Empire Hotel Facade Remnants
Winnipeg

Designation Date: February 18, 1976
Designation Authority: Honourable R.E. Toupin, Minister of Tourism, Recreation and Cultural Affairs
Present Owner: The City of Winnipeg

The Empire Hotel, designed by architect L.A. Desey, was built in 1881-1883 for Lieutenant-Governor Joseph Cauchon. The building originally served as commercial and office space; conversion to use as a hotel was undertaken in 1904. The architecture is interesting (an interpretation of Italian Renaissance palaces), but not more so than many other commercial buildings of the era. What makes the Empire Hotel significant, and unique in Manitoba, is its construction. Where other buildings of the time were faced with wood or brick, the main facades of the Empire Hotel were covered with metal. The pressed metal was supplied by the firm of Linklater and Deslauriers; Vulcan Iron Works fabricated the metal columns. Only three others of this type of construction are known to have been built in Canada. When the Empire was demolished in 1981, the metal cladding was dismantled and preserved in storage.