Winnipeg Architecture

Patricia Vervoort is an assistant professor of art history at Lakehead
University.

In this revised edition of Winnipeg Architecture: 100 Years (1975), a slight title change accompanies numerous pictorial and textual changes. The new edition is only one page longer, and that’s achieved by using the inside back cover as an index and list of photographic credits. Repeating the earlier edition are the introductory texts and the division of the text-and-picture sections into six parts. Each chapter begins with a pen-and-ink sketch. The black-and-white photographs are mostly exterior views, and a short informative text about each building includes information on the date and architect, location, and comments on features of interest.

The “Commercial” chapter has added the two train stations and the IKOY Office and eliminated the McIntyre Block. The “Industrial and Service” chapter is the only one that remains identical to that in the first edition. “Residential” replaces two early homes with others of similar date and eliminates another. In “Religious,” St. Mary’s Cathedral and Knox Church replace the Immaculate Conception Catholic Church and Zion Methodist. There are no synagogues. Wesley College is added to the “Cultural” chapter. In “Civic” architecture, the Federal Building replaces the Post Office and Fire Hall No. 3 is used in place of the non-extant Fire Hall No. 1. A two-page spread in the first edition featured City Hall (pp. 68-69); in the new edition, these pages are entitled “Recycling and Renewal,” illustrated with four buildings now converted to new uses. The text includes mention of specific changes — e.g., enlarging the windows.

The readable text and reasonable price in addition to the numerous changes in the new edition warrant its purchase even by those with the first edition.