To preserve & protect

Randy Rostecki never got to see the most magnificent house that ever stood among the grand mansions of Armstrong's Point.

The huge, Norman Revival-style home of merchant, politician and philanthropist Andrew Bannatyne, built of limestone in 1883-85, was known as Bannatyne's Castle. It stood in baronial splendour on a river estate at 158 West Gate.

From 1899 to 1929 it was owned by the prominent Tupper family. Then it became Ravenscourt School, forerunner of today's St. John's-Ravenscourt, and then a convent.

The city seized the castle for taxes and demolished it in 1950 -- a year before Rostecki was born.

"It looked like a Scottish castle, but no one appreciated it," says the 57-year-old architectural historian, author of the new book Armstrong's Point: A History. "The city only wanted it to get the land."

The demise of Bannatyne's Castle helped plant the seeds for the heritage-preservation movement that arose in the 1970s. Rostecki, raised in the North End by Polish immigrants, has been one of the most passionate members of that movement.

This is his 40th year of living and breathing heritage properties. He's a walking history book with an uncanny memory for dates and addresses.

His meticulous history of Armstrong's Point -- the exclusive enclave also known as "the Gates," tucked in a U-shaped bend of the Assiniboine River near the Misericordia Health Centre -- is his fourth book. His previous volumes include histories of Crescentwood and St. Mary's Academy.

The hardcover marks the first foray into publishing for the non-profit Heritage Winnipeg, which has printed 1,000 copies. The book was commissioned 15 years ago, completed (except for photos) in 1996, then sat on a shelf because there were no funds to release it.

About two years ago, the Armstrong's Point Association made enough noise to have it resurrected, with the help of grants from the city, province and Winnipeg Foundation.

The book, which includes current photos that are fascinating to compare with the many historical ones, chronicles how the Point was laid out in 1881 as Winnipeg's first semi-rural subdivision for the wealthy and influential. A number of original owners lost their properties when the land boom of that time went bust.

Many of today's palatial homes date from a second building boom, 1906 to 1920. Rostecki details the history of the 111 houses that stand today, as well as about eight demolished treasures.

As he immersed himself in the stories of the long-ago elite, they started to take on human faces. "They're not all a bunch of rich bastards," he declares.

You've heard of the Phantom of the Opera? Rostecki, a self-described loner, is the Nerd of the Archives. After working for federal and provincial heritage agencies for nearly 20 years, he became an independent consultant in 1990.

He's legendary for the hours he spends digging in the Manitoba Archives and City of Winnipeg Archives. For decades, he has been creating his own indexes of buildings, biographies and subjects, handwritten on 3 x 5 cards. He's a fixture at the legislative library in the Manitoba Archives.

"I moved into a carrel in 1975, and I've been there ever since," says the tall, bespectacled introvert.

One find at the City Archives was his fiancée, staffer Evelyn West, a kindred spirit he's been dating since 1992.

Rostecki wants nothing to do with computers, the Internet, cellphones or any other newfangled technology. He works on an IBM Selectric typewriter that he bought for $5. He lives with his mother in the Redwood Avenue house where he grew up. His car is a 1959 Ford station wagon.

"He's a very unusual, eccentric person," says heritage advocate Christine Common-Singh, who owns an 1894 mansion on the Point.

"I don't think there's anybody that knows more about historic residences and the development of Winnipeg.... I think he's underappreciated and under-celebrated."

Rostecki's bulldog passion for saving heritage buildings used to get him into trouble with his government bosses. A tough, blunt-speaking North Ender, he calls the battles to save historic structures from developers "scraps."

He says the heritage bylaws he helped develop in the 1970s were watered down by "lawyer types" on city council.

"The city doesn't stand by its own (heritage) designations," he adds. "It's called greed. Money does the talking."

The 2002-03 demolition of the historic Eaton's store was the ultimate heartbreaker. Rostecki thought the community should have taken the gloves off and mounted a more radical protest.

"If it had been up to me, Eaton's would have been very ugly.... We had backroom political deals made ahead of time. The destruction of Eaton's is to (former mayor) Glen Murray's everlasting disgrace."

About 10 years ago, Rostecki stopped speaking out so vocally and decided to concentrate on research and writing. He is the co-author of another book that was completed in 2000 and shelved -- a history of the Exchange District.

"It's been sitting in the basement (of the Exchange District BIZ) for nine years," he says.

His dream project is a book he's been working on, sporadically, for 30 years. To be called Lost Winnipeg, it's a history of 100 great buildings that are gone forever.

"One of the purposes for Lost Winnipeg is to teach a lesson," he says. "Don't forget we lost these buildings. Be vigilant."

alison.mayes@freepress.mb.ca

To the Point

If you call the neighbourhood with stone gates just south of West Broadway "Armstrong Point," you're wrong, says historian Randy Rostecki, who blames "real estate guys" for the error. The correct name is possessive: Armstrong's Point.

The name dates back to a military private, James Armstrong. He was left in charge of the point of land in 1855 when his British captain, to whom the Hudson's Bay Company had granted the property, was called back to England. The captain finally returned in 1880 and sold the land for a subdivision, but the private's name stuck.

Rostecki's book, priced at $39.95, has its official launch tonight at 7 p.m. at the Cornish Library, at the annual general meeting of Heritage Winnipeg. The event is open to the public and Rostecki will be there to sign books. Copies can also be ordered from Heritage Winnipeg's office. The book will have launches at bookstores and libraries over the next few months.

The Armstrong's Point Association is holding its first-ever fundraising Heritage House Tour on Saturday. The tour features seven opulent homes on West Gate, East Gate and Middle Gate, including Ralph Connor House. Tickets are $25 at McNally Robinson bookstores, or by calling 510-4803.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition June 23, 2009 D1