This one-storey brick and Tyndall stone building at the southeast corner of Selkirk Avenue and Arlington Street in Winnipeg, measuring 28 feet by 42 feet, was designed by Calgary-based architect Reginald Edwardes McDonnell (1887-1963) and constructed in 1919 at a cost of about $17,000 by the construction firm of Carter-Halls-Aldinger as a branch of the Merchants Bank of Canada.
In 1922, when the bank merged with the Bank of Montreal, it became a branch of that bank until closing in 1942. It was the headquarters of the Ukrainian Mutual Benefit Association of St. Nicholas from the 1940s to 2010s. At the time of 2022 and 2023 site visits, the building hosted the constituency office of a provincial politician. Its doors and windows were boarded in July 2025 after an incident of vandalism.
Bank of Montreal Building on Selkirk Avenue (no date)
Source: Archives of Manitoba, Jewish Historical Society of Western Canada Collection #2845
The former Bank of Montreal Building on Selkirk Avenue (2011)
Source: Christian Cassidy
The former Bank of Montreal Building on Selkirk Avenue (January 2022)
Source: George Penner
The former Bank of Montreal Building on Selkirk Avenue (March 2025)
Source: Jordan Makichuk
The former Bank of Montreal Building on Selkirk Avenue (July 2025)
Source: Jordan Makichuk
The former Bank of Montreal Building on Selkirk Avenue (September 2025)
Source: Aaron LevereSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.91916, W97.15638
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Manitoba Business: Carter-Halls-Aldinger / Commonwealth Construction Company
Manitoba Business: Merchants Bank of Canada
Manitoba Business: Bank of Montreal
City of Winnipeg Building Permit 1326/1919, City of Winnipeg Archives.
Henderson’s Winnipeg and Brandon Directories, Henderson Directories Limited, Peel’s Prairie Provinces, University of Alberta Libraries.
“Zarowski heads Ukrainian group for third term,” Winnipeg Tribune, 16 March 1946, page 7.
“On Selkirk Avenue” by Christian Cassidy, West End Dumplings, 7 April 2011.
Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada, 1800-1950 by Robert G. Hill, Toronto.
We thank Aaron Levere for providing additional information used here.
This page was prepared by Christian Cassidy, Jordan Makichuk, George Penner, and Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 10 September 2025
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