1906 – Kelly House, Carlton Street, Winnipeg

Sited at the corner of Carlton Street and Assiniboine Avenue, a prominent house that was part of a cause célèbre in Winnipeg and ultimately seized by the provincial government. A scandal relating to the construction of the Legislative Building caused the fall of the Premier, and contractor Thomas Kelly, whose house this was, to be sentenced to two and a half years in Stony Mountain Penitentiary. Local legend has it that the columns are the same as some inside the Legislative Building but as the house predated it, it remains an attractive story.

The architects Barber and Klutz of Knoxville, Tennessee were best known for producing pattern books used across the United States and Canada. George Franklin Barber (1854-1915) was not related to the earlier prominent Winnipeg firm of Barber & Barber. As a contractor, Thomas Kelly would have been well suited to constructing his own home from supplied plans. After a number of uses including an hotel and restaurant, it was demolished in 1965. An apartment tower was constructed on the site and some of the columns rescued to add a portico to the main entrance.

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