The Lindsay Building is a ten-storey

terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based ceramic glaze, unglazed or glazed ceramic where the pottery firing, fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, a ...

apartment building An apartment (American English), or flat (British English, Indian English, South African English), is a self-contained housing unit (a type of residential real estate) that occupies part of a building, generally on a single story. There are ...

in the

downtown core The Downtown Core is the historical and downtown centre of the city-state of Singapore and the main commercial area in Singapore excluding reclaimed lands with many integrated resorts such as the Marina Bay Sands, one of the most expensive build ...

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749,6 ...

Manitoba Manitoba ( ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population o ...

, Canada. Located at 228 Notre Dame Avenue, it abuts Ellice Avenue and Garry Street, forming a mostly triangular floor plate. The structure was erected during Winnipeg's pre-

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

development boom.

Construction

Constructed during a 14-month period between 1911 and 1912, the building was designed as an

office building An office is a space where an organization's employees perform administrative work in order to support and realize objects and goals of the organization. The word "office" may also denote a position within an organization with specific dut ...

for entrepreneur Frank Lindsay by local architects John Woodman and Raymond Carey, who had previously designed the Paris building on

Portage Avenue Portage or portaging (Canada: ; ) is the practice of carrying water craft or cargo over land, either around an obstacle in a river, or between two bodies of water. A path where items are regularly carried between bodies of water is also called a ...

. The building's location was conveniently directly beside the Oxford Hotel, another property already owned by Lindsay. Originally planned as a 7-storey building, three additional storeys were added to the plan after construction had already begun. The building was constructed by the Kelly-Simpson Company at a cost of , and was prepared for occupancy in December 1912.

Design

The building features reinforced concrete slab construction, which was unusual at the time, when steel framed buildings were common. The exterior of the building features a sheathing of cream-coloured

cartouche In Egyptian hieroglyphs, a cartouche is an oval with a line at one end tangent to it, indicating that the text enclosed is a royal name. The first examples of the cartouche are associated with pharaohs at the end of the Third Dynasty, but the fea ...

pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

s capped with

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s, as well as garlands of flowers around the semicircular second floor windows. The exterior is also ornamented with ten green wreaths bearing "1912" (the year of construction) as well as a pair of terracotta angel wings beneath each window, and five plaques identifying it as the Lindsay Building. The building has undergone some alterations since it was built, including removal of entranceways and glass

transom Transom may refer to: * Transom (architecture), a bar of wood or stone across the top of a door or window, or the window above such a bar * Transom (nautical), that part of the stern of a vessel where the two sides of its hull meet * Operation Tran ...

s in what are now bay windows. The original awnings have also been removed. For many years the building featured a large aerial on top which was decorated with the code letters for

CJOB CJOB (680 kHz) is a commercial AM radio station in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. It is owned and operated by Corus Radio and airs a news/talk format with news and sports programs. CJOB and its sister stations, CFPG-FM, CJKR-FM, and CKND-DT, have ...

. In 2002, the Lindsay Building was announced to have the top seven stories converted into 35 affordable rental apartments, as it had been empty for several years. The owners of the building, Brad and Dale Ostrum, received for the project from CentreVenture Development Corp.

Tenants

The building originally housed shops, including a

confectioner Confectionery is the art of making confections, which are food items that are rich in sugar and carbohydrates. Exact definitions are difficult. In general, however, confectionery is divided into two broad and somewhat overlapping categories ...

, the Harstone Brothers Fuel Company, the Sprague Lumber Company office, and a drug store. During the 1920s, much of the Garry Street shop space was occupied by the Provincial Savings Office, along with the Clark and Martin

stock brokerage A stockbroker is a regulated broker, broker-dealer, or registered investment adviser (in the United States) who may provide financial advisory and investment management services and execute transactions such as the purchase or sale of stocks and ...

firm. One unit was used as a tailor shop by first Harry Greenberg, and later Palay Tailors. The main floor featured the offices of

for many years on the Notre Dame side, along with Lindy's lunch bar. Throughout the years, the upper office floors were occupied by "Lindsay Life Insurance",

Sun Life Sun Life Financial Inc. is a Canadian financial services company. It is primarily known as a life insurance company. Sun Life has a presence in investment management with over CAD$1.3 trillion in assets under management operating in a number o ...

London Life Insurance The Canada Life Assurance Company, commonly known as Canada Life, is an insurance and financial services company with its headquarters in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The current company is the result of the 2020 Consolidation (business), amalgamation of T ...

Metropolitan Life MetLife, Inc. is the Holding company, holding corporation for the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company (MLIC), better known as MetLife, and its affiliates. MetLife is among the largest global providers of insurance, Annuity (US financial produc ...

, as well as other insurance companies, along with lawyers' offices and professional offices. The building also housed the Wartime Bureau of Personnel, the Veteran's Welfare Division and the Dominion Treasury Office. The building is currently primarily used as rental apartments.

References

External links

{{commons category Buildings and structures in downtown Winnipeg Buildings and structures completed in 1912 1912 establishments in Manitoba Municipal Historical Resources of Winnipeg