Exclusive looks at city's gems from inside

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The Right Rev. Monsignor Michael Buyachok leads a tour of the Ukrainian Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral of Saints Vladimir and Olga Saturday afternoon. (DAVID LIPNOWSKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

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Ray Scaife points out features of the Telpay Building. (DAVID LIPNOWSKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

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Retired firefighter George Treddenick in the tower in which old firehoses hung to dry at the Fire Fighters Museum of Winnipeg. (DAVID LIPNOWSKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS) Photo Store

Winnipeggers got a peek into the secret parts of dozens of Winnipeg landmarks Saturday. It's the ninth year Heritage Winnipeg has organized its Doors Open event, which gives people tours through churches, government buildings, historic homes and office towers. The annual event continues today.

The Free Press stopped by three Winnipeg landmarks.

The Telpay Building

Where: 298 Garry Street, just south of Portage Avenue. Look for the unusual pink sandstone.

Date built: In 1909 in the Renaissance Revival style.

What it was: The Manitoba office of the Toronto-based Canada Permanent Mortgage Company. The firm held mortgages for rural and urban property owners as the West was being developed.

What it is now: The Telpay building, housing staff with the electronic bill-payment firm.

What's cool about it: What you don't see. The building was state-of-the-art at the time, built of steel and concrete meant to withstand the most serious fire. What looks like painted, carved wood panelling is really steel, and the five-storey vault that runs up the centre of the building has walls two-feet thick to preserve irreplaceable mortgage documents in case of fire. The building was also built back from the property line to prevent a fire next door from spreading.

Don't miss: The elevator. It's an old-fashioned one with two cage-style doors that pull across. Its very chic interior is painted pale pink with grey trim. Staff joke it takes a PhD to operate the thing, but it's a gem.

Ukrainian Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral of Saints Vladimir and Olga

Where: At 111 McGregor St. in the heart of the historic Ukrainian North End.

Date built: In 1950, but it has a Romanesque feel.

What it was: Now the central cathedral for all Ukrainian Catholics in Canada, it was built on the site of the oldest Ukrainian Catholic church in Winnipeg, a humble wooden structure.

What it is now: Still a vibrant church, the only one in Winnipeg where the entire service is in Ukrainian. Pope John Paul visited in 1984 and Queen Elizabeth II has also stopped by.

What's cool about it: The colourful, exuberant paintings of icons and saints, especially on the traditional screen, called an iconostasis, that separates the nave from the sanctuary. The stained glass windows by Leo Mol depicting the history of Christianity in Ukraine are showstoppers.

Don't miss: The small, quiet but colourful chapel to the right of the sanctuary. That's the Right Rev. Monsignor Michael Buyachok's favourite place in the cathedral and is about to include four new stained glass windows honouring the blessed Nykyta Budka, the first bishop of the Ukrainian Catholic Church in Canada. The chapel will be named for Budka.

Fire Fighters Museum of Winnipeg

Where: At 56 Maple St. just off Higgins Avenue on the way to the Louise Bridge.

Date built: In 1904, part of a big boom in new fire halls built following a spectacular blaze that destroyed the Manitoba Hotel in 1899.

What it was: A working fire hall until 1990. When it was built, it included stalls and a stable for 13 horses that pulled the old fire trucks and wagons.

What it is now: A volunteer-run museum full of photos, uniforms, fire trucks and recreations of fire-hall living quarters.

What's cool about it: The collection of old, horse-drawn fire trucks, the real sliding polls and the odd pretty touches, such as the stained glass windows meant to make a good impression on patrons at the train station and immigrant centre across Higgins.

Don't miss: The hose-drying tower. From the outside, it looks like a bell tower or a lookout tower, but in fact it's where firefighters hung their hoses following a fire. The cotton-covered rubber hoses were prone to mould if left wet so one firefighter would hoist them up on a pulley, while another would climb into the 23-metre tower to hang the hose up. While in the tower waiting for a hose, firefighters would scratch their names -- and the occasional vulgarity -- in the brick. In the winter, when the water in the hoses would freeze, hoisting them up could be a two- or three-man job -- unpleasant after the long, dirty, cold work of fighting a fire.

-- Mary Agnes Welch

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition May 27, 2012 A5