Landmarks Unique and iconic Winnipeg locations

Landmarks is a monthly feature in which columnist Alison Gillmor explores unique and iconic Winnipeg buildings and locations.  

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Landmarks is a monthly feature in which columnist Alison Gillmor explores unique and iconic Winnipeg buildings and locations.  

 


 

Polo Park has weathered the whims of consumer culture

Winnipeg Free Press file
Polo Park reopened after a refurbishment on Aug. 13, 1986.

Posted:

In a strange twist of design history, the man who helped develop the North American shopping mall, Vienna-born architect and planner Victor Gruen, later repudiated it.

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Quirky Fort Garry neighbourhood combines urban planning and nature

Jodi Pratt cross country skiing in Wildwood Park, Sunday, April 14, 2013. (TREVOR HAGAN/WINNIPEG FREE PRESS)

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In popular culture, planned suburban subdivisions are often used as a kind of visual shorthand for conformity and rigidity, for the slow death of the soul. Suburbia, at least according to the movies and TV, is bland, beige and uniform.

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Circular condo building looks spacey, but shape is grounded in practicality

WAYNE GLOWACKI / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES
The 62M Condo is project located on MacDonald Avenue near the Disraeli Bridge.

Posted:

I’m always interested in buildings that get nicknames. Usually these monikers indicate affection, occasionally the opposite, but they always mean people are paying attention.

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Précieux-Sang church fuses together modernist design and religious renewal

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
Precious Blood Roman Catholic Church in Winnipeg on Tuesday, May 22, 2018. This is the 50th year of worship inside the unusual building.

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On my way to visit l’ Eglise du Précieux-Sang in St. Boniface, I got lost. There was road construction, and I somehow missed my turn. I managed to find my way, though, when I glimpsed that distinctive spiralling roofline in the distance.

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WAG's angular architecture combines form, function in a building both timeless and of its time

ken gigliotti  winnipeg free press  dec4 2002 feature on wpg architecture- Winnipeg Art Gallery WAG ,(old beater cars parked  at base  could not get better shot as building is underconstruction )-kg

Posted:

Asked to talk about the Winnipeg Art Gallery building, Stephen Borys pauses for a moment.

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Luxuries, amenities put to many uses during life of Academy Road building

MIKAELA MACKENZIE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
Winnipeg architect Max Blankstein’s design for the Uptown Theatre referenced the Moorish style, using architectural elements from the western Islamic world mixed with some Spanish forms.

Posted:

The Uptown Lofts, once the Academy Uptown Lanes and before that the Uptown Theatre, remind us that buildings can have long, varied and sometimes unexpected lives. The recent mixed-use renovation, which combines commercial spaces and residential apartments, is sleek, clean and contemporary, but it rests on layers of local memory and architectural fantasy.

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The Fort Garry Hotel hearkens back to a more glamorous time

The Fort Garry Hotel was one of the tallest buildings in Winnipeg when it was constructed in 1913. (City of Winnipeg archives)

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When you’re wedged into a middle seat on a packed airplane, sustained only by bad coffee and a packet of pretzels, glamorous travel can seem like an impossible dream.

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Curvy, confident Winnipeg Clinic appears to be reaching for a better tomorrow

ALEX LUPUL / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS
The Winnipeg Clinic with Its distinctive curved lines and layered canopies make it a familiar landmark in Winnipeg’s downtown.

Posted:

Nicknames can be a sign of fondness and familiarity, so it means something that people often affectionately call the Winnipeg Clinic “the Jetsons building.”

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Alison Gillmor

Alison Gillmor
Writer

Studying at the University of Winnipeg and later Toronto’s York University, Alison Gillmor planned to become an art historian. She ended up catching the journalism bug when she started as visual arts reviewer at the Winnipeg Free Press in 1992.

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House of horrors burned for TV film

By Mike McIntyre and Keith Bonnell 3 minute read Preview

House of horrors burned for TV film

By Mike McIntyre and Keith Bonnell 3 minute read Thursday, Dec. 3, 2009

The boy watched as fire began to consume the farmhouse, while a film crew taped the blaze for a movie.

As flames engulfed the two-storey farmhouse near Kipling, Sask., the boy was looking at more than a movie moment -- he was witnessing the destruction of the house of horrors where he was held prisoner and raped three years ago by one of Canada's most notorious child molesters, Peter Robert Whitmore.

"He didn't really care about the movie," the boy's father said Wednesday, recalling the blaze that bitterly cold day in February.

"We were all glad to see the place go."

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Thursday, Dec. 3, 2009

Residents reeling after man shot, killed by police

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Residents reeling after man shot, killed by police

Nicole Buffie 5 minute read Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024

Van Ho was inside his sixth-floor Main Street apartment when he heard a ruckus in the hall around noon Wednesday afternoon.

Ho looked out his window to see police and emergency vehicles surrounding the 10-storey North Point Douglas Manor. When he peeked into the hallway, he saw the body of his next-door neighbour being carried away.

“I thought somebody was fighting, then I open my door and that’s what I see,” Ho saidThursday afternoon.

The Vietnamese immigrant moved to the building four years ago. He said his neighbour, who has not been identified, moved into the Manitoba Housing complex about two months ago, but often caused excessive noise at night and kept him awake.

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Thursday, Oct. 3, 2024

Dozen of Manitoba highways remain closed weeks after storms

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Dozen of Manitoba highways remain closed weeks after storms

Nicole Buffie 4 minute read Thursday, Jul. 16, 2026

Thirty five highways remain closed weeks after torrential rain caused destructive flooding in several Manitoba communities.

Crews continue to assess flood damage and repair roads and highways as conditions allow, after historic precipitation washed away many routes.

Some areas in the Parkland region of the province received more than 200 millimetres of rain between June 6 and July 1.

The majority of road closures are in the Roblin area. A storm at the end of June undid a lot of repair work in the Municipality of Minitonas-Bowsman after an early June deluge, officials said.

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Thursday, Jul. 16, 2026

Biographer delves deep into the comedy and the tragedy of Robin Williams' troubled life

Reviewed by GC Cabana-Coldwell 6 minute read Preview

Biographer delves deep into the comedy and the tragedy of Robin Williams' troubled life

Reviewed by GC Cabana-Coldwell 6 minute read Saturday, Jun. 16, 2018

Whenever I’m asked with whom I’d love to dine, entertainer Robin Williams always tops my short list of three. Still.

It’s immaterial that we didn’t move in the same social circles. Or that our career paths never crossed, even though one of his many movies, The Big White, was partially shot in Winnipeg in 2005. Something about him — that hairy persona, those kind blue eyes, the “aw shucks” grin — had intrigued me since watching the debut of his Mork & Mindy TV sitcom in 1978. His off-the-wall goofiness simply sealed the deal.

Comedian Williams became movie-star Williams, and I bought every flick — the good, the not-so-good and the real stinkers. His raunchy standup recordings, often released between his movies, were just an added, adult-only bonus.

So I, like many, was gutted when, at age 63, Williams took his own life in 2014. I didn’t “get” it: how could an award-winning, funny guy, admired by so many for so long, get so beaten up inside that he’d off himself?

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Saturday, Jun. 16, 2018

Today’s horoscope

Georgia Nicols 4 minute read Preview

Today’s horoscope

Georgia Nicols 4 minute read 2:00 AM CDT

MOON ALERT: Caution. Avoid shopping (except food and gas) and important decisions from 5 a.m. until 10:15 p.m. After that, the moon moves from Leo into Virgo.

ARIES (March 21-April 19)

This is a fantastic day to shmooz and romance is also favoured. In fact, this is most romantic day of the week. Intimate relationships will be affectionate and exciting. Enjoy socializing, sporting events and fun activities with kids. The arts are blessed.

TAURUS (April 20-May 20)

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With a bang, B.C. applauds health-care workers

Amy Smart, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Preview

With a bang, B.C. applauds health-care workers

Amy Smart, The Canadian Press 3 minute read Wednesday, Mar. 25, 2020

VANCOUVER - At the same time each night, Rev. Gary Paterson and about half a dozen other neighbours have begun gathering at least two metres apart on the rooftop patio of their building in Vancouver's west end.

They don't know who will signal the beginning, and everyone's clocks are slightly different, but just before 7 p.m., they hear clapping in the distance.

"It's usually at about two minutes to seven, like people can't restrain their enthusiasm, and then it starts to move like a wave," he said on Wednesday.

The applause is for health-care workers and other essential service providers on the frontlines of the COVID-19 pandemic.

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Wednesday, Mar. 25, 2020