Construction of this Winnipeg building began in 1911 as a venture for Peritz Simonovitch who commissioned local architect Max Zev Blankstein to design a one-storey brick building on Flora Avenue for his new soda water factory under the name of the American Soda Water Company. Measuring 22 feet by 46 feet, it was built at a cost of about $3,000.
The venture did not prosper and folded during the First World War. The building sat vacant until 1920 when it was purchased by the Chicago Kosher Sausage Company. The former soda factory was converted into a sausage manufacturing plant at a cost of about $8,000. Further renovations to the building happened in 1929 with an addition measuring 26 feet by 65 feet that was built at a cost of about $7,000.
The building has been extensively renovated through the years and, at the time of a 2022 site visit, the building was boarded up and abandoned. A sign on the exterior refers to the building as the administrative and sales offices of Weidman Foods Incorporated.
The former American Soda Water Factory (January 2023)
Source: Jordan MakichukSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.91293, W97.13970
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Memorable Manitobans: Max Zev Blankstein (1874-1931)
City of Winnipeg Building Permit 2923/1911, City of Winnipeg Archives.
Henderson’s Winnipeg and Brandon Directories, Henderson Directories Limited, Peel’s Prairie Provinces, University of Alberta Libraries.
“Wanted at once,” Manitoba Free Press, 25 August 1911, page 16.
“Wanted immediately two bottlers,” Manitoba Free Press, 22 September 1911, page 26.
“Wanted immediately two bottlers,” Manitoba Free Press, 23 September 1911, page 25.
“Wanted one more bottler,” Manitoba Free Press, 26 June 1912, page 24.,
“New permits,” Manitoba Free Press, 21 October 1920, page 9.
“Sausage Manufacturers,” Manitoba Free Press, 3 October 1921, page 15.
“Object to factory odours,” Winnipeg Tribune, 28 August 1929, page 3.
“Building permits bearing $9,000,000 for 1929 season,” Manitoba Free Press, 31 August 1929, page 29.
“Kosher Chicago isn’t in Chicago, Illinois,” Winnipeg Free Press, 29 November 1967, page 61.
Max Blankstein: Architect by Murray Peterson, Winnipeg Architecture Foundation, 2022.
This page was prepared by Jordan Makichuk and Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 15 April 2023
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