Buildings

171 Donald Street

Formerly:Menno Building
Use:Office building
Original Use:Commercial
Constructed:1963–1964; 1968
Other Work:1968, Addition added
1978, 1979, 1980 and 1985, Interior renovations
Architects:George A. Stewart
Contractors:Fort Garry Construction Co. (1963)
Benjaminson Construction Co. (1968 addition)

More Information

Local architect George A. Stewart designed the Crosstown Credit Union Building (formerly the Menno Building), located at 171 Donald Street. Commissioned by the Crosstown Credit Union Society Ltd., the building was constructed between 1963 and 1964, for a cost of $250,000.

The building was the second home for the society, and their first major construction project. Originally housed in rented office space, at 116 Isabel, the purpose-built structure marked the growth and success of the Credit Union in the early 1960s.

The exterior of the building is faced with red brick on concrete block walls. The primary entrance is located on the west elevation, and opens to a partially open main floor. Above the entrance, glazing allows for the public to glimpse into the interior stairway and concourse area, intended to suggest a sense of symbolic transparency suitable for the needs and goals of a then rapidly expanding Crosstown Credit Union.

A two level addition added in 1968 (bringing the structure to 4 storeys), at a cost of $300,000 allowed additional room for the Credit Union to centralize its services. The 1968 addition also included a rear addition. The building continues to house a branch of the Crosstown Credit Union.

Design Characteristics

  • Site: 100 foot frontage (30.48 metres)
  • Plan area: 4,198 square feet (390 square metres)
  • Gross floor area: 26,137 square feet (2,428.13 square metres)
  • Cost of construction: $250,000
  • Masonry with steel frame construction, four storeys with basement, brick on concrete block walls, reinforced concrete floors and roof, elevator penthouse, partial open floor plan on main floor

Sources

  • "One Aroused Man...Then a Company of Men," Manitoba Business Journal, 3 (February/March 1967), pp. 40-41.
  • "Project reviews," Manitoba Business Journal, 4 (February/March 1967), pp. 38.