Historic Sites of Manitoba: West Hotel / New West Hotel (786 Main Street, Winnipeg)

This three-storey brick building on Main Street in Winnipeg was designed by local architect James H. Cadham and built by A. A. Woodward and Company for Swiss-born real estate agent and hotelier Ernest Kern (1858-1942). When it opened in November 1905, the West Hotel featured 58 bedrooms, three parlors, reception room, hall, writing rooms, bar room with 40-foot bar, pool rooms, bowling alley, and barber shop.

It was renamed the New West Hotel in 1988. The building’s exterior was painted with an elaborate black-and-white illustration in the fall of 2017.

New West Hotel in Winnipeg (November 2016) Source: George Penner New West Hotel in Winnipeg (January 2018) Source: George Penner Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.90688, W97.13424 denoted by symbol on the map above

See also:

Memorable Manitobans: James Henry Cadham (1850-1907)

Memorable Manitobans: Alexander A. Woodward (?-?)

Sources:

“The West Hotel,” Winnipeg Tribune, 10 November 1905, page 2.

Death registration [Ernest Kern], Manitoba Vital Statistics.

Obituary [Ernest Kern], Winnipeg Tribune, 27 April 1942, page 15.

“Ernest Kern, pioneer, dies,” Winnipeg Tribune, 28 April 1942, page 5.

“Artists revitalize the North End,” Winnipeg Free Press, 10 October 2017.

West (New West) Hotel, 786 Main Street by Murray Peterson, Peterson Projects, February 2009.

This page was prepared by George Penner and Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 2 March 2020

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