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This 2.5-storey building on the west side of Nassau Street North in Winnipeg, measuring 30 feet by 42 feet, was built in 1905 by contractor John C. Fitzgerald as a home for his family, a domestic servant, and three renters. He also built a stable/workship measuring 20 feet by 40 feet behind the house.
The residence was next occupied by the family of Montreal-born grain merchant Lyon Melbourne Melcalfe (1879-1944), wife Kittie Hamilton (1876-1958) and their two children Ross Metcalfe (1902-1981) and Genevieve Metcalfe (1906-?, wife of Walter Miller). The family resided there from around 1907 to about 1917.
Next to live here was postal inspector William Stewart Lipsett (1861-1926), his wife Martha Lipsett (1870-1943) and their three children: Maud Lipsett (1888-?, wife of Percy Wright), Clifford A. Lipsett (1890-?), and Florence Lipsett (1893-1973, long-time teacher in the greater Winnipeg area teacher including at King Edward School, Strathcona School, Isaac Newton School, Kelvin High School, Viscount Alexander School, and Vincent Massey Collegiate). The Lipsett family had previously lived at 456 Dominion Street and returned to their old neighbourhood, at 510 Dominion, by early 1921.
From 1921 to 1922, the house was occupied by Edward Fournier (c1871-?) who had married widow Jessie Nealer Humphrey (c1872-?), six step-children, a step-son-in-law, mother-in-law, and a single boarder.
The last series of primary occupants was Anna Emma Rountree Jones Stewart Goodchild (1875-1943, widow of Andrew Stewart and Thomas Archibald Goodchild) from around 1922 into 1924. Goodchild resided here with her sons and daughters, including Doris Stewart (c1901), Robert W. S. Stewart (c1903), Jennie [Jenny] Stewart (c1907), Thomas Archibald Goodchild (1912-?), and Harold Fisher Goodchild (1917-?), along with other family and lodgers. The family held a primary residence at 961 Grosvenor Avenue before moving to this home and again returned to the same address a few years later. Their time within the dwelling was followed briefly by the trio of Charles Keller, William J. Gleason, and James Jackson.
By 1926, the property was secured by contractor Francis W. Gay who undertook $6,500 of interior and exterior structural alterations to formally the convert the family dwelling into a tenement. The four-suite block was occupied around October 1926. The Plaxton Apartments name originated around 1928 and remained in use through the 1960s though it was later abandoned. The verandah, originally built in 1905, which previously surrounded much of the east and south sides of the structure, has since been removed. As of 2022, the building remains in a four-suite apartment configuration.
Plaxton Apartments (November 2020)
Source: George Penner
Plaxton Apartments (August 2022)
Source: Nathan KramerSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.87354, W97.14620
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Memorable Manitobans: John C. Fitzgerald (1867-?)
1901, 1906, and 1911 Canada censuses, Automated Genealogy.
1911, 1916, 1921, and 1926 Canada censuses, Library and Archives Canada.
City of Winnipeg Building Permit 2151/1905, City of Winnipeg Archives.
City of Winnipeg Building Permit 2042/1926, City of Winnipeg Archives.
Birth registrations [Genevieve Metcalfe, Thomas Archibald Goodchild, & Harold Fisher Goodchild], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Marriage registrations [Genevieve Metcalfe and Walter Millar, Ida Jessie Humphrey and William George Freed], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Death registrations [Lyon Melbourne Metcalfe, William Stewart Lipsett, Thomas Archibald Goodchild, and Anna Emma Rountree Goodchild] registrations, Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Western Canada Fire Underwriters’ Association, H7 614.41 edc Series 2 Volume 4 - Winnipeg Sheet 447, Archives of Manitoba.
“Say! [ad],” Manitoba Free Press, 21 April 1906, page 11.
“Property for sale [Investor's chance - four of the best built modern houses in Fort Rouge],” Manitoba Free Press, 18 May 1906, page 17.
“Property for sale [Investor's chance - four of the best built modern houses in Fort Rouge],” Manitoba Free Press, 22 May 1906, page 17.
“Local news paragraphs [A verandah social ...],” Winnipeg Tribune, 14 July 1906, page 16.
“Local notes [A verandah social ...],” Winnipeg Tribune, 16 July 1906, page 3.
“Property for sale - Big snap [ad],” Manitoba Free Press, 25 October 1906, page 18.
“Property for sale - Big snap [ad],” Manitoba Free Press, 30 October 1906, page 17.
“Excellent oppoortunity,” Manitoba Free Press, 1 December 1906, page 3.
“By H. Gray,” Manitoba Free Press, 23 January 1907, page 2.
Obituary [Capt. T. A. Goodchild], Manitoba Free Press, 15 October 1920, page 15.
“Veteran of railway service mail dies,” Manitoba Free Press, 10 November 1926, page 3.
Obituary [Mrs. William S. Lipsett], Winnipeg Free Press, 13 January 1943, page 2.
Obituary [Mrs. Thomas A. Goodchild], Winnipeg Free Press, 1 February 1943, page 2.
Winnipeg estate files (ATG 0025A), #31080 Anna E. R. Goodchild, GR4870, Archives of Manitoba.
Obituary [Lyon Melbourne Metcalfe], Winnipeg Free Press, 27 January 1944, page 2.
Death notice [Lyon Melbourne Metcalfe], Winnipeg Tribune, 27 January 1944, page 18.
“Lyon Metcalfe, grainman, dies,” Winnipeg Tribune, 27 January 1944, page 13.
Obituary [Jean Grace Metcalfe], Winnipeg Free Press, 21 April 1971, page 37.
Obituary [Florence Lipsett], Winnipeg Free Press, 15 May 1978, page 38.
Lakewood Cemetery [Minneapolis, Hennepin County], FindAGrave.
Winnipeg Assessment and Taxation Department.
Brookside Cemetery burial transcriptions, City of Winnipeg.
Henderson’s Winnipeg and Brandon Directories, Henderson Directories Limited, Peel’s Prairie Provinces, University of Alberta Libraries.
Preparation of this page was supported, in part, by the Gail Parvin Hammerquist Fund of the City of Winnipeg.
We thank Gordon Goldsborough and George Penner for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Nathan Kramer.
Page revised: 3 September 2022
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