This three-storey brick building on Main Street in Winnipeg was built in 1883 as an extension of the adjacent Fortune Block, probably designed by the same architects, C. Mancel Willmot and George W. Stewart, for Alexander Macdonald. He vacated the building in 1902 and sold it to hotelier Sam Spence, who in 1903 hired architect Henry S. Griffiths to convert the structure into a hotel. The Commercial Hotel operated until the mid-1980s when the ground floor was converted into a private club while the upper two floors continued in use as residential space. In January 2016, it became a municipally-designated historic building.
Fortune Block at right and Commercial Hotel at left after restoration (August 2019)
Source: George PennerSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.89155, W97.13665
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Memorable Manitobans: Charles Mancel Willmot (1855-1934)
Memorable Manitobans: Alexander “Sandy” Macdonald (1843-1928)
Memorable Manitobans: Henry Sandham Griffith (1865-1943)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Fortune Block (232 Main Street, Winnipeg)
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Municipally Designated Historic Sites
Macdonald Block (Commercial Hotel), 226 Main Street, City of Winnipeg Historical Buildings and Resources Committee, June 2015.
We thank George Penner for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 26 December 2019
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