This two-storey wood frame and brick veneer building on Main Street in Winnipeg opened in 1882 as the Walker House. Shortly thereafter, it was renamed the Britannia Hotel.
In the 1890s, the hotel was renamed once again this time to the Windsor Hotel and hardware merchant Nathan Rosenblat, who occupied a separate building immediately to the south, extended his operations into the Windsor. Shortly after the turn of the century, he installed a stone foundation under the building and began investing in a series of additions and other major alterations which included alterations to the front facade of the building in 1904 that were designed by local architect Frank Robert Evans.
In 1907, a two-storey brick addition was added to the rear of the building, measuring 37 feet by 92 feet, along with alterations, were designed by brothers Wallace Cotman Eade and Hugh Rotherham Eade and built by the construction firm of Carter-Halls-Aldinger at a total cost of about $27,400.
Around 1915, the hotel was renamed the Maple Leaf Hotel until 1950 when it became known as the National Hotel and subsequently as the Manwin Hotel.
Windsor Hotel at right with the Alloway and Champion Bank at left (March 1906) by John William Gibson
Source: Impernity, WP2142
Postcard view of the Maple Leaf Hotel (no date)
Source: Winnipeg Public Libraries, Martin Berman Collection, 2314
Manwin Hotel (March 2017)
Source: George PennerSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.90291, W97.13509
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Memorable Manitobans: Frank Robert Evans (1865-1949)
Memorable Manitobans: Hugh Rotherham Eade (1882-1976)
Memorable Manitobans: Wallace Cotman Eade (1871-1916)
Manitoba Business: Carter-Halls-Aldinger / Commonwealth Construction Company
“Tenders,” Winnipeg Tribune, 8 August 1907, page 9.
Winnipeg fire insurance map #208, December 1917, Library and Archives Canada.
Henderson’s Winnipeg and Brandon Directories, Henderson Directories Limited, Peel’s Prairie Provinces, University of Alberta Libraries.
North Main Walking Tour: William Avenue to the Subway by D. M. Lyon for the City of Winnipeg Historical Buildings Committee, June 1998, page 55.
655 Main Street - Manwin Hotel by Christian Cassidy, Winnipeg Places, 26 November 2021.
This page was prepared by Jordan Makichuk and George Penner.
Page revised: 5 October 2023
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