Blog by Cheryl Mann, on behalf of Heritage Winnipeg
Urban sprawl is one of the worst plights of the modern city, eating up precious natural habitat and farmland to satisfy the desirers of those who disregard their lifestyle’s impact on the environment. Infill housing would then seem like a welcome solution, providing much needed houses without expanding the city and increasing the efficiency of preexisting infrastructure. But what happens when infill becomes a synonym for demolition? Is anything truly gained when so much of the past is lost? This is the conundrum faced in Winnipeg, where grand repositories of history are staring down the wreaking ball in the name of progress.
Long before Winnipeg became a city, the Indigenous people of the area walked along the southern shores of the Assiniboine River on path that followed the curves of the waterway. That trail became Wellington Crescent, a winding road along the south side of the Assiniboine River in Winnipeg, connecting Assiniboine Park in the west with Osborne Village in the east. The road was named in 1893 after Arthur Wellington Ross, a prominent Winnipeg lawyer and politician, as well as a founding member of the Manitoba Historical Society. As part of the Parish of St. Boniface, the area was originally composed of long, narrow river lots. Over time, it was transformed into a picturesque tree lined street with many grand old houses that once sheltered prominent figures in Winnipeg’s history.
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| Wellington Crescent was named after Arthur Wellington Ross, an important figure in Winnipeg's History. Source: Manitoba Historical Society |
By the 1900s, Wellington Crescent was already becoming a prestigious place to live. James Richardson, a giant in the Canadian grain industry, and his family moved there in 1889. St. Mary’s Academy opened their doors on the street in 1903, while Elisha F. Hutching of the Great West Saddlery Company took up residence in 1906. Real estate mogul Mark Fortune moved to the crescent in 1911, but his stay was short lived as he died in the sinking of the Titanic the next year. Former Winnipeg Mayor and hardware merchant James Henry Ashdown also built a mansion there, moving in with his family in 1913.
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| Elisha F. Hutching's house at 424 Wellington Crescent is one of the many mansions built on the street during the early 20th century. Source: City of Winnipeg |
Over 15 years after the official naming of Wellington Crescent, in June of 1909, the 51 year old James T. Gordon purchased the lot at 514 Wellington Crescent. Gordon was a businessman from Ontario who started out working in the lumber industry. In 1882 he moved to Manitou, Manitoba, starting his own lumber business. Gordon eventually traded lumber for cattle, becoming the largest cattle exporter in Canada in the 1880s with then business partner Robert Ironside. After merging with W. H. Fares and centralizing their business in Winnipeg, Gordon became an MLA (1903-1910) and was active in various other businesses.
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| James T. Gordon built the house at 514 Wellington Crescent for him and his family in 1909. Source: Manitoba Historical Society and Representative Man of Manitoba, 1902 |
Gordon’s success in business allowed him to make plans to build a $40,000 home for his himself, his wife Mearle Baldwin of Ontario and their two sons. He hired architect Colin Campbell Chisholm to design the house. Chisholm was a Winnipeg born architect that followed in his father’s footsteps, apprenticing at the family firm to learn the his craft. By 1909, Chishom had become a full partner in his father’s firm, James Chisbolm & Son, and was ready to contribute to the growing list of Winnipeg homes it had designed.
Chishom designed Gordon’s house in the Georgian style. Typical of this style, there is a pleasing symmetry to the house, with matching chimneys on each end of the building. The symmetric continues with wings extending out of both sides of the main block of the house, the enclosed porch on the south side being balanced by the carport on the north side. Both these wings feature columns, adding a more classical detail to the Georgian house. Although the axial symmetry creates a sense of grandeur, it often decreases the functionality of the interior layout of the house.
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| Colin Campbell Chisholm designed the Gordon House at 514 Wellington Crescent in the Georgian style, with a symmetrical facade. Source: Save 514 Wellington! |
The main part of the house is a rectangular block two and a half stories tall, crowned by multiple dormers on a hip roof with a wide eaves and dentil cornicing. The façade is a smooth red-brown brick with a brick quoin detail on the corners. The second floor windows are capped with plain stone lintels, and supported by matching stone trim on the sides. On the first floor, the same light stone is used for keystone decorations over the windows. The windows themselves are sash style but relatively plain, a departure from the multiple pane windows, a characteristic of Georgian buildings (such as nine over nine). The entrance to the house is the centerpiece, as expected in the Georgian style. A door and set of windows on the second floor with a light stone pediment surround sit above an elegant portico, framed by classical columns. Although pilasters often frame the entrance to Georgian buildings, the portico with full columns would seem to be a nod to a more classical style of architecture, making for a more dramatic entrance to the house.
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| A detailed wrought-iron fence surrounds the house at 514 Wellington Crescent, enclosing a about 0.6 acres of beautifully landscaped yard. Source: Save 514 Wellington! |
The house covers 8,185 square feet with a total of 16 rooms and six bathrooms. In addition to eight bedrooms, the house was also equipped with a ballroom and servant’s quarters. Mahogany is feature extensively throughout the house, as both trim and paneling, with the walls of the foyer being clad exclusively in the material. A large central staircase leads up from the foyer, pausing at a landing and doing a 180 degree turn before arriving at the second floor. A stained glass window dominates the mid staircase landing, with a coat of arms and monographed panel that are likely associated with Gordon. No expense was spared when building the house, with plaster molding, coffered ceilings, stained glass windows, large fireplaces, built in furnishings, Greek key details in the hardwood floors and a grand 24 candle chandelier in the dining room that still hangs there today.
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| The mahogany clade foyer of 514 Wellington Crescent. Source: webview360 and G. Williams |
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| The grand dining room with its 24 candle chandelier in 514 Wellington Crescent. Source: Save 514 Wellington! |
Gordon and lived with his family in the stately mansion until he passed away at home in 1919. At this time, Gordon’s son, C. E. Gordon moved back to Winnipeg to live with his mother in the house. In 1921 the house was sold to Winnipegger William Richard Bawlf, a wealthy grain merchant that worked for his father’s company. By the time Bawlf moved into 514 Wellington Crescent with his wife and four children, he has amassed a long list of accomplishments, including being president of the Winnipeg Grain Exchange.
In 1936 the house was sold to Victor Sifton, who moved in with his wife and three children. Sifton was a decorated veteran of the First World War, who the year before had become the general manager of the Winnipeg Free Press, his father’s newspaper. During the Second World War, Sifton was an executive assistant to J. L. Ralston, the Minister of Defense, a position that resulted in him being named a Commander of the Order of the British Empire. Sifton continued to grow his media empire, became president of the Canadian Press (1948-1950), Chancellor of the University of Manitoba (1952-1959) and hosted famous guests in the house such as Lady Byne (wife of former Governor General Lord Byne) and Sumner Wells (American diplomat) in the house. Sifton eventually passed away in 1961 the house at 514 Wellington Crescent was sold once again.
Douglas Everett purchased the house next, with his wife and six children becoming the final family to live at 514 Wellington Crescent. Everett had become vice president of his father’s company, Dominion Motors, in 1953 and added DOMO gas to the corporation’s holdings around 1965. Starting with one gas bar in Winnipeg, DOMO gas had expanded all the way to the west coast of Canada by the mid 1970s. During the 1950s, Everett became involved with the Liberal Party of Canada and at 39 was the youngest person ever appointed to the Red Chamber, becoming Senator Everett courtesy of then Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson. Everett parted ways with the Liberals in 1994 but returned to public life in the 2000s as a philanthropist, donating millions of dollars to local causes. By 2015 Everett had been a widower for five years and finally put the house up for sale, selling it to Jeff Thompson, CEO of Leader Equity Partners, in 2016 for $1.25 million.
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| The front of 514 Wellington Crescent looks out over Munson Park, the former home of James A. Richardson, who donated the land to the city in 1976 to be used as a public park. Source: Save 514 Wellington! |
Although Everett had meticulously maintained the house, Thompson was quoted by the Winnipeg Free Press as saying “this house is at the end of is cycle,” and that it was not financially viable as a single family home or converted into condominium units. Thompson plans to demolish the house and build a six unit, 24,000 square foot condominium building. Six families, including Thompson’s, are involved with the redevelopment and all plan on it being their residence. A concerted effort is being made to work with the community and ensure the new building fits in with its historic surroundings. Being that the house is not protected by heritage status, there is nothing preventing the owner from going forward with this plan, other than rezoning.
The surrounding community and Heritage Winnipeg is adamantly opposed to the demolition of 514 Wellington Crescent. While some want it to remain a single family home like the surrounding houses, others are open to it being converted into condominium units. Regardless, the community does not want the house demolished and would like to see it sold to someone who values its heritage and will restore it. In an effort to halt the redevelopment, the community started an online petition in September 2016 asking the city not to re-zone the property or allow demolition. Thus far over 4000 signatures have been collected. Heritage Winnipeg has also become involved, hosting a fundraising event at 755 Wellington Crescent in 2016 to raise awareness and funds to preserve Winnipeg’s built heritage.
As of August 2017, the owner of 514 Wellington has submitted no rezoning applications with the city and the house stands vacant, slowly decaying. The controversy over the fate of the house brings up an important question, is progress possible without destroying the past? Infill housing is no doubt a far more sustainable form of development than urban sprawl, but is anything really gained when an older building with a huge amount of embodied energy has to be demolished first? And what of the history it holds and the sense of place it creates? Demolition would seem to be the easy solution used by those unwilling to find more creative means to integrate heritage buildings into modern cities. It creates huge amounts of waste, will require more energy and materials to rebuild, and the new building will never be built to the same standards as the old. We live in a world of dwindling resources and growing demands- hardly a time to be casting perfectly good homes to the wayside.
Careful consideration needs to be taken reflecting on what the current and future impacts of any actions will be. In the mean time, letting the grand old house at 514 Wellington Crescent be neglected and allowed to deteriorate is a disgrace to its rich history and contributions to the crescent and the city throughout the last 108 years.
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| The storied house at 514 Wellington Crescent sits quietly decaying while its fate hangs in the balance between preserving heritage and facilitating progress. Source: Save 514 Wellington! |
514 WELLINGTON CRESCENT, VISIT:
TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE EFFORT TO SAVE
514 WELLINGTON CRESCENT, VISIT:
SOURCES
Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Canada 1800 – 1950
dictionaryofarchitectsincanada.org/node/917
City of Winnipeg
www.winnipeg.ca/ppd/historic/pdf-Commemorative/Wellington424-overview.pdf
winnipeg.ca/ppd/historic/pdf-consv/Portage%20283-long.pdf
CTV News Winnipeg
winnipeg.ctvnews.ca/community-trying-to-save-historic-winnipeg-mansion-from-demolition-1.3113044
Heritage Open Days
www.heritageopendays.org.uk/news-desk/news/how-to-spot-a-georgian-building
Manitoba Historical Society
www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/features/walkingtours/crescentwood/
www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/people/ross_aw.shtml
www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/people/gordon_jt.shtml
www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/people/richardson_ja.shtml
www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/sites/ashdownhouse.shtml
www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/people/bawlf_wr.shtml
www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/people/sifton_v.shtml
www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/sites/munsonpark.shtml
Save 514 Wellington!
save514wellington.com.s3-website-us-east-1.amazonaws.com/
webview360
www.webview360.com/wv/Manitoba/Winnipeg/Agent/Glen_Williams/114761
Wentworth Studio
www.wentworthstudio.com/historic-styles/georgian/
West End Dumplings
westenddumplings.blogspot.ca/2016/10/lives-lived-at-514-wellington-crescent.html
Winnipeg Free Press
www.winnipegfreepress.com/local/neighbours-fear-for-mansions-fate-395196611.html
www.winnipegfreepress.com/business/house-is-at-the-end-of-its-cycle-developer-395498171.html
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