Re-imagining Wildwood Park

Wildwood

Neighbourhoods spring up in many ways.

In earlier times, most were centred around the waterways; in Winnipeg, the junction of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers. Trade, transportation routes, and railway lines drew housing. Dwellings arose around military installations to house personnel in close proximity to each other. Practicality was the primary reason for the existence of most neighbourhoods.

Wildwood’s existence was based on a desire to maintain the natural setting of the area, promote safety, and prioritize the needs of pedestrians. It was a highly planned development, built in the 1940s. The vision of Hubert Bird, he was influenced by a model he had flown over in suburban New York, known as Radburn superblock housing. Viewed from above, he saw a circular plan, with cul-de-sacs cut out into it, and houses looking out onto a central park. Self-contained, it had its own grocery store and shopping centre.

His second influence came from his experience developing mass production techniques building barracks during the war. Houses could be built in volume too, he reasoned. A new idea at the time.

He took the concepts of the Radburn housing and mass production, and applied them to Wildwood Park, still known as one of the most innovative housing developments in Canada.

Brian T. Rex, a former professor of urban history in the U.S., taught his students about Wildwood. Now a Wildwood resident himself, and associate professor in the Department of Architecture at the University of Manitoba, he studies Wildwood Park.

From September 2024 to April 2025, 10 graduate students under his direction studied and laser-scanned 30 original-plan houses in the park. They experienced Wildwood through our community events, and simply spent time observing Wildwood over the seasons.

With their now personal understanding of Wildwood’s history, students developed projects re-envisioning Wildwood. What else could it have been? Some proposed large-scale changes, others improvements to the original plan, and still others let their imaginations run wild.

Fresh eyes saw Wildwood in ways Hubert Bird never could have imagined, but as a man of vision, certainly would have appreciated.

These designs were shared with the community at a meeting on April 17. Change, even in a hypothetical sense, is hard for Wildwooders to contemplate. We already believe we live in heaven on earth. The models have inspired curiosity and passionate discussion. But new ideas come from those who dare to envision them. Hubert Bird did.