This one-storey brick and Tyndall stone building at the northeast corner of Main Street and Kilbridge Avenue in West Kildonan (now part of 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 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 1925.
From 1925 to 1929, the building sat vacant until it became home to the West Kildonan Branch No. 30 of the Royal Canadian Legion. In 1935, the Legion relocated and it sat vacant again until 1937 when it was repurposed as a grocery store for Safeway Stores Limited.
At the time of a 2020 and 2023 site visits, the building has been slightly modified from its original appearance which included painting over the Tyndall stone making it almost unrecognizable. It was occupied by an office supplies store.
Former Safeway store on Main Street in Winnipeg (April 2020)
Source: George Penner
Former Safeway store on Main Street in Winnipeg (January 2023)
Source: Jordan MakichukSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.93747, W97.11660
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
Manitoba Business: Merchants Bank of Canada
Manitoba Business: Bank of Montreal
Manitoba Organization: Royal Canadian Legion
Manitoba Business: Safeway Stores Limited
Henderson’s Winnipeg and Brandon Directories, Henderson Directories Limited, Peel’s Prairie Provinces, University of Alberta Libraries.
Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada, 1800-1950 by Robert G. Hill, Toronto.
This page was prepared by Jordan Makichuk, George Penner, and Gordon Goldsborough.
Page revised: 11 June 2025
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