Broadway fountain, Freight House up for historical designation

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This article was published 12/02/2025 (259 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A heritage advocate is hopeful city hall is taking a broader look at what constitutes a heritage building.

A city report recommends a fountain on Broadway and a former railway building be designated historical structures even though they don’t fit the traditional definition.

The fountain, which is on the boulevard at Broadway and Donald Street, and the former Midland Railway Building, known today as the Freight House at 200 Isabel St., don’t have the historical heft of other sites, such as buildings in the Exchange District, for example.

Gordon Goldsborough of the Manitoba Historical Society said the move could open the door to designate other threatened buildings that don’t necessarily have architectural features.

“If the underlying principle is they are trying to create a system of historical resonance, that’s better than what it has been,” said Goldsborough Wednesday.

“Broadening the definition would be a good thing.”

Goldsborough said it could mean that a building the society wants designated — the two-storey Craig Block at 795 Main St. — may have a better chance of receiving the distinction. That building has vacant lots on either side of it after the neighbouring Sutherland Hotel was destroyed in a fire last month.

“The city says there is some smoke and there is damage, so they may want to tear it down, but that building is the site of the first black labour union in North America,” he said.

“Yes, the building itself isn’t a big deal, but what happened inside it is a big deal.”

Coun. Jason Schreyer, chairman of the civic historical buildings and resources committee, said he agrees with Goldsborough that the fountain and Freight House aren’t typical historical locations.

“What he is saying is an intriguing perspective,” Schreyer said. “It makes sense… it allows for interesting things including function.

“It no longer would be prioritized on architectural merits. There is something to be said about that.”

The committee will discuss the proposal next week.

Schreyer said the two entities have been recommended because they are both city-owned.

“We’ve gone through the program of designating (privately owned) historic buildings, and we’ve done a lot in the past decade, but now we’re going to the evaluation of city-owned resources,” he said.

A city report says the fountain, built in 1970 for $25,000, “is a modernist structure in the international style.” It was constructed to commemorate both the centennial of Manitoba and the 50th anniversary of the Shoal Lake aqueduct that transports drinking water to the city.

The fountain, which had been closed for a few years, reopened in 2023 and now includes signs that explain how construction of the aqueduct harmed the people of Shoal Lake 40.

Heather Bancroft said her late brother Brian Bancroft designed the fountain while working for Smith Carter Parkin, an architectural and engineering firm.

“I just remember when there was the opening of the fountain we all went down,” Bancroft said. “It was such a treat.

“I think he would be pleased, but I don’t think he would think it was one of his better achievements.”

Bancroft also designed the Pan Am Pool, Machray Hall at the University of Manitoba, and the Place d-Accueil at Expo ‘67 in Montreal.

As for the building called the Freight House, a city report says it was built before the First World War and was part of the city’s development into the primary Western Canadian railway hub for passengers and freight.

Midland Railway began in 1903 and by 1907 had a line from Portage la Prairie to Neche, N.D., and another from Morden to Walhalla, N.D. It was bought by the Great Northern Railway in 1909 and two years later a freight terminal and tracks to the Freight House were constructed.

After the railway signed a deal to use tracks owned by the Canadian Northern, a Winnipegger could travel by train to Minneapolis until the 1970s.

The report says while the building’s exterior material, design and layout are intact, the inside was converted into a community centre in the early 1970s. Currently, there are six units in the building, including a gymnasium.

The tracks were ripped up at the same time. A park and green space took their place.

kevin.rollason@freepress.mb.ca