This two-storey brick building at the northeast corner of Selkirk Avenue and Salter Street in Winnipeg, measuring 25 feet by 60 feet, was designed by local architect Raymond Marwood-Elton Carey and built in 1917 by the firm of Carter-Hall-Aldinger at a cost of about $16,000, as a branch for the Union Bank of Canada.
The bank occupied the building from 1917 to 1925 and it became a branch of the Royal Bank of Canada following the 1925 merger of the two banks. It closed about 1979 when the bank opened a new branch on McGregor Street. It has been occupied continuously by Chochy's Pawn & Swap Shop since 1983.
A mural on the back wall of the building has paintings of historic Selkirk Avenue including a painting of this building when it was a Royal Bank branch.
Former Royal Bank Building on Selkirk Avenue (March 2022)
Source: Jordan Makichuk
Back wall mural of the former Royal Bank Building on Selkirk Avenue (October 2023)
Source: George PennerSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.91456, W97.14123
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Memorable Manitobans: Raymond Marwood-Elton Carey (1883-1975)
Manitoba Business: Carter-Halls-Aldinger
Manitoba Business: Union Bank of Canada
Manitoba Business: Royal Bank of Canada
City of Winnipeg Building Permit 328/1917, City of Winnipeg Archives.
“Building permits for 1917 over half-million,” Manitoba Free Press, 24 May 1917, page 8.
Monuments to Finance, Volume II: Early Bank Architecture in Winnipeg, Report of the City of the Winnipeg Historical Buildings Committee by David Spector, August 1982.
We thank George Penner for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Jordan Makichuk.
Page revised: 30 September 2024
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