] Most of these differences were aired in a May 1920 conference before a city hall sub-committee, which resolved nothing except that the Hudson’s Bay Company was being kept from erecting its $5,000,000 building by the Mall uncertainty. Sir Robert Kindersley, the HBC Governor, later inspected the Mall plans, but would not commit the Company to one plan or another. He said that “We are anxious to take as active as possible a part in the welfare of the city, and we have decided to build a new store here, but we cannot interfere in the decisions of Winnipeg as to such a matter.”17 Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 14 By late summer 1920, the Mall Scheme was in danger of being sidetracked, as the property owners on the east side of Vaughan Street had awoken to the possibility that their holdings would face onto the backs of whatever structures faced upon the Mall. Frank Simon, in a letter to the Free Press, preached against such parochialism, stating that, “To anybody with vision, an avenue flanked with such buildings must appeal as a noble and desirable thing, and, incidentally, an immense asset to the city.” Asset or not, the debate continued into 1921. At one point, another local architect, William Fingland superimposed all three plans on a map of the area, with the interesting result of showing a cross-town highway scheme and Capitol Approach together for the first time. [PLATE 16] This was, of course, not the final arrangement that would be established in 1925, but it is doubtful that in 1920 anyone seized the possibility of the pairing given some of the plans promoted over the next two years. [PLATE 17, 18]18 By early 1922, the City was presented with the spectre that the HBC would not commit itself to any definite building plans. In a letter to Mayor Edward Parnell, Richard Pierson, the Acting Secretary of the Canadian Advisory Committee of the Company, stated that, the Company would much like to give a definite statement respecting the building of its new store, but owing to the existing conditions feels it cannot at present make such a statement. The Company’s offer to make liberal concessions in order to enable the Mall Scheme to be carried through indicates a sincere desire to meet the wishes of the Authorities, but for the present the Company must defer announcing decision regarding its building program. On the larger scene, there had been a post-war economic downturn which had reached a particular severity in 1921. This had effected Company sales, and given their purchase of the Cairns Department Store in Saskatoon, as well as the construction and opening of their new store in Victoria, British Columbia in 1921, had put their Winnipeg plans on hold. The uncertainty had been augmented by the hostility of the Canadian Committee to the plans of Burke, Horwood and White. It will be recalled that they had prepared plans in 1917 which had been revised in 1919 when faced by their dissatisfied client. By 1921, it was felt by Edward Fitzgerald that a competition among prominent North American architects might result in a better Winnipeg store Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 15 plan. Fitzgerald believed that the architects’ estimates were high or excessive. Nothing was done in that regard, however, as the recession grew worse during 1922-1923. By March 1923, there were those who were lobbying within the HBC for the construction of a temporary twostorey building on the vacant northern end of the site. The promoters felt that this would establish the Company in the area, and could be paid off in about five years. As well, the community was looking for signs of improvement on what was an urban wasteland. [PLATE 19] Given the state of business throughout the early ‘twenties, even that was not expedient, and, indeed, a year later, A.H. Doe of the HBC London staff categorically stated that there was no chance of the new Portage Avenue building going up.19 This did not mean that the Company had forgotten its project, for in the summer of 1924, the construction firm of Carter-Halls-Aldinger (CHA) were giving the HBC their expert opinions on a more cost-effective structure. Frank Halls, one of the principals of the firm, showed how a saving of 14½ per cent could be made by such things as using reinforced concrete instead of a steel frame (5%); using stone over brick for exterior walls (2½ %); cement floors in place of maple in carpeted areas (1%); omitting a generating plant, putting reliance on outside electrical supply (5%), and using tile and plaster in place of ornamental iron and wire glass for elevator and stair enclosures (1%). Similarly, W.H. Carter of the same firm gave cubic footage comparisons for the new structure in relation to the HBC Calgary store; Eaton’s Winnipeg Mail Order and Eaton’s Portage Avenue store. Carter also stated that he believed that existing building conditions would extend into 1925, because of a material increase in the efficiency of labour due to its abundant supply as well as a decrease in the costs of materials. Indeed, Carter’s views reflected those voiced by the editor of the Western Canada Contractor. That trade paper felt that “building costs have now liquidated as much as can reasonably be expected for some time,” and that “building projects which have been waiting for years for a level which would make the construction of profitable buildings possible are now coming out.”20 Despite the favourable conditions, the new store project would take another year to commence. Chief reasons for the delay would be the choice of architect, for there were those in HBC management who still looked favourably upon Burke, Horwood and White as company architects; and of course, the unending debate over the Mall-Crosstown Highway project, the Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 16 resolution of which appears to have been the prime concern in restarting the project. At the end of July 1924, Leo Warde presented his new plan for a composite Capitol Approach, Mall Scheme and extension of Osborne Street to Winnipeg City Council. [PLATE 20] After considerable review of the Warde and other plans, the Public Improvements Committee reported the following March that Warde’s Scheme was probably the best available. It would cause the least disturbance to the existing street system as well as put to use the “dead lands” bordering on the former Colony Creek. Warde’s plan abandoned the “straight” mall in favour of the “crooked” or “diagonal” road running south from Portage Avenue. This allowed the HBC an adequate-sized site on the east side of the Mall, over to Vaughan Street. The success of the Mall Scheme depended upon the City dealing with four major property owners, the HBC among them. Negotiations with the HBC were relatively simple, with the City willing to grant the Company most of the 8 demands in the matter. The Warde Scheme was largely accepted as fact by early June 1925. [PLATE 21] Negotiations with the affected property holders produced By-law 11641, passed on 31 July 1925, and this fixed the future pattern of Memorial Boulevard and the Osborne Street extension. [PLATE 22] The agreement between the City of Winnipeg and the Hudson’s Bay Company became By-law 11692, passed on 8 September 1925. As well as acceding to the Company’s requests, the HBC promised to begin construction of a modern store within two years, with completion within three years of the by-law passage.21 The HBC, however, was not waiting two years to begin construction. It had been known by late August that work was to begin immediately, and indeed, by 4 September, the Company had signed a contract with CHA for the erection of a $5,000,000 department store. In anticipation of this, work had begun at the rear of the proposed store site on 2 September with a low-key sodturning by HBC Governor Charles V. Sale the next morning. [PLATES 23; 24] A contract with the architect was signed on 5 September. Surprisingly, it was with Ernest Isbel Barott of Montreal, and not the now, evidently disfavoured firm of Burke, Horwood and White. Barott was instructed to design the new Winnipeg building in accordance with the recent HBC stores in Calgary, Vancouver and Victoria. The start of construction prompted the Mayor of Winnipeg, Ralph A. Webb, to make a pitch to the Company promoting the use of a local material – Tyndall Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 17 limestone – for the facing of the new store. This matter had been broached in June 1920 by members of the local stone-cutters union who had made a similar request to the Governor. At the time, the request had been for a granite base with a limestone intermediate section, capped with terra cotta upper stories. As the HBC was following a policy of similar buildings in 1920, the request was not met. Webb’s letter was given more credence, however, in the light of some changes in thinking in the HBC hierarchy. Though the Company initially replied that they still had a policy regarding similar buildings, they did consult with Barott on the matter. In early October 1925, he replied that he appreciated the desire of the Company for uniform buildings “but since Tyndall stone is a light stone, not unlike terra cotta in the mass and since it is a local product and really much more suitable for a climate like Winnipeg, I personally would be very glad to see your Company use it for the new Winnipeg store.” This, of course, would include a polished granite base, according to construction superintendent A.H. Doe. The granite was a more durable stone than limestone, and would withstand the scratching of matches, staining by dogs and road dust. The use of Tyndall stone was confirmed to Mayor Webb in late November, which alone would contribute $400,000 to the local economy.22 As Barott’s office in Montreal prepared the building plans, his recently-established Winnipeg office under T.T. Rutherford began to supervise the excavation and foundation phases of construction. Early in 1926, while digging the caissons, a large crevice running 68’ [20.73 m] below Portage Avenue was discovered. Before it was filled with concrete, it was surmised that it was a glacial fissure into which sand and limestone debris had fallen, but which had been disturbed by the caisson work. A worker sent down the caisson hole to investigate found the crevice to be quite interesting. Based upon tight schedules, CHA resumed work on the massive new store as soon as the crevice was filled. A permit for the new store was not issued until 22 April 1926, and to that time, was the highest value building permit ever issued in Winnipeg, the fees alone totaling $3,038.50. As construction proceeded, the reinforced concrete frame of the new store became very apparent to passersby, providing a stark contrast to the billboards which had adorned the site in the summer of 1925. [PLATE 25] Early summer 1926 showed the concrete work nearly completed and two months later, the work of applying the limestone sheathing had reached beyond the third storey. [PLATES 26; 27] Alongside this, the work of Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 18 constructing the Capitol Approach went on apace with the demolition of various houses, as well as the creation of a roadway past the University of Manitoba. [PLATE 28] 23 For the time, the Hudson’s Bay Store was a huge project. Though its rival, the T. Eaton Company store had reached a maximum of 21 acres (8.5 h) of floor space by 1912, the HBC’s new effort would stand at a relatively modest fifteen acres (7.2 h). It was, however, a different building that Eaton’s, built at a different time, in a less buoyant economy. It was estimated in the summer of 1926 that the new store would use 125,000 cubic feet (3540 cu m) of Tyndall stone; 40,000 cubic yards (3058 cu m) of concrete, the gravel, sand and stone of which came no farther than 50 miles (80.47 km) from Winnipeg; 60,000 barrels of cement from the Canada Cement plant at Fort Whyte; 3,500 tons (3444 tonnes) of reinforcing steel bars from the Manitoba Rolling Mills at Selkirk; 500,000 square feet (138,800 cu m) of wall and partition tile; 2,000,000 square feet (1858.7 sq m) of form lumber for the concrete frame, with 1,000 workers employed at the construction site. The site had required 100,000 cubic yards (76,460 cu m) of earth to be excavated, and concrete was being poured at a rate of 500 cubic yards (382.3 cu m) per day. At the time, according to the Winnipeg Commercial, the new “Bay” store was “the biggest reinforced concrete structure of its type in the Dominion” at six storeys in height, 232’ (70.71 m) on Portage Avenue, 400’ (121.9 m) on Vaughan Street and 368’ (112.17 m) on Memorial Boulevard. Like the Eaton store earlier, the new HBC store was clearly a building of superlatives. Lastly, the local media could proudly state that it was largely Manitoba made.24 [PLATE 29] In anticipation of the opening of the new edifice, the old HBC store on Main Street closed for the last time on 12 November 1926. The Company suspended its retail business until the opening of the new store on 18 November. There followed five days of feverish activity as all staff were pressed into service, moving fixtures, merchandise and setting up the new departments. Entirely new store fixtures had been designed by Fixture Architects Taussig and Flesch of Chicago. These were built in Winnipeg by the G.W. Murray Company, a millwork concern, but the entire complement was not ready at the opening, and fixtures from the old store were temporarily pressed into service on the new third floor. The new store opened its brass-bound teakwood doors via a golden key welded by George F. Galt of the HBC Canadian Committee at 9 AM on Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 19 the 18 November. Mayor Ralph Webb made the first recorded purchases, a novelty flexible bracelet for Mrs. Webb and a red and green tie for his son, Rollie. The HBC’s rivals, the T. Eaton Company and Jerry Robinson’s department store, sent greetings and congratulations. The crowds were reminiscent of the Eaton’s opening in July 1905 with 50,000 people going through the new store by noon of the opening day. One woman, Mrs. E. Schultz of 651 Pritchard Avenue, was so anxious that she slipped beneath the arm of a policeman to become the first person to enter the new store.26 It was quite a store that greeted those first customers. At six storeys in height, it was two floors and six acres (3.23 h) less in size than Eaton’s. The caissons of this limestone-fronted building, however, were designed to carry an additional four storeys. Barott’s design was similar to that of the Calgary, Victoria and Vancouver stores in that it featured a base surmounted by intervening floors which were topped by a top floor crowned by a balustrade. All these buildings featured pilasters and tripartite windows. In the case of Winnipeg, however, the store was much larger in size, the pilasters being capped by Corinthian capitals as opposed to the Doric of the other stores, and of course, the Tyndall limestone which gave the building its distinctive appearance and colour. The three principal ones were on Portage Avenue, with one being central and the other two at corners. Here the entrances were high openings, framed in the limestone surrounding by the polished granite of the lower base level. This granite surround was also used around the two forwardmost side entrances on Vaughan and Memorial. The side entrances near the rear of the building were framed by the same architectural bronzework found around the 26 large display windows with their mezzanine lights on the ground floor. The Winnipeg store also featured rounded corners at the Vaughan and Memorial intersections with Portage, which softened the design somewhat over that of the older stores. [PLATE 30] The three Portage Avenue entrances opened into an arcade which ran behind the large 8-paned display windows of the front façade. This interesting feature was floored with Travertine marble, with walls of Botticino marble, and a coved, sectioned ceiling with globular lighting fixtures. Here, the viewer had show windows on both sides. The ones on the north side of the arcade looked into the display rooms formed by the continuous show windows along Portage Avenue. There one found fairly large, elaborate displays of merchandise, with an almost Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 20 “tableaux” nature to their generous layout. On the store side of the arcade corridor were smaller show windows. The arcade also gave five entrances to the store. [PLATE 31] Once inside the store one looked down spacious aisles that ran between rows of Doric columns. The treatment was plain, but formal with Terrazzo floors and a high, white paneled ceiling, each panel featuring a single 1000 watt light fixture. Display counters were clustered around the columns, giving an appearance of islands of goods to tempt the customers. [PLATE 32] The impression given was that shopping was to be a dignified affair, and this was continued to the back of the store, where the display islands encircled two columns at a time. The rear of the store had a mezzanine level gained by a grand, wide staircase. [PLATE 33] From there, one had a view of the entire main floor, and here were located the post office, telegraph office, public telephone booths, adjustment bureau, a circulating library, cloak rooms and a spacious lounge. One of the other notable features of the main floor was the elliptical elevator lobby at the center of the building. Onto this opened twelve elevators, six up and six down, with their wire glass/steel doors and marble surrounds. Behind the elevators were the store’s escalators which were in banks of two abreast, also with a group for “UP” as well as a group for “DOWN”. At the opening the main floor was used for a variety of departments, including jewellery, men’s shoes and furnishings, drugs, candies, tobacco, leather goods and silverware. Below the main floor lay the basement and sub-basement, the latter area housing the mechanical plant of the new store. This included an incinerator which consumed the building’s wastes and trash and heated the water used in the structure. There was also a stand-by power plant consisting of a steam engine as well as a diesel engine, a coal pulverizing plant from the main floor bins at the south-east corner of the building; a refrigeration plant for the areas of the store where a low temperature was needed and a 100,000 gallon water reservoir to feed the 1,200 gallon per minute pump for the store’s sprinkler system. The store’s ventilating system, with a capacity of a complete change of air every seven minutes, was also housed in the sub-basement. Above this was the basement, an area more utilitarian in appearance than the more dignified main floor. Here were the meat, fruit and grocery departments, as well as hardware, china, electrical and sporting goods and a staff cafeteria. There were three automatic dumb waiters to serve the various floors, as well as a freight elevator at the southwest corner capable of carrying a fully loaded motor truck to any level of the store. Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 21 Above the main floor, only the second and third levels were ready for public usage at the time of the 18 November opening. In fact, work still went on at levels four through six in preparation for eventual completion. The second floor was known as the “Fashion Floor” and it was here that one found women’s garments, children’s and women’s boots and shoes, as well as the women’s rest rooms. This level boasted two areas of carpeting on its floors, while its décor featured the same Doric columns and paneled ceiling as the main level, albeit with a lower ceiling light. At the grand opening, it was stated in the Tribune that most of the departments found there were located on a temporary basis until their upper floors were completed. Here, one found piece goods, dress goods, silks, woolens, linens and blankets, carpets, furniture, rugs, wall paper and bedding. There were also some executive offices to be found on the third. Those offices would eventually be located to the fourth floor, where on opening day, only the telephone office with its 45 trunk lines and 250 local stations were in operation.25 On opening day, there was also a garage and shipping building to be found at the southern or back end of the store. This was a large, one-storey structure along Vaughan where company vehicles were stored or serviced, along with an area for incoming/outgoing merchandise next to Memorial Boulevard. [PLATE 34] At opening, the property to St. Mary Avenue south of this was still being used for a construction site, or still bore a handful of old houses at 206-214 Vaughan which awaited demolition. This area was not cleared until late 1927, when a onestorey gasoline filling station was built near St. Mary Avenue, being surrounded by a surface “parking ground.” [PLATE 35] More significantly in 1927, however, was the completion of the fourth and fifth floors of the new store. The fourth floor opened to the public in mid-April, and featured lectures by Esther Sommerfeld of the Manitoba Agricultural College on the topic of meat. The fourth floor became the Furniture Department. Interestingly, the public was instructed to take an elevator to the third floor and then take the center stairs to the fourth. This was probably an indication that the 12 elevators were not yet fully operational. Some were working, however, in late August of that year when the luxurious fifth floor restaurant, the future Georgian Room, opened for business. Diners gained that floor via the elevators which deposited them at an 86’ (26.21 m) long carpeted corridor furnished with tapestry chairs and sofas and lit by wall sconces. Four arches gave access to the HBC historical exhibit, cloak room and lavatories across a polished oak floor. [PLATE 36] The dining room was at the back of the Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 22 store, and its windows gave a good view of the Legislative Building. Each end of the room had an open fireplace with heavy marble moldings and surmounted by portraits – one of Prince Rupert and one of Sir George Simpson. The walls and ceiling featured plaster paneling and decorated cornices, while the lighting was accomplished by bronze chandeliers and wall sconces. All told, the main dining room could seat 250 people, while three smaller rooms with their polished oak floors could seat a total of 118 persons. The main dining room boasted a carpet similar to the one in the entrance hall. The furnishings themselves were simple, but elegant. [PLATE 37] The new restaurant soon became popular as a place of clubs, dinners, teas and banquets, and appeared to be keen competition for that other elegant department store restaurant – Eaton’s Grille Room. Elsewhere on the fifth floor, one found a cafeteria off the north end of the elevator lobby, as well as the Bay’s fuel office, where one ordered coal from their McPhillips Street yard.26 In addition to the new dining facilities, a beauty parlour had opened on 15 August on the third floor. Overshadowing this, however, was the unveiling of Adam Sheriff Scott’s two elevator murals around the 3rd of September. Each surmounted a bank of elevators and were 10’ x 54’ (3.05 x 16.46 m) in dimension, Scott (1887-1980) had painted “The Pioneer At Fort Garry, 1861” above the east bank. This depicted Red River’s first steamboat, as well as showing Upper Fort Garry and the various inhabitants of the area. [PLATE 38] On the opposite, or west bank, Scott painted “The Nonsuch at Rupert River, 1688” which showed the building of Fort St. Charles. [PLATE 39] Scott was a well-known Canadian architect who also illustrated the annual HBC calendars for a number of years, as well as covers for the Company publication, The Beaver. Almost three years would pass before the big Portage Avenue store once more made headlines. In March 1930, Western Canada Airways inaugurated airmail service in Western Canada. At Stevenson Field (now Winnipeg International Airport) a two million candlepower beacon was erected. Downtown, a similar “Great Aerial Beacon” was built on the roof of the HBC store. [PLATE 40] Situated 200’ (60.96 m) above the street, the beacon was said to be visible over 100 miles (160.9 km) and even from Brandon. The beacon, with its 200’ (60.96 m) of neon tubing, was unveiled at a civic ceremony held on the roof of the store. [PLATE 41]27 Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 23 As the 1930s progressed, other changes were made in the Portage Avenue store. Early in 1930, the sixth floor – hitherto used for storage – became the Fur Storage Department, which had been the original intention at the opening. This area could store 12,000 garments in two large areas and kept at a temperature of 36º F (2º C). Three years later, the basement grocery store – hitherto known as “Groceteria,” “Meateteria” and “Fruiteria” was enlarged and consolidated under the first name. In later years, this was known as the “Foodeteria”. During 1936, the Arcade was removed, its space being taken by additional sales space on the main floor. CarterHalls-Aldinger performed this work. The area had become a waiting room for streetcar passengers since 1926, as well, according to some, it had also become the resort of panhandlers and roughs during the Depression. The changes cost $65,000 and resulted in two new stairways leading to the basement. The changes also appear to have included the installation of the present escalators between the main and second floors. Also that year, a 604 foot (91.5 m) deep saltwater well was sunk below the store. This water – 150,000 gallons (600,000 litres) of it – were used daily to wash and cool 150,000 cubic feet (4,248 cubic meters) of air per minute in the store. The water was stored in a 100,000 gallon (400,000 litre) underground tank. Lastly, on 26 July 1936, Memorial Boulevard was finally officially named and dedicated. Lieutenant- Governor W.J. Tupper unveiled a memorial tablet set in the northwest corner of the store. This ceremony was timed to coincide with the unveiling of the Vimy War Memorial in France.28 In early February 1938, the fifth floor restaurant acquired the “Georgian Room” name which it would keep for the remainder of its existence. The neighbouring cafeteria, however, was not so honoured by a distinctive name at the time, but within four years was known as the “Calendar Room”. Similarly, in August 1940 the basement cafeteria assumed the name of the “Jolly Canuck Restaurant”. This latter facility would serve, with its distinctive maple leaf entranceway until 1974, when the cafeteria was relocated within the basement. During 1947, work began on a major alteration of the Hudson’s Bay store. This involved the removal of the six elevators in the east bank, as well as relocation of the escalators formerly found behind the two banks of elevators to the area established when the escalators were built in 1936. By the completion of the work in 1948, the store would have escalator service from the basement to the fifth floor. Two of the removed elevators were subsequently sent to the Saskatoon HBC store whose elevators had been condemned in the autumn of 1948. Lastly, in 1950, the boilers of the Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 24 Winnipeg store were converted from coal to oil as their fuel. This would ultimately eliminate the coal dock entrance near the southeast corner of the building on Vaughan Street.29 The 1950s marked a great change in the way that the “Bay” did business. A confidential memo of January 1953 pointed out to management that the Winnipeg store had “always been the toughest unit from an operating point of view because of the dominant position of Eaton’s.” It was also felt that the retail function of the store had been sacrificed for architectural beauty, and that the Arcade removal and removal of one bank of elevators/replacement with escalators had been done to alleviate some of this problem. By 1953, however, the store was once again in need of more selling space. This meant that a warehouse outside the store was needed, and this would open up the sixth floor, as well as allow possible expansion into the garage and delivery area at the rear of the store. The memo also promoted the creation of a parking deck in place of the service station/parking ground along St. Mary Avenue. The recommendations were taken seriously by the Canadian Committee – in fact, the changes took place at a lightening pace compared to the glacial progress of moving the store from Main Street to Portage Avenue four decades earlier. In the spring of 1953, the HBC announced that it would build a large service building at the northeast corner of Berry Street and Sargent Avenue. This was followed by the demolition of the 1925-1926 garage building at the rear of the store, as well as the removal of the 1927 filling station and parking ground. This allowed for the construction of a two-tier, 450 car parking deck or “Parkade”. This reinforced concrete structure was designed by architects Smith, Hinchman, Grylls, Inc. for National Parking Garages Incorporated, using Moody and Moore of Winnipeg as superintending architects. The basement of the store was extended some 25,000 square feet (2325 m2) under the northern end of this new structure, forming an area for pricing and sorting merchandise. [PLATE 42] This became the first such parking structure in the Prairie Provinces when it opened on 29 October 1954. The parkade was successful enough that it was given an additional level in 1955 [PLATE 43] and inspired a multi-level parkade on Hargrave Street for Eaton’s (also by Moody and Moore) as well as a “Park-O-Mat” at Smith Street and Ellice Avenue in conjunction with the Marlborough Hotel. [PLATE 44] The rear portion of the main floor was now opened to the public, as an entrance was built to access the Parkade. This necessitated the removal of the old coal dock off Vaughan Street, the store having converted to oil heat about 1950, and the rear entrance also meant that the “grand staircase” Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 25 leading to the Mezzanine was also removed, to be replaced with two smaller stairways. The staircase would be missed by the various choirs which had used it for holiday performances.30 The year 1954 also proved to be another watershed in the history of dining at The Bay. The sixth floor was finally opened to the public around the same time as the Parkade opening. This offered a new escalator, some selling space, as well as the Paddlewheel Restaurant with its riverboat décor harkening back to the HBC involvement with the river trade of the 1870s. It was divided into three areas – a general dining area, a men’s area – “Gentlemen’s Gangway” – on board a mock riverboat, and a ladies’ area – “Crinoline Court” – with a wall mural depicting a placid riverbank scene. [PLATE 45] Situated directly above the fifth floor Georgian Room, the Paddlewheel drew the public to its environs via the six elevators left after the 1948 reduction, or via the new escalator installed to the sixth floor that year. The new restaurant was designed by the Company’s own Retail Stores Office, which provided interior design services for the various HBC outlets. In early 1956, however, more formal architectural design went into the first major change to the store exterior since 1926. The local architectural firm of Moody and Moore designed a three sided, 10’ (3.05 m) wide, canopy to run above the sidewalks along Memorial, Portage and Vaughan. Built at a cost of $275,000, the canopy forced a reduction in height of the main floor show windows and entrances. The former tops of the entranceways were faced with ribbed Zourite Alumilite finishing panels featuring the HBC crest. While providing shelter for those under it, the canopy also broke up the flatness of the original building, thereby lending a three dimensional quality to the façade. To some degree it probably also replaced some of the shelter function of the old Arcade, removed twenty years earlier. [PLATE 46] The canopy remained in place until 2001-2002, when deterioration required its restoration.31 After 1956, major changes in “The Bay” were less frequent. In 1964, the Parkade gained its present fourth level, which included the construction of an automobile repair shop, as well as a new receiving area at the south end of the store along Memorial Boulevard. This latter area replaced the remains of the 1925-1926 receiving area which had survived the Parkade construction in 1954. Two years later, Malcom Construction rebuilt the original elevator system to the present four units, down from the remaining six. Like the removal of the western bank in 1948, this entailed shaft removal and construction of floor structures on levels two to six to Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 26 provide extra sales space. In 1974, the now-venerable “Jolly Canuck” basement restaurant was phased out after 34 years, being replaced by another cafeteria at the opposite side of that level. This was in line with keeping the huge store in a contemporary state to attract modern shoppers. The interior of the store began to be altered in a piecemeal fashion as each department placed its particular trends upon the existing fabric of the building. This has produced the HBC store as it presently exists – as nearly a hodge-podge of sometimes conflicting decors which signify passage from one department to another. The decors are superimposed upon and usually in conflict with the Doric columns and coved ceilings of the 1926 store which are still visible throughout the building. The addition of more modern lighting in place of the original chandeliers, as well as the provision of HVAC ducts have also added to the present mélange of items to be seen in the store. Yet, the Hudson’s Bay Store remains a building of magnificent vast spaces not found in latter-day shopping center department stores.32 That fixture of the fifth floor, the Georgian Room, closed its doors in 1992-1993, probably the victim of the success of the Paddlewheel Restaurant one storey above. In 1986, Free Press writer Cheryl Fogel described the aging restaurant: The Georgian Room has not been quite so lucky. As the store’s most stately restaurant, the Georgian Room has sacrificed much of its former grandeur. Gone are the adjacent private executive dining areas. Gone is the rich wood paneling. Still a wonderful place for traditional high tea, the Georgian is smaller, but just as distinguished. The Georgian Room was vacant for a number of years while management figured on what to do with the space. Salvation came in 1998 when it was announced that the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame would be taking over the space for its museum. An appreciation of the remaining décor details was even apparent when officials made their announcement that September. The new facility opened in May 1999. The Hall of Fame joined a number of other organizations, mainly businesses, from without the HBC fold which had been renting space in the huge Portage Avenue building. The failure and ultimate closure of the T. Eaton Company store that summer gave added importance to the Bay as downtown Winnipeg’s sole remaining department store. Increasing amounts of business and traffic because of the Eaton closure brought the HBC store Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 27 into renewed prominence. In the spring of 2001, the Company announced the restoration of the 1956 canopy which had been damaged in various places by the elements. That work was conducted in two stages, with the final stage being completed during the early summer of 2002. Lastly, in the early spring of 2002, the basement groceteria was expanded to nearly the size it had been as the “Foodeteria” in the 1950s. Company officials cited the Eaton closure as their prime motivation as well as a company commitment to the downtown. The expansion went some ways in dispelling persistent rumours that the Bay intended to close the Portage Avenue store because of a lack of business and relocate to a suburban mall such as Polo Park. These rumours have also been bolstered by Manitoba Hydro’s search for a site for its new office tower which has included the property occupied by this building.33 STYLE The Hudson’s Bay store was designed in a restrained Neo-Classical style which was a culmination of the HBC corporate style first seen in the Calgary and Victoria stores of the previous decades. At the time of the construction of the two earlier stores (1912), Beaux Art Classicism had been at the peak of its popularity for buildings, especially those structures which hoped to impress the public with the importance of their interior activities. This was certainly true in Winnipeg where such buildings as the Bank of Montreal, the Canadian Bank of Commerce and the present Manitoba Legislative Building were at various stages of construction. The Classical forms of columns, capitals and tripartite building masses were thus thoroughly acceptable as adornment for business premises in the period up to the First World War when the HBC formulated its corporate style. The passage of time from the boom years of the 1900-1912 period through the war and into the recession of the early 1920s brought some modification to these often elaborate exercises in scholarly architecture. For one thing, in a time of austerity, businesses began to forsake what were, to them, costly frills for their premises. In small structures, this took the form of flat-wall buildings, usually of brick, with small cornices and little ornamentation. When Classical ornament was added, this took a restrained tack and was often more suggestive of Classical forms than anything else. This has come to be known as “Stripped Classicism” and was found in Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 28 buildings constructed into the 1930s. In larger structures such as the Winnipeg Hudson’s Bay Store, this low level of suggestive ornament was not at all appropriate given the high profile of such a structure on Portage Avenue. By the time of Barott’s design for the new store, however, the use of Classical idioms was less pronounced and were bordering upon the suggestive. Thus, the Hudson’s Bay Store became almost monolithic in the flatness of its façade which was adorned by Corinthian-capped pilasters instead of full, free standing columns. Indeed, a decade and a half earlier such pilasters were used as background wall detailing behind the colonnades of banks or legislative buildings. In the case of the Hudson’s Bay Store, this produced a striking building which was still able to assert its importance both through its detailing and large massing. Its influence along the avenue was almost immediate, as seen by Kenneth Rae’s Bank of Montreal (1927-1928) as well as Pratt and Ross’ borderline Art Deco Power Building (19281929), both east of Vaughan Street. [PLATE 47] In the late 1920s, the restrained classicism of such buildings as the Hudson’s Bay Store was evolving into the Art Deco movement of the 1930s with its prominent vertical elements. The Bay store, then, marked a bridging of two dynamic eras in twentieth century architectural history. It became a modern Classical building largely because of the conservatism of the Canadian Committee and what they considered to be respectable architecture. They had, however, rejected the rather dowdy Renaissance Revival structure earlier proposed (1917) by their original corporate architects, Burke, Horwood and White as being old-fashioned. In some ways, the Winnipeg HBC store looks 10 or 15 years older than its construction date, but that can be attributed to the firm’s choice of a corporate style. This, however, does not effect the fact that visually this remains as one of Portage Avenue’s most impressive buildings. CONSTRUCTION This building is made of poured reinforced concrete. This material was chosen because it possessed a distinct cost advantage over steel-frame construction which was also prevalent as a construction mode in the 1920s. Both methods offered great load-bearing strength, rigidity of structure as well as a great measure of fire-resistancy and speed of construction. In 1926, the Winnipeg Commercial magazine pronounced this to be the largest reinforced concrete building in Canada. Reinforced concrete construction had come to Winnipeg in 1906 with the erection of Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 29 the Bemis Bag Company factory on Alexander Avenue. The material had earlier been used by railways for bridges and culverts, but techniques spread throughout the building trades with more widespread materials handling experience. By the time of the First World War the construction of reinforced concrete buildings was beginning to rival that of steel-framed structures for choice of materials. The new HBC store was originally conceived as a steel frame, and that construction method was changed because of the influence of Carter, Halls and Aldinger in 1924 which showed cost savings. There was also the fire-resistancy of reinforced concrete which made it a natural choice for large buildings. In the event of a fire, the chances of structural failure were greatly decreased over that of traditional wooden forms or even unprotected steel frames which suffered in fires. As a result of these factors, reinforced concrete construction was quite a common method by the mid-1920s. DESIGN This building was especially designed as a departmental store, and for that reason was given large interior spaces for varieties of merchandise displays. It has continued to function in this capacity since 1926, and is successful in that it still attracts sufficient customers to remain open despite the decline of downtown Winnipeg. Some of this clientele has to do with the removal of the Eaton department store as an area rival, though certain aspects of downtown revitalization may be contributing to its continued existence as a downtown entity. INTERIOR The basic interior spaces of this store with their Doric-Order columns, coved, paneled ceilings are largely intact, though at times there are many overlays of materials which reflect more contemporary merchandising methods. The original terrazzo floor, with its brass-framed diamond pattern is now only visible outside the fifth floor elevators, the remainder in the store being covered by newer linoleums, etc. In the former Georgian Room, only some of the 1927 décor is intact, and a portion of the once 86’ (26.21 m) lobby remains as an entrance to the Sports Hall of Fame. The Paddlewheel Restaurant, despite some changes, is similar in appearance to its 1954 opening. On all floors except the sixth, the oval-shaped elevator lobbies Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 30 can still be seen despite the 1948 removal of the west bank and the 1966 reduction of the eastern bank to four cages. The “Pioneer” mural remains intact over the Main Floor elevators has been given to the Winnipeg Art Gallery. Only the first two floors are now occupied for commercial purposes, most of the other space in the building is now vacant [PLATES 48-50]. INTEGRITY This building remains on its original site. Despite a change of windows and the construction of the wrap-around canopy, this building still appears much as it did in 1926. At the south end, however, this is a different matter as the four level Parkade (1954-1964) now dominates the former garage/parking ground/gasoline station area of 1927. Inside, the interior is basically intact, though the Arcade was removed in 1936; escalators installed that year near the Portage Avenue entrance; the “grand staircase” to the Mezzanine removed; lighting fixtures changes and elevators removed or modernized. STREETSCAPE The Hudson’s Bay Store was built as a monumentally-scaled building meant to fit in with the Capitol Approach to the Legislative Building, as well as proclaim a presence on Portage Avenue. The limestone of its façade took some of its inspiration from the provincial government buildings along Broadway. The first use of a limestone façade in that area had come in 1903 with the construction of the Land Titles Building (Samuel Hooper, architect). [PLATE 51] This structure had led the way for the later government buildings of the 1912-1920 period in this area, for they matched this structure for materials. The new Hudson’s Bay Store and its use of limestone was also partially a nod to local materials as well as to workers. As the premier building at the north end of the Capitol Approach, the HBC also led the way in terms of limestone use. [PLATE 52] The first structure to be built after the HBC store opened was the Cooper Institute at the southwest corner of Osborne Street and St. Mary Avenue. This three-storey trade school featured rusticated limestone, but this had been a change from the originally anticipated brick Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 31 structure. [PLATE 53] Shortly after the Cooper Institute came Gilbert Parfitt’s design for the Cenotaph (1928) [PLATE 54], and a few years later, the Winnipeg Civic Auditorium (1932) with its Northwood and Chivers-designed limestone shell. [PLATE 55] The Depression and World War II halted most building of larger structures in Winnipeg. One notable exception, however, was the two-storey Winnipeg Clinic Building (1942) and its five-storey balconied wing (19461947), both designed by William Dangerfield Lount at the northeast corner of St. Mary Avenue and Vaughan Street. [PLATE 56] After 1950, quite a number of limestone-fronted commercial premises were constructed along Osborne Avenue. These were best typified by the St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company Building, 270 Osborne Street (1953-1954, Moody and Moore, architects). [PLATE 57] Interestingly, at the time, a civic body reviewed all plans for this area, stamping the plans with “Approved for Materials”, thereby indicating some sort of tacit policy to promote limestone usage for buildings in the Capitol area. The run of limestone would culminate with the Winnipeg Art Gallery (1971, Gustavo da Rosa, architect) with its huge, slabsided walls. Along Portage Avenue, to a lesser extent, the Hudson’s Bay Store encouraged the use of limestone. This was chiefly seen in the Singer Sewing Machine Building (424 - 1929-1930, Northwood and Chivers architects); its neighbour, the Bank of Montreal (428 – 1927-1928, Kenneth Rea, architect), and the neighbour to the bank, the Power Building (430 – 1928-1929, Pratt and Ross, architects). [PLATE 47] Despite this lack of effect on the Avenue, the Hudson’s Bay Store dominated its part of the downtown through sheer size and mass, and was an integral part of the Memorial Boulevard-Crosstown Highway Scheme. This was evident whether one saw it from ground level [PLATES 58 & 59] or in the distance at a height. [PLATE 60] In this category, it was a fitting rival for Eaton’s which was also visually dominant. ARCHITECT a) ERNEST ISBELL BAROTT was born at Canastota, New York, 25 March 1884. He studied architecture at the University of Syracuse. Barott went to Montreal in 1912, forming a partnership with Gordon Blackader and Daniel T. Webster. One of the first commissions of Barott, Blackader and Webster was the Canadian Pacific Railway station at Vancouver (1912- Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 32 1914). This was followed by the CPR’s Windsor Street Station in Montreal (1914-1915), as well as building for the Bank of British North America; Royal Trust and the St. Denis Theatre, also in Montreal. After World War I, Webster left the firm which became Barott and Blackader. The firm’s work was largely Eastern-oriented, consisting of such works in the early 1920s as the Canada Cement Company office building, Montreal; the Henry Morgan and Company Department Store, Montreal; and the Banff Springs Hotel, this time at Banff, Alberta. Barott left the firm in 1925 to operate under his own name, and it was during that time that he designed the Winnipeg Hudson’s Bay Company Store, as well as a reworking of a Henry Morgan department store in Montreal. Barott maintained a Winnipeg office during the HBC construction under the management of Thomas T. Rutherford. This office appears to have been associated with the HBC store builders, Carter, Halls and Aldinger, as it occupied space adjoining CHA in the Royal Bank Building. It is not believed that Barott undertook any other Winnipeg work during his time in the West. Early in 1928, however, once the Winnipeg office closed, he did provide perspective drawings to the Hudson’s Bay Company for an apartment complex they wished to build behind the Fort Garry Hotel. That project was not begun. By that time, Barott had closed the Winnipeg office and had rejoined Blackader. In that form the firm continued to produce such structures as Bell Telephone’s Beaver Hall Building; the Aldred Building, both in Montreal and the Bank of Montreal in Ottawa. In later years, the firm was known as Barott, Marshall, Montgomery and Merrett. He died in Montreal on 18 May 1966.34 b) Builder The general contractor for the Winnipeg Hudson’s Bay Company store was the firm of Carter, Halls, Aldinger (CHA). The principals of CHA were William Henry Carter (1874-1962), a contractor; Frank Ernest Halls (1872-1950), a fire-proofing expert; and Albert Henry Aldinger (c 1876-1942), a civil engineer. CHA had its origins with the arrival in 1903 of Carter, who was representing the William Grace Company, a Chicago contracting firm which was building the Bank of British North America, 436 Main Street. Carter worked for Grace until February 1907 when he joined with Halls and Aldinger to found the new firm. By 1915, CHA was well-known Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 33 throughout Western Canada with such Winnipeg buildings to its credit as Minto Armouries; the Confederation Life Association Building; the Manitoba Free Press building; the Winnipeg Electric Railway building and the McArthur (later Childs) Building. The firm also constructed works in other places such as Moose Jaw, Saskatoon, Calgary, Edmonton and Prince George, British Columbia. Their clients included the Dominion Government, as well as the Canadian Pacific, the Grand Trunk Pacific and the Canadian Northern Railways. They also did work on the new Hudson’s Bay Company stores in Calgary and Vancouver, the Banff Springs Hotel and later the Winnipeg Civic Auditorium. The firm specialized in bridges, subways, railway works, steel frame and other fireproof construction, as well as heavy masonry foundations and caisson work as found in the new Hudson’s Bay Company store at Winnipeg. CHA was placed in voluntary liquidation in 1944, and was reorganized as two firms, Commonwealth Construction Limited and the Carter Construction Company of Toronto. This latter firm relocated to Winnipeg in 1950, being managed by W.H. Carter after his retirement from the Greater Winnipeg Transit Commission in 1956. Carter Construction remained in business until 1972 as a St. Boniface firm.35 INSTITUTION The Hudson’s Bay Company at 332 years old is the oldest surviving commercial entity in Canada. It transformed itself from a fur trading company into a land sales/commercial firm in the nineteenth century, and into a retail/wholesale sales colossus in the twentieth century. Through many mergers, the HBC is now part of Thomson Corporation, a Canadian-based multinational firm.36 EVENT The construction of the new Hudson’s Bay Company store in 1925-1926 was closely associated with the creation of a Capitol Approach Scheme which had been a decade and a half in fruition. The Capitol Approach, or after 1936, Memorial Boulevard, marked an early attempt to apply city planning/beautiful techniques to redesign portions of the city to conform to altruistic ideals Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 34 rampant after 1900. Without the fixing of the Capitol Approach in 1925, the new HBC store construction hung in limbo, as the Company attempted to do business from a Main Street retail store which had been considered obsolete since at least 1905. CONTEXT The opening of this building in 1926 marked the farthest western expansion of Winnipeg’s downtown business district for the next forty years. The era 1910-1960 marked the apogee of Winnipeg’s downtown as a retail/commercial business center until the advent of satellite centers in the form of suburban shopping malls. The Hudson’s Bay Store, along with the T. Eaton retail store up the avenue fitted into this half-century era very neatly, as the two firms were the catalysts behind many events in the area. The downtown was once the center of the universe for most cities and towns. Slowly, after 1910, as the automobile gained an ever greater foothold in society in the realm of personal transportation, the downtown first arose and then declined. Automobiles, unlike street cars, allowed a person to live in suburbs such as St. James and Fort Garry and work downtown. One could then set one’s own hours of arrival and departure instead of being tied to a streetcar schedule. As the numbers of autos increased so too did the need to store them during the day. Parking on the streets was numerically inadequate, and entrepreneurs began pulling down old houses and other buildings when it was seen that more money could be gained from parking than from renting. With that, holes began to appear in the fabric of downtown, both in terms of physical presence and in terms of local populations which patronized the businesses. Parking problems still abounded despite more and more parking lots in the 1940s and 1950s. The City of Winnipeg soon found a solution in the form of parking meters which regulated the amount of time a visitor spent in an area. Prior to this, the authorities had tried various expedients which had all failed. The parking meters regulated parkers, but they also led to the use of the suburban malls with their huge lots where parking was free. The big departmental stores – Eaton’s at one end and the Bay at the other began to suffer sales losses as their suburban rivals gained an ascendancy. Once the keystones of the downtown, the great emporiums witnessed the demise of their surroundings and sales as first smaller businesses closed, and eventually ending with the Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 35 failure of what had been Canada’s greatest retail empire – Eaton’s. While the closure of Eaton’s brought the Bay many much-needed customers, the future of this venerable downtown icon is still uncertain. In the autumn of 2002, rumours abound that the Bay will quit the downtown, and that the store site is being considered as one of the locations of a new Manitoba Hydro high-rise office building, as well as for purchase by a government employees’ pension fund.37 LANDMARK The Hudson’s Bay Store was designed in a monumental style in order to fit in with the monumental concept of the Capitol Approach. As such, the building was meant to be a visual landmark based upon the beauty of its architecture as well as from the massiveness of its size. In this regard, like the T. Eaton Company store, the Bay has also become a local psychological landmark for many people. While lacking the central focus of the Timothy Eaton Statue, the Bay has nonetheless evolved along similar lines as a meeting place, whether for tea in the nowdefunct Georgian Room or for lunch at the Paddlewheel. It is an integral part of both Portage Avenue and Memorial Boulevard. Prev Doc Menu Next Doc ENDNOTES 1 “The Bull’s Eye,” Winnipeg Daily Times, 30 October 1880, p. 1; “The Hudson’s Bay Company Stores, Times, 17 October 1881, p. 1; Nor’Wester, 2 November 1895, p. 1; Tribune, 13 April 1899, p. 5; Morning Telegram, 9 September 1899, p. 8; Registered Plans 18; 81; 129; R.R. Rostecki, “The Growth of Winnipeg, 1870-1886,” Unpublished Master’s Thesis, Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Manitoba, 1980; R.R. Rostecki and J.D. McFarland, “The Liveliest Place in the Dominion: A History of Winnipeg’s Exchange District,” Unpublished manuscript on deposit at the Exchange District Business Improvement Zone, June 2000; Chapter II [Liveliest]. 2 R.R. Rostecki, “T. Eaton Company Store, 320 Portage Avenue,” Unpublished report, Historical Buildings Committee, City of Winnipeg, April 2000, pp. 3-4 [Eaton]; Hudson’s Bay Company Archives (HBCA), A. 12S/543/1., “Winnipeg Stores File, 1891-1913” (Reel 872); letter, C.C. Chipman to William Ware, 5 July 1904. 3 HBCA, Reel 872, Chipman to Ware, 2 July 1904; “Hudson’s Bay Company’s Stores New Addition,” Manitoba Free Press (MFP) 18 June 1904, p. 1; Chipman to Ware, 30 July 1904; 25 August 1905; 5 July 1904; “Hudson’s Bay Co. to Portage Ave.,” Tribune, 6 April 1905, p. 9; 10 April 1905, p. 9; 12 June 1905, see enclosure of A.W. Pritchard letter of May 1905. 4 HBCA, Reel 872, Chipman to Ware, 2 February 1906; “Result of Winnipeg Saleshop, Outfit 1905, 1 September 1906; City of Winnipeg Archives (CWA), Building Permit (BP) 1815/11. 5 HBCA, RG2/54/1 “Report of R. Burbidge, Inspection of Saleshops, September 1909,” pp. 1, 6; RG2/54/2 “Report of Richard Woodman Burbidge on Hudson’s Bay Company Stores, August 1912,” p. 3; Reel 872, A12/S543/2, Herbert Burbidge to William Ware, 28 January 1911. 6 HBCA, Reel 872, A12/S543/2, Burbidge to Ware, 28 January 1911. 7 “A City Factory,” Winnipeg Daily Times, 7 July 1883, p. 4; “Our Local Industries,” Manitoba Sun, 20 October 1886, p. 2; “Bottling Plant Destroyed By Fire,” MFP, 3 May 1910, p. 10; “Soda Water Plant Ruined By Fire,” Telegram, 3 May 1910, p. 11; Charles E. Goad’s Fire Insurance Plan of Winnipeg, October 1905, Sheet 46; Registered Plan 790. 8 HBCA, Reel 872, A12/S543/2 – Ware to Burbidge, 15 February 1911; “Large Sale Rumoured,” Telegram, 11 October 1910, p. 5; “Million Dollar Realty Deal in Winnipeg,” MFP, 17 March 1911, p. 6; “Remarkable Activity in Local Real Estate,” Telegram, 18 March 1911, p. 13; Burbidge to Ware, 5 March 1911; 15 March 1911; Cable, Ware to Burbidge, 28 March 1911; “Portage Avenue Secret Is Out at Last,” Tribune, 22 March 1911, p. 1; Burbidge to Ware, 29 March 1911; Burbidge to Ware, 15 April 1911, the total purchase price was really $912,198. 9 HBCA, Reel 872, A12/S543/2, H.E.R. Rogers to Board of Directors, 3 August 1911; see also “Dart vs. Rogers,” Manitoba Reports, 1911, pp. 721-743; “Hudson’s Bay Co. Plans Outlined,” Telegram, 13 April 1912, p. 7; “New Style of Building Adopted By Hudson’s Bay Co. for Western Canada,” Telegram, 16 April 1912, p. 9. 10 Marilyn Baker, Symbol In Stone (Winnipeg: Hyperion, 1986), pp. 20-21; CWA By-law 6825. 11 “Proposed New Winnipeg Cross-City Business Street,” Tribune, 7 October 1911, p. 7; City of Winnipeg Winnipeg City Planning Commission Report, October 4, 1911 – January 27, 1913 (Winnipeg: Canadian Printing and Bookbinding, 1913), pp. 54-55; “Suggest Through Relief Highway,” MFP, 6 March 1912, p. 23; “Proposed New Civic Centre for Winnipeg,” MFP, 13 July 1912, p. 11. 12 HBCA, RG 2/2/50, H.E. Burbidge to A.M. Nanton, 16 December 1912; F.C. Ingram to Burbidge, 26 April 1913; Reel 872, A12/S543/2, Burbidge to Ingram, July 1913; RG 2/2/50, Burbidge to Ingram, 20 June 1913; CWA Minutes of City Council, 16 June 1913, p. 427, item 812; 12 August 1913, p. 575, item 1023; CWA Bylaw 8790; “Closing Graham Avenue Not Yet Decided By City,” Telegram, 11 June 1913, p. 8; “Graham Avenue Will be Closed for H.B. Company,” Telegram, 17 June 1913, p. 1. i Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 13 “Hudson’s Bay to Build Skyscraper,” MFP, 4 June 1913, p. 1; “Many Houses Are Sold Near Portage Avenue,” MFP, 14 June 1913, p. 11; “Hudson’s Bay Company to Spend Millions on New Stores,” Telegram, 20 September 1913, p. 12(3); HBCA, RG 2/2/50, Nanton to J.C. Macintosh, 12 February 1914; “City Planning,” MFP, 23 May 1914, p. 16; “Conference Today on Projected Mall,” MFP, 7 May 1920, p. 6. 14 HBCA, RG 2/2/50, Committee to Burbidge, 3 November 1916; Burbidge to Nanton, 15 December 1916; Eaton, op.cit., p. 19; HBCA, Reel 873, A12/S543/2, Burbidge to Governor and Committee, 25 February 1916; Burbidge to Governor and Committee, 1 August 1918; Burbidge to Governor and Committee, Report, 6 May 1919, pp. 179-180; F.C. Ingram to Burbidge, 24 October 1918; 12 November 1918; Burbidge to Ingram, 17 February 1919; Ingram to Burbidge, 29 April 1919. 15 HBCA, RG 2/2/50, Ingram to Burbidge, 24 October 1918; Memorandum, Edward Fitzgerald, 1 October 1919; Burbidge to Governor and Committee, Report, 6 May 1919, p. 156; Fitzgerald to London (Telegram), 20 August 1919; RG 2/6/2 S4, Notes taken at meeting, 12 September 1919. 16 HBCA, RG 2/2/52, Memorandum of meeting with S.C. Oxton, 28 November 1919; “Parliament House Boulevard,” City Life, 24 January 1920, p. 2. 17 “Conference Today on Proposed Mall,” MFP, 7 May 1920, p. 6; “General Principals of a Mall Adopted,” MFP, 8 May 1920, p. 4; “Will Cooperate on Question of the Mall,” MFP, 22 June 1920, p. 2; “Another Mall Proposal,” MFP, 17 July 1920, p. 6. 18 “Architect Presents Argument For Mall,” MFP, 25 September 1920, p. 3; “New Mall Plan Is Made Public By Mayor Parnell,” Tribune, 19 July 1921, p. 16; “Mayor Seeks to Get Mall Plans in Shape For Immediate Work,” Tribune, 16 September 1921, p. 15; “Mayor Gives Address to Veterans on Question of Mall,” Tribune, 6 October 1921, p. 2; “Woodman Plan For Cross-Town Highway,” Tribune, 9 January 1922, p. 5. 19 “Mall Negotiations to be Carried Further,” MFP, 11 January 1922, p. 6; CWA, Streets and Lanes File 472(3), Richard Pierson to Mayor Parnell, 9 January 1922; “Hudsons’ Bay Acquires Saskatoon Store,” Beaver, April 1922, p. 17; “New HBC Department Store Opened at Victoria,” Beaver, October 1921, p. 5; HBCA RG 2/6/2 S4, Fitzgerald to Charles Sale, 3 February 1921; James Laidlaw (?) to Fitzgerald, memorandum, 28 March 1923, “Hudson’s Bay Company Still Looking to Portage Avenue,” MFP, 26 May 1924, p. 10. 20 HBCA, RG 2/6/2 S4, Frank E. Halls to Charles D. Sale, 26 August 1924; W.G. Carter to A.H. Doe, 25 August 1924; “Present Costs Favourable to Building,” Western Canada Contractor, September 1924, p. 19. 21 “Improvements Committee to Consider Mall,” Tribune, 30 July 1924, p. 6; CWA, Streets and Lanes 472(4), Report, 3 March 1925; letter, Chairman to Edward Fitzgerald, 21 May 1925; By-law 11641; By-law 11693, Clause 3. 22 “No Delay Starting Work on New Store,” MFP, 29 August 1925, p. 5; “Hudson’s Bay Company Starts Work on Store,” MFP, 4 September 1925, p. 3; “First Sod Is Turned For New Bay Store,” Tribune, 3 September 1925, p. 1; HBCA, RG 2/6/3, W.S. Lecky to Press, 5 September 1925; letter, Charles Sale to HB Executive Department, 7 September 1925; letter, R.H. Webb to J. Chadwick Brooks, 22 September 1925; Tribune, 3 June 1920, p. 6; letter, Brooks to Webb, 25 September 1925; letter, Barott to Brooks, 7 October 1925; letter, A.H. Doe to Brooks, 7 October 1925; letter, Brooks to Webb, 25 November 1925. 23 HBCA, RG 2/6/4, letter, Brooks to T.T. Rutherford, 26 January 1926; also Rutherford to Brooks, 28 January 1926; “Workmen Find Tunnel Under Portage Ave.,” Tribune, 26 January 1926, p. 1; “Pocket of Sand Caused Tunnel Under Portage,” Tribune, 27 January 1926, p. 1; CWA. BP 728/26; “Permit for Hudson’s Bay Store Issued….,” MFP, 23 April 1926, p. 6. 24 “Hudson’s Bay Store Nearing Completion,” MFP, 9 August 1926, p. 3; “New Hudson’s Bay Store is Largely a Manitoba Product,” Winnipeg Commercial, December 1926, p. 23. ii Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 25 MFP, 12 November 1926, p. 12; 13 November 1926, p. 12; HBCA, RG 2/6/4, letter, A.H. Doe to Secretary of Canadian Committee, 14 December 1925; RG 2/8/1720 – 806.1.1 – Canadian Committee Minutes, 25 May 1926, no. 3056; “New Hudson’s Bay Store Expresses Company’s Faith in Winnipeg and the West,” Tribune, 17 November 1926, p. 5; “Hudson’s Bay Store Is Open Today,” MFP, 18 November 1926, p. 10; also Robinson ad, p. 4, and Eaton’s ad, p. 26; “Winnipeg Residents Throng to Opening of Hudson’s Bay Company’s Magnificent Store,” MFP, 19 November 1926, p. 1. 26 HBCA, RG 1/Series 80/1, letter, H.F. Harman to A.B. Kent, 23 February 1927; CWA. BP 3974/27; WFP, 16 April 1927, p. 10; 25 April 1927, p. 12; “Sumptuous New Restaurant in HB Co. Store,” Tribune, 30 August 1927, p. 7; “Restaurant,” Beaver, December 1927, p. 135; Tribune, 29 August 1927, p. 9; 23 August 1927, p. 10; MFP, 5 September 1927, p. 10. 27 “Portrays Pioneer Days of Fort Garry,” MFP, 3 September 1927, p. 6; “54 Foot Mural Painting Shows Trading Days At Old Fort Garry, 1859,” Tribune, 3 September 1927, p. 2; “Civic Ceremony Will Mark Lighting of the HBC Beacon Tonight,” MFP, 3 March 1930, p. 3; Thousands Cheer as Great Beacon Lights Up Sky, Guiding Air Mail Pilots on Their Way,” Tribune, 4 March 1930, p. 6. 28 “Our Fur Storage at Winnipeg,” Beaver, June 1931, pp. 235-236; “Winnipeg’s Newest Family Food Centre,” Tribune, 20 July 1933, p. 10; MFP, 18 November 1929, p. 11; “Arcade of Hudson’s Bay Company Store Will Be Removed,” Tribune, 30 May 1936, p. 9; CWA. BP 822/36; recollection of W.G. Speechly, undated; Beaver, December 1936, p. 24; Tribune, 25 July 1936, p. 8; “Vimy Dedication Is Observed In Winnipeg,” Tribune, 27 July 1936, p. 1. 29 WFP, 8 February 1938, p. 12; 23 December 1942, p. 10; 14 August 1940, p. 10; CWA. BP 135/74; BP 6781/47; WFP, 13 September 1948, p. 16; HBCA, RG 2/8/1720, Minute 3382, 16 December 1948; 3680, 15 December 1949. 30 HBCA, RG 2/8/1720, Memorandum, 6 January 1953; Greater Winnipeg Industrial Topics, April 1953, p. 4; “$500,000 Customer Parking Garage For Winnipeg Department Store,” Manitoba Industry and Commerce Bulletin, May 1954, p. 2; WFP, 26 October 1954, p. 18; “New Style Parking Lot Goes Into Operation,” WFP, 29 October 1954, p. 8; “Parkade Has Vets of Horse-Van Days,” Tribune, 29 October 1954, p. 10; CWA. BP 7812/54; BP 1084/55; RG 2/8/1720, Minutes, 3680, 15 December 1949; 31 WFP, 26 October 1954, p. 18; 28 October 1954, pp. 8-9; CWA. BP 5315/54; BP 3703/64; BP 348/66; BP 135/74. 32 CWA. BP 3703/64; BP 348/66; BP 135/74. 33 Winnipeg Telephone Directories, 1991; 1992; Cheryl Fogel, “The Bay Established Portage As Retail Hub,” WFP, 16 November 1986, p. 10; Winnipeg Telephone Directory, 1992; Marvin McDonald, “Sports Display at The Bay,” WFP, 16 September 1998, p. C2; “Hall of Fame opens in bargain Bay digs,” WFP, 14 May 1999, p. D3; “Flagship Facelift,” Sun, 29 April 2001, p. 8; Murray McNeil, “Downtown Food Store Expands,” WFP, 14 March 2002, p. B5; “CEO prefers south of Portage,” WFP, 21 August 2002, p. A5; “Pension fund seeks to buy Bay store,” WFP, 14 September 2002, p A1. 34 “Ernest I. Barott,” Montreal Star, 19 May 1966, p. 68; Canadian Who’s Who, 1952-1954, (Toronto: Trans Canada Press, 1954), p. 54; Construction, May 1913, p. 188; July 1915, pp. 317-320; September 1915, pp. 366388; July 1916, pp. 215-222; September 1921, p. 281; September 1922, p. 268; November 1923, pp. 406-407; April 1926, pp. 120-126; July 1927, pp. 207-227; September 1927, p. 304; Henderson’s Winnipeg Directories, 1926; 1927; HBCA, RG 2/7/478-10-19, J. Chadwick Brooks to Secretary, Canadian Committee, 24 January 1928; Brooks to Barott, 23 January 1928; Construction, November 1929, p. 338; May 1931, p. 146; July 1932, p. 149. iii Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 35 “I First Saw,” Tribune, 19 May 1921, p. 4; Builder and Carrier,” Tribune, 22 November 1948, p. 6; Who’s Who in Canada, 1927, pp. 1593-1594; Tribune, 25 September 1915, p. 64; “Carter-Halls-Aldinger,” Winnipeg Saturday Post, 8 June 1912, p. 40; Henry J. Boam, The Prairie Provinces of Canada, (London: Sells Ltd. 1914), p. 86; “Winnipeg’s Mr. Transit, Dies at 88 Years,” WFP, 3 December 1962, p. 3; “Mr. Industry, W.H. Carter Dies,” Tribune, 3 December 1962, p. 9; “A.H. Aldinger, Well-Known Builder, Dies in Detroit,” Tribune, 10 February 1942, p. 11; “Construction Firm Founder, F.E. Halls, Dies,” Tribune, 28 February 1950, p. 13; Winnipeg Telephone Directories, 1950-1973. 36 Peter C. Newman, “Fortune’s Child,” Maclean’s, 6 May 2002, pp. 18-24. 37 “CEP prefers south of Portage,” WFP, 21 August 2002, p. A5; “Pension fund seeks to buy Bay store,” WFP, 14 September 2002, p. A1. iv Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 1 - Hudson’s Bay Company Store, 184 Main Street (SW – York Avenue), 1926. Designed by architect Balston C. Kenway in 1880-1881, and enlarged by George Browne in 1895 and 1899, this view shows the Main Street store some time during its final year of operation. (Manitoba Archives) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 2 - Blackwood Brothers Plant, 315-319 Colony Street, 1891. This soft drink bottling plant was the dominant industry near the site of the future Hudson’s Bay Store. With property additions to the east of these buildings, the Blackwood’s plant occupied part of the store site. (Manitoba Archives) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 3 - Future Hudson’s Bay Store site, Portage – St. Mary avenues/Vaughan to Colony streets, 1905. Taken from Charles E. Goad’s Fire Insurance Plan of Winnipeg, this shows development on the Bay site prior to its acquisition in 1911. (City of Winnipeg Archives) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 4 - Future Hudson’s Bay Store site, Portage – St. Mary avenues/Vaughan to Colony streets, 1918. Under HBC ownership, Graham Avenue had been closed and the Blackwood’s plant buildings removed from the property. At this point, the builtup portion of the site was at the southern end. (Manitoba Archives) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 5 - Hudson’s Bay Company Store, Calgary, Alberta, 1912. Had the Winnipeg store been built in 1913-1914, it would have been similar to this Burke, Horwood and White design done in terra cotta. (Legislative Library of Manitoba, Winnipeg Telegram, 16 April 1912, p. 9) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 6 - Map of Leo Warde’s concept for a Cross Town Highway, 1911. Though not executed along these lines, Warde’s concept got the ball rolling on a Capitol Approach scheme that delayed construction of the new HBC Store. (Legislative Library of Manitoba, Winnipeg Tribune, 7 October 1911, p. 7) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 7 - John D. Atchison’s Plan for a Civic Centre and Mall to the new Provincial Government Buildings, 1912. Atchison used Vaughan Street as the Capitol Approach, linked to a civic center on the Manitoba College site on the north side of Ellice. (Legislative Library of Manitoba, Winnipeg Tribune, 6 March 1912, p. 11) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 8 - Bird’s Eye View of Atchison’s Plan for Winnipeg Civic Centre, 1912. The redesign of the western part of the Hudson’s Bay Reserve was all-encompassing in its effects. Presumably the new Hudson’s Bay Store is represented by the twin buildings two blocks north of Broadway. (Legislative Library of Manitoba, Canadian Finance, 5 June 1912, p. 621) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 9 - Proposed Mall and New Approaches to Manitoba Government Buildings, August 1913. Under this plan, the new Hudson’s Bay Store would have been located west of its present site, on the large quadrangle at the west end of Graham Avenue. (City of Winnipeg Archives, Streets and Lanes 472(3)) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 10 - Proposed Capitol Approach, September 1913. This was the first published plan to show the yet-unbuilt Legislative Building on site, along with the new HBC Store on Portage Avenue. (Legislative Library of Manitoba, Manitoba Free Press, 13 September 1913, p. 7) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 11 - Panoramic View of Atchison’s Capitol Approach Scheme, 1913. Atchison’s plan ensured the monumentality of the area leading to the new Legislative Building. Presumably, the structure in the right foreground is the new Hudson’s Bay Company Store. (Legislative Library of Manitoba, Manitoba Free Press, 20 September 1913, p. 6) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 12 - Memorial Mall Scheme, February 1919. This was the first of the post-War proposals mean to honour fallen soldiers, which evolved into the present Memorial Boulevard. This would have placed the new Hudson’s Bay Store on its present site. (Legislative Library of Manitoba, Manitoba Free Press, 1 February 1919, p. 14) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 13 - Simon “Straight Mall” Proposal, October 1920. Frank W. Simon, the English architect of the recently-completed Legislative Building, was a heavy promoter of this scheme which appears to have been a revival of the 1913 Atchison Plan. The Hudson’s Bay Store has come out to the west of its present site. (City of Winnipeg Archives, Streets and Lanes 472(1)) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 14 - Greater Winnipeg Plan Commission “Crooked Mall” Proposal, October 1920. Here, the new Hudson’s Bay Store is shown on its present site, and the future Memorial Boulevard is recognizable, though the Osborne extension is missing. (City of Winnipeg Archives, Streets and Lanes, 472(1)) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 15 - Woodman Plan for Mall Proposal, July 1920. Architect John Woodman has here combined the Mall with the Cross Town Highway extension of Osborne Street. This was yet another proposal in what was becoming a confusing congress of ideas. (Legislative Library of Manitoba, Manitoba Free Press, 17 July 1920, p. 6) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 16 - Competing Memorial Mall Schemes Considered, January 1921. Architect William Fingland laid out the various malls in an effort to let the public judge each on their own merits. (Legislative Library of Manitoba, Canadian Finance, 19 January 1921, p. 35) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 17 - Mayor Edward Parnell’s Mall Plan, July 1921. Yet another contender was thrown into the competition which would have placed the new store to the west of its present site, but on an extended Osborne Street. (Legislative Library of Manitoba, Winnipeg Tribune, 19 July 1921, p. 16) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 18 - John Woodman’s Modified Cross-Town Highway Plan, January 1922. In a year and a half, Architect Woodman had modified his concept as seen in Plate 15. This was the first concept of putting a curve into the Osborne extension. It also shows the proposed layout of the Hudson’s Bay Store grounds. (Legislative Library of Manitoba, Winnipeg Tribune, 9 January 1922, p. 5) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 19 - Hudson’s Bay Store Site, Looking East From Colony Street, September 1925. The HBC’s Portage Avenue location had looked like this for well over a decade when this picture was taken looking across the former Blackwood’s site. (Manitoba Archives) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 20 - Leo Warde’s Mall Scheme, July 1924. By 1924, Warde was quite active in town planning matters around Winnipeg. This plan was eventually adopted as the new street layout in 1925. (City of Winnipeg Archives, Streets and Lanes, 472(4)) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 21 - Proposed Street Lay-out, Broadway-Portage Area, June 1925. This was close to what Warde had proposed in 1924, and was very close to the final lay-out. (Legislative Library of Manitoba, Winnipeg Tribune, 2 June 1925, p. 11) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 22 - Street Lay-out Plan to Accompany By-law 11641, passed 31 July 1925. This established the street plan as it is presently known, and allowed the HBC to build its new store. (City of Winnipeg Archives) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 23 - Portage Avenue Frontage, Hudson’s bay Store Site, September 1925. Here, Thomas Burns recorded the phalanx of billboards which hid the urban wasteland behind. (Manitoba Archives) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 24 - West Side, Vaughan Street, Looking South From Portage Avenue, September 1925. This peaceful, tranquil scene was about to be disturbed by the construction of the new HBC Store. (Manitoba Archives) PLATE 25 - Construction of New Hudson’s Bay Company Store, Looking Southeast from Portage Avenue and Balmoral Street, May 1926. The huge size of the uncompleted department store, as well as its heavy reinforced concrete skeleton are quite apparent in this view. (Manitoba Archives) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 26 - Construction of New Hudson’s Bay Company Store, 11 June 1926. In this official photograph, the concrete framing of the sixth and final floor is nearing completion. (Hudson’s Bay Company Archives) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 27 - Construction of New Hudson’s Bay Company Store, 23 August 1926. The limestone sheathing of the first three floors has been completed in this view, and workers are beginning the fourth. Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 28 - Looking North from Legislative Building, Probably September 1926. In the distance, the new HBC Store is rising at a fever pitch, while the work of running the new Mall south of the store goes on apace. (Manitoba Archives) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 29 - Hudson’s Bay Company Advertisement, Manitoba Free Press, 20 October 1926, p. 12. This ad was like a checklist of important Manitoba firms. (Legislative Library of Manitoba) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 30 - Hudson’s Bay Company Store, 450 Portage Avenue, 29 July 1929, Ernest I. Barott, architect. The new departmental store was a striking limestone landmark at the western end of the business district. (Manitoba Archives) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 31 - Arcade, Portage Avenue front, Looking West, Hudson’s Bay Store, Winnipeg, 1926-1927. Like other HBC stores of that generation, it featured this interior walkway where prospective customers could view “tableaux” displays of merchandise. (Hudson’s Bay Company Archives) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 32 - Main Floor, Looking South from Center Entrance, Hudson’s Bay Store, Winnipeg, 21 November 1926. With its Doric columns, wide aisles and custombuilt showcases, this was the scene which greeted the first shoppers three days earlier. (Hudson’s Bay Company Archives) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 33 - Main Floor, Looking Northwest from Grand Staircase, Mezzanine Floor, Hudson’s Bay Store, Winnipeg, 1927. The same orderly display of merchandise is visible here as it was in PLATE 32. The coved ceiling and terrazzo floors are also visible. (Hudsons’ Bay Company Archives) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 34 - Aerial View, Looking Northeast to Hudson’s Bay Company Store, 1929. Visible here is the recently completed Memorial Boulevard, plus the HBC garage and parking grounds south of the store. (Manitoba Archives) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 35 - Hudson’s Bay Company Filling Station, St. Mary’s Avenue, 1927. As a part of these parking grounds, there was this attractive gasoline station which was enlarged in the 1940s to include service bays. Demolished, 1954. (Hudson’s Bay Company Archives) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 36 - Lounge Leading from Elevators to Dining Room, Fifth Floor, Hudson’s Bay Store, Winnipeg, August 1927. A portion of this handsomely paneled area survives as the present entrance to the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame. (Hudson’s Bay Company Archives) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 37 - Fifth Floor Dining Room, Hudson’s Bay Store, Winnipeg, 1927. Known as the Georgian Room after 1938, this area was the HBC answer to Eaton’s Grille Room, (Hudson’s Bay Company Archives) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 38 - East Bank of Elevators, Hudson’s Bay Store, Winnipeg, 1927. This area featured a mural, “The Pioneer At Fort Garry, 1861,” painted by Adam Sheriff Scott, a Montreal artist. (Hudson’s Bay Company Archives) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 39 - West Bank of Elevators, Hudson’s bay Store, Winnipeg, 1927. Scott’s mural, “The Nonsuch At Rupert River, 1688” dominated this bank of elevators. When they were removed in 1948, the mural was stored in several sections for occasional display. (Hudson’s Bay Company Archives) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 40 - The Aerial Beacon, Hudson’s Bay Company Store, Winnipeg, 1930. The drama and romance of the air mail pilot is here captured by a local artist. (Legislative Library of Manitoba, Manitoba Free Press, 3 March 1930, p. 3) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 41 - The Aerial Beacon, Hudson’s Bay Company Store, Winnipeg, 1930. Less dramatic was this fairly scaled illustration of the neon-lit beacon at the front of the store. (Legislative Library of Manitoba, Manitoba Free Press, 3 March 1930, p. 12) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 42 - Hudson’s Bay Company Parking Garage, NE-St. Mary Avenue and Memorial Boulevard, 1954, Smith, Hinchman, Grylls Inc. architects; Moody and Moore, associate architects. The Bay Parkade was the first such structure of its kind in Manitoba. (Legislative Library of Manitoba, Manitoba Industry and Commerce Bulletin, May 1954, p. 2) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 43 - Hudson’s Bay Company Parkade, NE-St. Mary Avenue and Memorial Boulevard, 1956, Moody and Moore, architects. The new parking facility was so successful that a third level was added in 1955. (Manitoba Archives) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 44 - Parking Structures in Winnipeg, 1956. The Bay Parkade was the first multi-level parking accommodation in the Prairie Provinces, and remains the oldest in Winnipeg. (Legislative Library of Manitoba, Greater Winnipeg Industrial Topics, May 1956, pp. 2-3) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 45 - Paddlewheel Restaurant, Sixth Floor, Hudson’s Bay Store, Winnipeg, 1954. Situated just above the Georgian Room, this restaurant opened on the same day as the Parkade. In 2002, it was still a popular dining spot. (Hudson’s Bay Company Archives) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 46 - Hudson’s Bay Company Store, 450 Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, 1957. In 1956, Moody and Moore designed the three-sided metal canopy which still encircles the Bay store. (Hudson’s Bay Company Archives) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 47 - Bank of Montreal, Power Building and Hudson’s Bay Store, Vaughan Street and Portage Avenue, c. 1929. The Hudson’s Bay Store inspired the use of limestone in the façades of the Bank, as well as the adjoining office building. The Singer Sewing Machine Building, also in limestone, would soon rise on the vacant tract east of the Bank. (Manitoba Archives) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 48 - Hudson’s Bay Company Store, 450 Portage Avenue, vacated basement level, 2018. (M. Peterson, 2018.) PLATE 49 - Hudson’s Bay Company Store, 450 Portage Avenue, vacated third floor, 2018. (M. Peterson, 2018.) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 50 - Hudson’s Bay Company Store, 450 Portage Avenue, vacated fifth floor, 2018. This area was the original administrative offices and some of the layout and wood finishes are original. (M. Peterson, 2018.) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 51 - Land Titles Office, Broadway, Winnipeg, 1903, Samuel Hooper, architect. This building was the first structure in the governmental area to use limestone as its façades. It served as an example by which the rest of the legislative area was rebuilt after 1910. (Manitoba Archives) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 52 - Memorial Boulevard, Looking South from Portage Avenue, c. 1928. The broad expanse of this thoroughfare showcased the Legislative Building at the southern end, as well as the Hudson’s Bay Store to the left. (Manitoba Archives) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 53 - Memorial Boulevard/Osborne Street, Looking South From St. Mary Avenue, 1930. The Cooper Institute (right), now the Abbott Clinic, was the first building in this redesigned area to be built of limestone as a companion piece to the HBC Store. (Manitoba Archives) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 54 - Cenotaph, Memorial Boulevard and York Avenue, 1929, Gilbert Parfitt, architect. Even a small structure such as this could be executed in limestone like the HBC Store in the background. (Manitoba Archives) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 55 - Winnipeg Civic Auditorium, SE-St. Mary Avenue and Memorial Boulevard, 3 March 1939. What is now the Provincial Archives Building was built in 1932 as a Depression-era project. Northwood and Chivers limestone façades formed the perfect complement to the HBC Store to the north. (Manitoba Archives) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 56 - Winnipeg Clinic, NE-St. Mary Avenue and Vaughan Street, 1942 (front portion) – 1946-47 (rear portion), William Dangerfield Lount, architect. A building did not have to front on Memorial Boulevard in order to use limestone to complement the nearby department store. (Manitoba Archives) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 57 - St. Paul Fire and Marine Insurance Company, 270 Osborne Street, 1953-1954, Moody and Moore, architects. Meant to rise another six stories, this office building became an important component of 1950s Osborne Street. (Manitoba Archives) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 58 - Osborne Street, Looking North From Broadway, 1926. The new Hudson’s Bay Company Store dominated this scene when the cross-town extension was just under construction. (Manitoba Archives) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 59 - Osborne Street, Looking North From Broadway, 8 September 1927. The completed Osborne extension serves as a complement to the visually-dominant HBC Store. (Manitoba Archives) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE – HUDSON’S BAY COMPANY STORE PLATE 60 - Looking Northwest from the Roof of the Fort Garry Hotel, c. 1928. The huge size of the Hudson’s Bay Store is evident alongside once-dominant structures such as the Medical Arts Building (center) or the Boyd Building, but had not quite overshadowed the giant Eaton’s Mail Order building (right). (Manitoba Archives) Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE BAY COMPANY STORE DECEMBER 2002 HII 3.1 El I'll "i Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE BAY COMPANY STORE DECEMBER 2002 Prev Doc Menu Next Doc 450 PORTAGE AVENUE BAY COMPANY STORE DECEMBER 2002