This three-storey brick and stone building at the southeast corner of William Avenue and Sherbrook Street (formerly Nena Street) in Winnipeg, measuring 99 feet by 53 feet, was designed by local architect George William Northwood. It was constructed in 1910 at a cost of $35,000 for the Logberg Printing and Publishing Company (publisher of an Icelandic-language weekly newspaper Lögberg) with an office at the rear and a single corner retail space on its main floor and 16 residential apartments on its upper two floors.
The corner retail space was initially occupied by a branch of the Northern Crown Bank which occupied the space until 1918 when bank was absorbed by the Royal Bank of Canada. Alterations to that space were completed in 1920 by the Malcom Construction Company at a cost of about $1,700 and the Royal Bank continued to occupy the space until closing in 1962.
In 1982, the building was acquired by the Winnipeg Housing Rehabilitation Corporation and converted into affordable housing.
Columbia Block (August 2018)
Source: George Penner
Columbia Block (May 2024)
Source: Jordan MakichukSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.90387, W97.15555
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Memorable Manitobans: George William Northwood (1876-1959)
Manitoba Business: Lögberg Heimskringla
Manitoba Business: Northern Crown Bank
Manitoba Business: Royal Bank of Canada
Manitoba Business: Malcom Construction
Manitoba Organization: Winnipeg Housing Rehabilitation Corporation
City of Winnipeg Building Permit 1027/1910, City of Winnipeg Archives.
“Building permits. - Another large apartment block,” Winnipeg Tribune, 7 May 1910, page 2.
“Permits issued for buildings to cost $6,120,600,” Manitoba Free Press, 9 May 1910, page 2.
Winnipeg Fire Insurance Map #69 December 1910, Library and Archives Canada.
City of Winnipeg Building Permit 58/1920, City of Winnipeg Archives.
Winnipeg fire insurance map, #246 May 1956, City of Winnipeg Archives.
Henderson’s Winnipeg and Brandon Directories, Henderson Directories Limited, Peel’s Prairie Provinces, University of Alberta Libraries.
Apartment House Architecture in Winnipeg to 1915 by David Spector, December 1980.
Winnipeg Housing Rehabilitation Corporation, 1978-2008: A Pictorial History, Winnipeg Housing Rehabilitation Corporation.
Columbia Apartments, 853 Sherbrook Street by Murray Peterson, Peterson Projects, December 2009.
Preparation of this page was supported, in part, by the Gail Parvin Hammerquist Fund of the City of Winnipeg.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough, Nathan Kramer, Jordan Makichuk, and George Penner.
Page revised: 7 August 2024
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