This six-storey concrete building on Sherbrook Street in Winnipeg was designed by the architectural firm of Moody Moore and Partners and built between 1959 and 1960 by contractor Gerard Alphonsus “Gerry” Baert. Its initial function was as a hospital operated by the Sanatorium Board of Manitoba for the rehabilitation of disabled, chronically ill, and convalescent people. It had capacity for 158 in-patients and could also handle 200 out-patients daily. The hospital opened officially on 14 September 1962 at a ceremony attended by Minister of Health George Johnson.
In 1972, the hospital was transferred to the Health Sciences Centre.
A plaque at the Sherbrook Street entrance to the building commemorates the opening of the hospital in 1962 and lists the Chairman of the Sanatorium Board of Manitoba at that time, James Wasson Speirs (Chairman), as well as members of the Manitoba Rehabilitation Hospital Committee: Samuel Price Rattray (Chairman), R. L. Bailey, John F. Baldner, Richard Henry Gardyne Bonnycastle, Frank Boothroyd, D. W. Casey, James Nathaniel Connacher, H. T. Decatur, S. M. Gossage, D. V. Gonder, George Douglas Iliffe, John Reginald McMillan, Edward Bruce Pitblado, and H. T. Spohn. It also lists F. Hartley Smith as Chairman of the Medical Advisory Planning Committee and Thomas Albert John Cunnings, Executive Director.
A second plaque commemorates a room in the hospital that was furnish by Charles Edward Drewry and his wife Catherine Minnie Murray in memory of Edward Lancaster Drewry, a founding member of the Sanatorium Board of Manitoba.
Postcard view of the Manitoba Rehabilitation Hospital (1960)
Source: Gordon Goldsborough, 2022-0085
Dedication plaque for the Manitoba Rehabilitation Hospital (March 2025)
Source: Glen Toews
Drewry commemorative plaque at the Manitoba Rehabilitation Hospital (March 2025)
Source: Glen ToewsSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.90299, W97.15697
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Manitoba Business: Moody and Moore / MMP Architects
Manitoba Business: G. A. Baert Construction Company
MHS Centennial Organization: Sanatorium Board of Manitoba / Lung Association of Manitoba
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Winnipeg General Hospital / Health Sciences Centre (Bannatyne Avenue, Winnipeg)
We thank Glen Toews for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 5 March 2025
Historic Sites of Manitoba
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