1904 – T. Eaton Co., Portage Avenue, Winnipeg, Manitoba

For years the focal point of downtown Winnipeg, the former Eatons Department Store was demolished to make way for a much criticised entertainment complex (at the time). The Portage Avenue Eaton’s was the Eaton company’s first department store built outside of Toronto. Fortunately the linked Eaton Place building has been spared. The photographs here were taken in December 2002 as demolition was underway. Originally the building was five storeys in height with an elaborate cornice, the top three being added in 1910. Some of the finer details of the ruined shopfront can be seen, including the decorative carving and the fine bronze window frames. Like many other buildings of the period Eatons was built around a steel structure with a brick facade added as cladding. Two materials, red brick and Bedford stone were used with simplicity; in modular fashion expressing the steel frame structure behind. Forty-two large plate glass show windows, one bay width each lined the ground floor.