Link to:
Photos & Coordinates | Sources
Located at the southeast corner of George Street and Duncan Avenue in Winnipeg, 100 square feet of land was purchased around October 1912 by the Imperial Tobacco Company of Canada from the realty venture of Robert Vollans at a cost of $32,000. Work on a warehouse began the following year, in spring 1913, with architectural designs provided by John Hamilton Gordon Russell and construction undertaken by the Atlas Construction Company.
Built of brick and concrete, the original three storey structure measured a 50 feet frontage along George Street to a depth of 90 feet [along what would later become Duncan Avenue], and was completed at a cost of $45,800. A ten-foot wide platform spanning the building's 50 feet width flanked its southwest side, along which a spur of the Winnipeg Transfer Railway provided railway access to the facility.
In 1929, significant improvements were made to the site. The warehouse was expanded to the southeast by 37.5 feet, to the matching depth, for additional storage space as well as room for factory operations. The three-storey add-on was built by contractor G. H. Tremblay at a cost of $26,000. That same year, an $800 fuel oil tank was added, along with a $1,000 fire escape for the warehouse acquired from the Vulcan Iron Works.
A single-storey expansion was later added to this site and, as the company outgrew the space, in January 1961 it moved to a new 54,000-square-foot warehouse in St. James, at Madison Street at St. Matthews Avenue.
Former Imperial Tobacco Warehouse (May 2019)
Source: Nathan Kramer
Former Imperial Tobacco Warehouse (May 2019)
Source: Nathan Kramer
Former Imperial Tobacco Warehouse (May 2019)
Source: Nathan KramerSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.90117, W97.13073
denoted by symbol on the map above
“New tobacco warehouse,” Manitoba Free Press, 31 October 1912, page 14.
City of Winnipeg Building Permit 1001/1913, City of Winnipeg Archives.
Charles E. Goad Company fonds, Insurance Plan of the City of Winnipeg - Volume 1 - 1914 - Sheet 12, Library and Archives Canada.
City of Winnipeg Building Permit 1868/1929, City of Winnipeg Archives.
City of Winnipeg Building Permit 4648/1929, City of Winnipeg Archives.
City of Winnipeg Building Permit 5714/1929, City of Winnipeg Archives.
City of Winnipeg Building Permit 1270/1938, City of Winnipeg Archives.
MMP Architects drawings, PR1994-156, 60007 - Imperial Tobacco Sales Company of Canada Limited, Archives of Manitoba.
“Tobacco firm expands here with warehouse and office,” Winnipeg Tribune, 28 March 1961, page 37.
This page was prepared by Nathan Kramer.
Page revised: 17 September 2022
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