This 2½-storey dark red brick and stone house on McBeth Avenue sits on land granted to the “McBeath” family around 1817, in West Kildonan (now part of Winnipeg). An earlier home, situated 30 meters to the northeast, was built in 1850-1851 by Robert McBeth Sr, a free trader and farmer. Adjoining the house was a store and, at the foot of the property, the landing site of his fleet of York boats.
The house, measuring 33 feet by 45 feet, was designed and built between 1912 and 1913 by contractor William Wardell Cross for owner Robert McBeth at a cost of about $5,000.
In its original configuration, the house had four bedrooms, two bathrooms, laundry room and chute, pantry, dining room featuring three large bay windows, den with built-in bookshelves, living room, kitchen, three fireplaces, and cold storage in the basement. It featured electric lights and fixtures. An electric pump in the basement pumped water up from a well into three tanks that maintained pressure sufficient to feed an electric water heating system that supplied the kitchen and bathrooms. Furniture in the house was provided by the John Leslie Furniture Company. Outside, a verandah wrapped around two sides of the house.
Moving from their original grant to allow the building of the community’s first church (now St. John’s Cathedral), the house was inhabited continuously by members of the family until 1984. At that time, the home and property were given to the city for its present use. A plaque was unveiled in September 1987 by the City of Winnipeg to highlight the history of the house, a municipally-designated historic site. It is fastened to a monument constructed from foundation stones of the original family residence.
The house is operated today by the City of Winnipeg and can be contacted by telephone at 204-334-0432.
McBeth House (1913)
Source: Manitoba Free Press, 1 March 1913, page 11.
McBeth House (November 2010)
Source: City of Winnipeg
McBeth House (June 2019)
Source: Rose Kuzina
McBeth House commemorative monument (June 2019)
Source: Rose KuzinaSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.95633, W97.08552
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Memorable Manitobans: William Wardell Cross (1860-1939)
Memorable Manitobans: Robert McBeth (1848-1914)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Municipally Designated Historic Sites
“Fine brick residence replaces frame house,” Manitoba Free Press, 1 March 1913, page 11.
Information for this page was provided by The City of Winnipeg’s Planning, Property and Development Department, which acknowledges the contribution of the Government of Manitoba through its Heritage Grants Program.
Rideau Hall Apartments, 85 Kennedy Street by Murray Peterson, Peterson Projects, February 2007.
We thank Rose Kuzina and Jordan Makichuk for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 15 May 2024
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