This two-storey brick building on the west side of Colony Street in Winnipeg was designed by realty investor Walter Leonard Orde (1850-1927) and built in 1911 by contractor Robert Watson. It measured 44 feet wide and 45 feet deep and was completed at a cost of about $9,000.
The ground level featured two commercial units with a single residential dwelling on the second floor. It became known as the Rubidge Block around 1913 and, within a few years, the upper level was split into two apartments. In 1935, structural improvements and modifications were undertaken by W. A. Irish and Company at a cost of about $5,000.
By the latter 1940s, the block's name was no longer in active use; however, into the 1950s the building's configuration still had a single commercial unit with a three apartments. It was later demolished.
Site Coordinates (lat/long): N49.89033, W97.15111
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Memorable Manitobans: Robert Watson (1856-?)
Manitoba Business: Saul and Irish Construction Company / W. A. Irish and Company
City of Winnipeg Building Permit 1888/1911, City of Winnipeg Archives.
City of Winnipeg Building Permit 3958/1935, City of Winnipeg Archives.
1911 Canada census, Automated Genealogy.
Charles E. Goad Company fonds, Fire Insurance Plans of the City of Winnipeg - Volume 1 - Sheet 47 - revised May 1914, Library and Archives Canada.
“Walter L. Orde, pioneer resident, called by death,” Manitoba Free Press, 10 February 1927, page 6.
“Pioneer dies,” Manitoba Free Press, 11 February 1927, page 4.
Death registration [Walter Leoanrd Orde, sic], Manitoba Vital Statistics.
Winnipeg estate files (ATG 0025A), #18353 Walter L. Orde, GR0393, Archives of Manitoba.
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.
This page was prepared by Nathan Kramer and Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 26 February 2024
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