no kidding...
http://www.manitobaphotos.com/Postcards/p111.jpg


heres a cool one of the avenue building in its pre-pink days.

http://www.manitobaphotos.com/Postcards/p101.jpg

http://www.manitobaphotos.com/postcards.htm

Yes, as it says in the Going Downtown book, the building is actually the same structure as Mitchell Copp. The bank part of it (that became Mitchell Copp) just wanted a fancier facade. The top stories on the west side were lost to fire.

The Kensington Building on the corner of Portage and Smith ("Lambert's Clothes" in the last postcard) burned down too ... I remember that fire. Unfortunately the result was the horrible new Kensington Building.

^^oops...sorry, i made a new post


check out this photo of portage avenue from 1960...the building that currently houses o' calcutta (the affleck building?) appears to be the first floor of what was a much larger building....i wonder what happened to the rest of it?

http://img213.imageshack.us/img213/9...titled1iv0.jpg

.. thats was you? i just stumbled across that pic on flickr lol

weird wonder why they shortend it or was it a victom in that hudge fire in that area?

I have a shot of the same block in my horde, although it's a few years earlier since what is CIBC in your shot is still the Imperial Bank in mine (the Canadian Bank of Commerce and the Imperial Bank of Canada merged in 1955).

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1310/...252fab77_b.jpg

According to Going Downtown, the upper storeys of the Affleck Building burned in 1973. The two buildings together were originally called the Kennedy Block.

Oops...sorry -- for accuracy's sake, the CIBC was created in June 1961. So trueviking's shot must be from after that date while mine looks like maybe 1956 or 1957, given the look of the cars.

update the tittle on flickr lol

Yeah I believe the Kennedy block was actually one continous building on the inside. I think they may have even shared the same address at that time. I also think it contained the Bank of Commerce before the merge.

heres a fairly old shot well to me it is..... first skyline shot i have ever seen of td rising
http://www.nationsencyclopedia.com/c...01_img0038.jpg

I added some more labels and a clarification re the Norlyn Bldg.:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1065/...23b62496_b.jpg

supersized version

There goes Winnipeg, livin in the past again.

Just kidding, I wish Calgary had half the history Winnipeg does, and I wish we didn't tear down all of our history to build a bunch of 20 storey concrete boxes and empty parking lots.

Cool thread.

I started labelling another one from 1928. This time the demolished buildings are in italics:

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1080/...52fa4ed8_b.jpg

supersize

[updated with a few more labels]

I do agree that Winnipegers do seem to ponder the past much to often, but with its very rich history it is easily expalined.

As far as Calgary goes... it disappoints me that Penny Lane is coming down. One of the few remaining historic blocks in downtown... turning to rubble. There seems to be absolutely no interest in Calgary at retaining any of its history. Its a 180 from Winnipeg where even 100 year old crap is deemed more worthy than any thing new. The future seems to take a backseat to the past far too often, even when there is little to nothing to save. Ex: the 100 Main arguement.

I believe it was Mark Twain that said the history of a city defines its character, but its future is defined by its ambition.

damn...that photo is awesome....what a city....all those buildings on the left side that came down for the trizek building make me sick to my stomach....funny that a couple of those little houses on the bottom right are still there....used to be tokyo joes.

the frontenac hotel looks cool....never seen that before.

Wow, I really like that one. I'd like to see modern winnipeg, but without the portage and main towers. That'd be different...

interesting to compare...

http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/7486/dsc0086zu4.jpg

http://img209.imageshack.us/img209/7486/dsc0086zu4.jpg


In the top pic .. the Grain Exchange building is a huge tower.

In the seond pic .. its invisible.

The scale of the new buildings are huge compared to the old.

Did Norte Dame ever go all the way through .. from where it is now to what is now Pioneer Ave? It sure looks like it may have in its history, but I don't have a map which shows it.

I will keep looking. The streets are in alinement. Just wondering if any of you knew.

Keep in mind that the Richardson building lot was a gas station at the time too. So there were some positives through the passage of time too.

Also keep in mind that the industrial powerhouse of Winnipeg's former downtown no longer applies today. Thus vacant lots are abundant.. waiting for new oportunities in today's knowledge economy. Part of the problem is nobody wants to be near the rail line.


I agree the Frontenac Hotel is cool..... but relitively unknown today.