This three-storey brick and Tyndall stone block at the southeast corner of Morley Avenue and Osborne Street in Winnipeg, measuring 55.8 feet by 109 feet, was designed by local architect Max Zev Blankstein. It was built in 1914 by owner/contractor Reubin [Rubin] Cohen at a cost of about $60,000. In its original configuration, the main floor hosted a branch of the Merchants Bank of Canada and shops for a barber and tailor. The upper two floors had 18 residential apartments.
Later owners included the Timco Investments Company (1915-1925), John Alexander Forlong (1925-1931), Lonsdale Investment Limited (1933-1943), H. Sokolov and M. Wolinsky (1944), and Samuel Werier (1947-1948). Owned for several decades by the Werier family, the building was damaged by major fires in 2007 and 2014, and it sat empty since that time.
In July 2024, the building was sold to the Fisher River Cree Nation with plans to restore it as residential space.
Rubin Block (August 2017)
Source: George Penner
Rubin Block (December 2022)
Source: Jordan Makichuk
Aerial view of Rubin Block (July 2024)
Source: George Penner
Rubin Block undergoing restoration (July 2025)
Source: Jordan MakichukSite Location (lat/long): N49.86507, W97.13420
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Memorable Manitobans: Max Zev Blankstein (1874-1931)
Memorable Manitobans: Reubin [Rubin] Cohen (c1865-1955)
Manitoba Business: Merchants Bank of Canada
Historic Sites of Manitoba: Abandoned Manitoba
City of Winnipeg Building Permit 351/1914, City of Winnipeg Archives.
Winnipeg fire insurance map, #405 May 1917, Library and Archives Canada.
Apartment House Architecture in Winnipeg to 1915 by David Spector, December 1980.
Rubin Block / Morley Apartments, 270 Morley Avenue by Murray Peterson, City of Winnipeg Historical Buildings and Resources Committee, December 2017.
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, Jordan Makichuk, Gordon Goldsborough, and George Penner.
Page revised: 4 August 2025
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