This four-storey brick building at the northeast corner of Sutherland Avenue and Buchanan Street (no longer a public road), in the Point Douglas area of Winnipeg, measuring 80 feet by 209 feet, was designed by the local architectural firm of Pratt and Ross, and built in 1912 by day labour as a new mill building for the Brown and Rutherford Lumber Company at a cost of about $70,000. It replaced earlier structures destroyed by fire on 6 April 1900 and 26 April 1912.
Other buildings designed by Pratt and Ross on the site included a one-storey brick office building, measuring 18 feet by 32 feet, was built by day labour in 1912 at a cost of about $200. A two-storey brick warehouse, measuring 50 feet by 100 feet, was built at a cost of about $3,000.
The building was vacated sometime before July 2023. Only the original 1912 mill building still remains on site.
Brown and Rutherford mill on fire (26 April 1912)
Source: Peel’s Prairie Provinces, PC001285
Fire insurance map showing the layout of the Brown and Rutherford lumber mill (May 1914)
Source: Winnipeg Fire Insurance Map #35, Library and Archives Canada.
Brown and Rutherford Building (1929)
Source: Manitoba Free Press, 29 May 1929, page 32.
Brown and Rutherford site (no date) by John H. Warkentin
Source: John Warkentin Fonds, 2009-029/003, ASC16707, York University
Brown and Rutherford Building (April 2015)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Brown and Rutherford Building (March 2020)
Source: Rose Kuzina
Brown and Rutherford Building (March 2024)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Brown and Rutherford Building (March 2024)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough
Aerial view of Brown and Rutherford Building (June 2024)
Source: George PennerSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.90380, W97.11611
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Manitoba Business: Pratt and Ross
MHS Centennial Business: Brown and Rutherford Company
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Brown House (488 Henderson Highway, Winnipeg)
“Point Douglas lumber mills wiped out yesterday; water supply too low to be of use,” Winnipeg Tribune, 27 April 1912, page 1.
City of Winnipeg Building Permit 1138/1912, City of Winnipeg Archives.
City of Winnipeg Building Permit 1258/1912, City of Winnipeg Archives.
City of Winnipeg Building Permit 2626/1912, City of Winnipeg Archives.
“Building new mill,” Winnipeg Tribune, 15 July 1912, page 11.
“Modern fireproof structure, erected by Brown & Rutherford, to replace the building destroyed by fire,” Manitoba Free Press, 14 December 1912, page 13.
Winnipeg Fire Insurance Map #35, August 1906 Revised May 1914, Library and Archives Canada.
Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada, 1800-1950 by Robert G. Hill, Toronto.
We thank Jordan Makichuk and George Penner for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 3 November 2024
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