Winnipeg S Exchange District

A breathtaking full-colour photography book celebrating the architectural splendour and cultural heritage of Winnipeg's famed Exchange District, a National Historic Site and one of the city's most vibrant artistic, commercial, and tourist hubs. The Exchange District is the architectural jewel of Winnipeg's downtown core, a thirty-block area featuring 150 remarkably preserved heritage buildings dating back to the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. These iconic buildings are among the best examples in North America of several turn-of-the-century architectural styles, including Romanesque, Italianate, Beaux-Arts, and Chicago School. From its origins in the 1880s as a commercial and industrial gateway to the Canadian West to its current revitalization, the Exchange exemplifies the spirit of a modern city embracing its past while creating a bright and dynamic future. Treasures of Winnipeg's Historical Exchangeis a sumptuous visual feast for residents and visitors. With stunning photography highlighting the impressive scale and intricate detail of the Exchange's imposing banks, sprawling warehouses, and commercial towers, this book will amaze and delight anyone interested in Winnipeg's history and architecture. In addition, the book captures the renewed energy, creativity, hospitality, and entrepreneurial spirit that have invigorated the Exchange in recent years, making it one of Canada's most vibrant up-and-coming neighbourhoods.

Exchange District -- Interpretive Center -- Museum -- Interior Design -- Post-museum -- Public space -- Constructivist Learning Theory -- Adaptive Reuse.

This book is about a city’s current state versus its potential state. It examines the dynamic beginnings that gave the city an exciting promise for the future and how that promise evaporated through the 20th century. The premise is that the author falls asleep in the forward of the book and wakes up in the epilogue, only to realize that all of the grand ideas discussed in the 16 chapters to help the city reach its potential were just a dream. Find out how the development mistakes of Winnipeg parallel the lunacy of Monty Python, Get Smart and Police Squad. Even though the subject matter focuses on one city, the issues raised affect most cities to varying degrees. Any reader with an interest in urban development, design or the twilight zone should find the material relevant to their experiences.

The Exchange District is in downtown Winnipeg just north of Portage and Main. It derives its name from the Winnipeg Grain Exchange, the center of the grain exchange in Canada. The Exchange District is the historic center of commerce in Western Canada. The District developed from the banks of the Red River at the foot of Bannatyne and Dermot Avenues. Most commercial traffic came along the Red River from St. Paul, Minnesota where the nearest rail line passed. Goods were shipped to Winnipeg by steamer during high water in spring. Through the Winnipeg Grain Exchange, the city was linked to other major financial centers of London, Liverpool, New York and Chicago. Most Canadian financial institutions established their Western Canadian headquarters in Winnipeg and by 1910 there were almost twenty banking halls and offices on Main Street between City Hall and Portage Avenue. Many Winnipeg-based financial companies were also established. At the turn of the century, Chicago was the center of North American architecture. Louis Sullivan developed the first steel frame and reinforced concrete buildings. Sullivan used stone and terra cotta on the exterior, suspended by metal shelves bolted to the frame. He favored terra cotta with simple details which complimented rather than completely covered the surface as in earlier heavily-detailed styles. John D. Atchison was the foremost Chicago School architect in the city. St. Boniface is a Winnipeg neighborhood on the east side of the Red River. It is the heart of Franco-Manitoban culture, a place indelibly tied to the foundation of the province, a Western Canadian hub of francophone culture and an important site in the history of the Metis people. For much of its history the area was an independent municipality with its own culture and roots. St. Boniface has played a key role in the development and growth of Winnipeg. The architecture of St. Boniface embodies a wide span of cultural, religious and economic history. The area around the forks of the Red and Assiniboine Rivers was a site for camping, trading and other activities by indigenous peoples. In the late-eighteenth and early-nineteenth centuries land to the west of the Red River had several European settlements, including Forts Rouge, Gibraltar and Douglas and the Red River Colony. The roots of the present St. Boniface can be found in these years. In the early-nineteenth century the area was settled by groups of Metis fur traders and mercenaries hired to protect the Red River Colony; the latter included the German-Swiss De Meurons regiment. In 1817 Jean-Baptiste Lagimodiere and his wife Marie-Anne Gaboury settled on Seine River lots granted to them by Lord Selkirk. They were the first white couple to settle in the northwest. They became the grandparents of Louis Riel. Near them settled the Des Meurons troops that Selkirk brought with him from Montreal to oppose the North West Company forces. In 1818-19 Father Provencher and Demoulin established here the first permanent school and mission in the west.

Remember the Beachcomber Restaurant, the Assiniboine Park Conservatory, and a very small but well-designed international airport with concrete walls? From the early fortifications of Upper Fort Garry, to the architectonic surge of Winnipeg as a transportation hub--and Canada's third largest urban centre--to the demolition of the iconic Eaton's department store, Old Winnipeg is the story of a city that never stopped reinventing itself. With more than 140 photographs--many of them seen here for the first time--Old Winnipeg: A History in Pictures is a visual treat. It offers us a window into the past, showing life as it was, and stirring in us the emotions of wonder and curiosity about those who have gone before us and the lives they lived.

'The Gateway to the West' and 'The Chicago of the North' were two of the phrases used to describe Winnipeg's future in the heady days of the late nineteenth century. Especially important in Winnipeg's phenomenal growth was its role as middleman between eastern Canadian manufacturers and their new markets in what would become Alberta and Saskatchewan. As waves of homesteaders from central Canada and many European countries poured into Canada's prairies, dry goods, hardware and groceries all became increasingly important for the consumers, the manufacturers and Winnipeg's warehousemen and wholesalers, and it became increasingly important for Winnipeg's wholesalers to have railway connections both to receive raw materials and stock and to ship goods to western markets. The Exchange District is a well-established and vibrant neighborhood in Winnipeg. It features a large and well-preserved collection of heritage buildings which include huge stone and brick warehouses, elegant terracotta-clad buildings, narrow angled streets and cobblestone paths. The Exchange District is an arts and cultural hub which features a thriving film, arts and music scene with many studios, art spaces, festivals and events. The Exchange District is in downtown Winnipeg just north of Portage and Main. It derives its name from the Winnipeg Grain Exchange, the center of the grain exchange in Canada. The Exchange District is the historic center of commerce in Western Canada. The District developed from the banks of the Red River at the foot of Bannatyne and Dermot Avenues. Most commercial traffic came along the Red River from St. Paul, Minnesota where the nearest rail line passed. Goods were shipped to Winnipeg by steamer during high water in spring. The Canadian Pacific Railway built its transcontinental line through Winnipeg which arrived in 1881. Thousands of settlers came west from Europe and Eastern Canada to farm the land. Winnipeg business developed quickly to meet the needs of the growing western population. The Winnipeg Grain and Produce Exchange was founded in 1887 and within a few years Winnipeg was one of the world's fastest-growing grain centers. Winnipeg was also one of the largest rail centers in North America with twelve lines passing through the city by 1890 and there were over eighty wholesale businesses located in the District. Wholesale goods were shipped in from Lake Superior ports in the spring and grain was shipped out from Winnipeg to the Lakehead in the fall. The Exchange represented Canada throughout the world and it largely financed Winnipeg's growth. Together with a strong world economy supported by an increase in gold reserves, the Exchange attracted many British and Eastern Canadian banks, trust, insurance and mortgage companies to the District to do business.