Finding a fitting way to build in the Exchange District

Over the last few months, renowned Newfoundland musician Alan Doyle, best known as the lead singer of Great Big Sea, has been touring Canada. At each stop, he shared a “coffee walk” on social media, stepping off his tour bus to wander in search of a coffee while reflecting on places he has visited throughout his 40-year career criss-crossing the country.

His Winnipeg video went viral as he walked through the Exchange District and remarked, “I’m not an architecture buff, but the way I always describe it is this: if there are 100 good-looking buildings in Canada, 45 of them are in Winnipeg.”

This moment highlights how fortunate we are to have inherited the Exchange District.

Few cities have a large National Historic Site so deeply integrated into their downtown. Its preservation is due in part to Winnipeg’s historically slow growth, which limited redevelopment pressure. That’s beginning to change as new proposals emerge, and we must respond thoughtfully to ensure we pass future generations a place as valuable as the one entrusted to us.

This begins with renewed commitment to protecting the 150 heritage buildings within the National Historic Site, forming one of the most intact early 20th-century warehouse districts in North America. Their value lies not in individual landmarks, but in the collective whole, where every building contributes to a shared identity.

Protection requires policies that support reuse and restoration, along with enforcement to prevent demolition by neglect, like the beautiful, long-vacant Peck Building across from Burton Cummings Theatre, which is today surrounded by a fence to shield pedestrians as it crumbles. Protection also means ensuring developers deliver on promises, avoiding outcomes like at Albert and Arthur, beside Old Market Square, where a historic building was demolished with promises of redevelopment but is now a surface parking lot that fails to meet legal zoning and urban design requirements.

Preservation is vital, but the Exchange District’s future also significantly depends on what kind of new development fills the empty gaps, raising an important question: what should a new building in a heritage district look like?

While it may seem intuitive to want the new buildings to replicate historic styles, imitation most often weakens both old and new. Historic buildings matter because they are authentic, telling the story of their time and place. Copying them creates a false sense of history that can make a neighbourhood feel contrived rather than real.

It’s technically possible to truly replicate a historic building, but modern materials, construction methods, and building codes make it prohibitively expensive in most cases, especially for residential projects with tight budgets.

As a result, most attempts feel like half-hearted copies. Heritage buildings are more than a style. They reflect a complete system of design and construction that has largely disappeared.

Thick, load-bearing walls create depth, with windows set deep into the structure, casting strong shadows that convey a sense of mass. Brickwork is crafted with detail and texture, and ornamental elements like cornices are hand-carved from Tyndall stone.

Modern brick walls are only a few inches thick. Windows sit close to the surface casting narrow shadows. Materials and structural systems are lighter and largely mass-produced. Costly elements like stone ornament, deep cornices, and detailed masonry are often highly simplified or omitted.

Materials are frequently simulated, like brick or stone replaced with faux-masonry patterns painted on Styrofoam that looks artificial and ages poorly. As a result, historic shapes read as surface applied rather than integral. Buildings trying to be something they are not, create an artificial expression that diminishes the special neighbourhood character they aim to preserve.

If new Exchange District buildings are to be valued in the future, prioritizing high quality design matters far more than replicating historic imagery. A design that lacks thoughtfulness and creativity, whether modern or faux-historic, is harmful to the character of the neighbourhood, but a well-designed modern building can enrich and reinvigorate the area, introducing new energy while elevating the existing historic fabric.

A strong contemporary building can express new ideas while responding to context, working in harmony with surrounding heritage structures.

By studying and reinterpreting elements such as rhythm, proportion, massing, materiality, and street presence, new construction can complement the old without imitating it. This approach creates visual continuity with clarity and honesty. When handled successfully, the contrast of a new building does not compete but instead frames and highlights historic buildings, making their craftsmanship, weight, and texture more prominent.

An important example of new construction that fits well within the Exchange District is 127 Bannatyne, a ten-storey mixed-use building designed by AtLRG and developed by Concord Projects and Alston Properties.

Built on a former parking lot, it completes the historic street wall with a modern, textured masonry podium that respects the massing and proportions of its neighbours. Above, a tower clad in lighter materials rises and visually recedes, allowing the building to read as a lower structure anchored to the historic context.

At street level, a transparent and playfully articulated ground floor creates visual interest for pedestrians, with retail spaces that will soon house two restaurants, adding activity and life to the sidewalk. Through its thoughtful, contextual design, the building sits comfortably into its historic streetscape, elevating its neighbours, while expressing a clearly contemporary identity.

Its success offers a strong precedent for future development in the area.

The Exchange District is not just a collection of old buildings, but a living treasure that demands both protection and thoughtful evolution. With stewardship that prioritizes authenticity, and confidently demands high quality modern design, we can ensure that new development strengthens rather than diminishes what makes the area special.

If we are deliberate in our choices today, we can pass on a dynamic neighbourhood of complementary buildings, both modern and historic, all high-quality design, that future generations, and their touring musicians, will love and value even more deeply than we do today.

Brent Bellamy is creative director at Number Ten Architectural Group.