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245
McDermot Avenue
Stovel Block (Kay Building)
Built:
1893,1900
Heritage
Status:
Grade II (1998)
Architect:
Hugh McCowan
(Winnipeg)
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The Stovel Co.
was a Winnipeg-based printing enterprise that gained a regional
reputation for quality and technically innovative production.
The firm was established
in 1889 by brothers John, Augustus and Chester Stovel who had come
to Winnipeg from Mount Forest, Ontario. They retained their plant
at 245 McDermot from 1893 until a 1916 fire forced them to build
a new facility on Bannatyne Avenue.
Their company
merged in 1950 with Advocate Printers Ltd. The new entity, Stovel-Advocate
Press Ltd., continued to operate until the mid-1970's. Following
the post-fire reconstruction of 245 McDermot, the Stovel's leased
the premises to the T.Eaton Co. and later to various suppliers associated
with the needle trades.
The property was
sold in 1940 to Kay's Ltd., a dry goods enterprise begun in the
early 1900's by Hyman Kay, who came to Winnipeg from Russia.
In 1995 Kay’s Ltd. amalgamated with a Winnipeg company and vacated the premises.
Shortly thereafter a nightclub operated out of a portion of the building, until Richard Walls, of Winnipeg-based ADI Designworks, purchased the property in 1998.
Significance
of Design and Site
The Stovel Block
was designed in the Romanesque Revival style common to Winnipeg's
historic Exchange District. Its three finished (east, south and
west) elevations display textured detailing, a curved corner bay,
brick pilasters, and large windows set in round and segmental arches.
Other ornamentation
is provided by brick string courses, stone lug sills, patterned
brick window heads with keystones, a corbelled and arcaded brick
cornice, and large pilaster caps. The surrounds of the now-altered
corner entrance include a stylized rusticated stone arch and columns.
This structure,
extending along the north side of McDermot Avenue between Arthur
and King streets, is an integral part of a streetscape that is lined
between Albert and Adelaide streets with pre- and early post-1900
warehouse-office buildings and hotels.
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