Bridge Drive-In

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An iconic Winnipeg ice cream shop, the Bridge Drive-In is housed in a simple, modernist structure, a home as functional as it is relaxedly elegant. Leslie Stechesen's straightforward International Style design leaves steel I-beams and trusses exposed, with a small overhang sheltering patrons as they reach the long metal counter to order, atop a short and broad podium. Exterior cladding consists of a limited set of materials: glass, brick and tile. As implied by the shop's name, the facility stands adjacent to the Elm Park Bridge, a metal trussed bridge dating to 1912.

John W. Graham, in his 1960 book "A Guide to the Architecture of Greater Winnpeg" said of the building: "This tiny ice cream stand, suggestive of a little market stand is noteworthy as much for its straightforward design as for its restrained yet gay advertising and lettering. No other roadside concession in the city approaches the high quality of this one."

Previously located at the stand's Jubilee Avenue location was the The Bungalow grocery store, which was destroyed by fire in the spring of 1957. The Bungalow store had, in the 1930s, been been a popular warm-up location for those engaged in winter sports on the river.