Historic Sites of Manitoba: Paris Building (251-259 Portage Avenue / 314-320 Garry Street, Winnipeg)

This eleven-storey steel frame, brick, and terra cotta buildling at the northwest corner of Portage Avenue and Garry Street in Winnipeg, measuring 85 feet by 125 feet, was designed by local architects John Woodman and Raymond Marwood-Elton Carey. Its structural steel frame and concrete was designed by engineer Claude Allen Porter Turner (1869-1955) of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

The building was constructed in two stages for its owner Léon Honnorat (?-1929) of the Paris Canadian Investment Company. The first stage was completed in 1915 by the construction firm of Carter-Halls-Aldinger at a cost of about $170,000, as a five-storey structure. The work was overseen by Honnorat's representative in Winnipeg, Marie Joseph Alain Magon de la Giclais. In its original configuration, the building contained eight retail space on the main floor, four along Portage Avenue, and four along Garry Street, while the upper floors contained business offices.

In 1917, six additional storeys, also designed by Woodman and Carey, and built by Carter-Halls-Aldinger, were added at a cost of about $150,000. In 1925, interior alterations to the building along with the reconstruction of the light wells on the west side were completed by the construction firm of Macaw and Macdonald at a cost of about $1,800.

Through the years, the building housed a variety of businesses and organizations, including Dingwall’s Jewellers, Shea’s Custom Tailors, a modeling school, travel agency, architect, offices of the West Jewish News, and the Western Canada Insurance Underwriters’ Association. Aside from incidental renovations, the building has mostly retained its original appearance from 1915-1917.

The building, now a municipally-designated historic site, was recognized with Heritage Winnipeg Preservation Awards in 1988 and 2004.

Paris Building (1926)
Source: Winnipeg Tribune, 25 March 1916, page 7.

Paris Building (May 1960) by John H. Warkentin
Source: John Warkentin Fonds, 2009-029/003, ASC16526, York University

Paris Building (no date)
Source: Winnipeg Building Index, University of Manitoba

Paris Building (June 2011)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough

Paris Building (December 2021)
Source: George Penner

Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.89451, W97.14130
denoted by symbol on the map above

Sources:

“French capitalist,” Manitoba Free Press, 4 June 1914, page 7.

City of Winnipeg Building Permit 419/1915, City of Winnipeg Archives.

“The Paris Building, Winnipeg,” Contract Record and Engineering Review, 19 February 1916, page 129.

“Here is Winnipeg’s new shopping centre,” Winnipeg Tribune, 25 March 1916, page 7.

City of Winnipeg Building Permit 488/1917, City of Winnipeg Archives.

Winnipeg fire insurance map, #106 December 1955, City of Winnipeg Archives.

Paris Building (259 Portage Avenue), City of Winnipeg Historical Buildings Committee, October 1980.

We thank George Penner, Patrice Groulx, and Murray Peterson for providing additional information used here.

This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.

Page revised: 5 September 2025

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