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In 1980, after years of debate, Brandon tore down one of the finest buildings ever to grace the citys skyline: the CNRs Prince Edward Hotel. June 2012 would have been the centennial of the hotels opening in 1912. To mark the occasion, the Brandon Sun published a five-part history of the Prince Eddy and the memories it has left behind.
A new feature was printed every Saturday in June. They are compiled here.
Printed June 2: The railway builds Printed June 9: Heyday of the hotel Printed June 16: Decline of a giant Printed June 23: Debate, then demolition Printed June 30: Scars left on a city
Much more is collected online, at brandonsun.com/PrinceEdwardHotel and we invite you to share your stories with us there.
a publication of
Originally printed in the Brandon Sun print edition, June 2, 9, 16, 23 and 30, 2012
SPECIAL FEATURE A3
ABOVE: Workers pose on wooden scaffolding during the construction of the Prince Edward Hotel in Brandon in August 1911. The attached train station to the south appears nearly complete. Note The Brandon Roller Rink to the west. (This print is from the S.A. Magnacca Research Centre at the Daly House Museum, but identical prints also exist at the SJ McKee Archives and in the Brandon Sun les)
ABOVE: An architects drawing of the proposed Canadian Northern Hotel and Station seen from the northeast. A version of this sketch was published at least twice in the Brandon Daily Sun: June 3, 1910 and again Aug. 14, 1911. (Courtesy the SJ McKee Archives / Brandon University) LEFT: A Sun story touting the deal as done, from Dec. 28, 1909. (Brandon Sun le / Manitobia.ca)
law and that residents along Lorne Avenue might demand compensation. It was felt that the hotel would be more than worth the traffic inconvenience, but for months, city representatives tied themselves up in knots trying to figure out a way to build a pedestrian bridge or a subway underneath the tracks all at CNR expense. When the by-law to close Lorne and fix the tax exemption finally came to a city-wide ratepayer vote, at the end of February 1910, long articles in the Sun touted the benefits from giving a little to get a lot. To me it almost seems impossible to state the value we shall receive by having this hotel in our city, said acting mayor Francis J. Clark in a lengthy speech, much of which was published verbatim by the Brandon Sun. His points resonated: heavy turnout at the polls voted nearly all in favour of the Brandon is seen in 1892, well before the building of the Prince bylaw. Edward Hotel. Looking southwest from Seventh Street and Princess But its not clear whether Avenue, the Salvation Army Citadel (in background, top-right) was Lorne Avenue was ever then on the site of Prince Edward Hotel. Notice then-new City Hall actually closed. Certainly no with tower and opera house. The Beaubier Hotel is on right, near bridge or subway was ever centre. (From The Assiniboine Basin by Martin Kavanagh) built. Meanwhile, plans for the hotel were being hammered out. Although preliminary depot surveying had started in spring, 1909, the real work was being done that summer and fall in meeting rooms, as the city and the CNR carried out a very public courtship. A draft proposal had come in October but city aldermen wanted to make sure it was good enough to attract high-end travellers for their growing city. This class of people wont stay in Brandon, complained Ald. Clark at a city council meeting in 1909, And why? Because they cant get first-class accommodation. In fact, he said, they were choosing Carberry and Virden instead! The railway was quick to respond, coming back in early December with plans that Crews pave Ninth Street north of Rosser Avenue in September 1911 as the Prince Edward Hotel rises showed the splendid new in the background. Also in this photo is the King George Cafe, the A.E. McKenzie Building and the hotel (will) be one of the finest structures of its kind in Clement Block. (Courtesy the SJ McKee Archives / Brandon University)
depot is built it will be time to erect a landing in the upper part of it for airships, the Sun snarked. Then, in February 1909, city manufacturer John Hanbury upped the ante. In a private meeting with CNR officials in Winnipeg, he proposed that the railway add a hotel on to their planned-for depot. Hanbury reported back to the Brandon Board of Trade that the company seemed favourable and the Brandonboosters at the board of trade sprang into action. Within a few months, the city and the company were in heavy negotiations. The city wanted a bigger hotel; the CNR agreed. The CNR wanted a 20-year tax exemption; the city said 10 they eventually split the difference. But the sticking point would prove to be the railways demands that Lorne Avenue be closed between Ninth Street and 10th Street, to allow their tracks to cross unobstructed. At a city council meeting in October 1909, the city solicitor warned aldermen that closing the avenue would require a by-
Looking south along Ninth Street, this 1911 photo shows the Prince Edward Hotel under construction, as well as City Hall and at extreme left, St. Pauls Church. (I.C. Barton, courtesy the SJ McKee Archives)
the West. Even these early plans, drawn up by Winnipeg architects Pratt & Ross, showed some familiar details a hotel along Princess Avenue with the railway station stretching south along Ninth Street. Inside, the fixtures were to be up to date in every respect. There was only one problem from the citys point of view: the plans only called for five storeys (which included the basement) and just 60 to 70 bedrooms. A committee of aldermen hastened to Winnipeg to meet with the company, emerging from a post-Christmas negotiation with an agreement to expand the hotel by two storeys, bringing it to an even 100 rooms. Managing to squeeze in a meeting on Dec. 29, 1909, city council agreed, in principle, to close Lorne Avenue and to exempt the hotel from most of its taxes. Over the next few months, all details were hammered out in full view of a curious public. The Brandon Daily Sun printed extensive details of the proposed settlements several times. The bylaw sailed through a city-wide vote at the end of February 1910 and many believed the hotel would be built by the end of the year. That wasnt to be the case. Work in earnest didnt begin until June when an architects drawing of the $150,000 hotel appeared in print for the first time. Continued Next Page
MORE ONLINE: Did the hotels furniture really plummet to the bottom of the north Atlantic? Exactly how did a broken sidewalk interfere with hotel construction? Who was Prince Edward, and why was the hotel named after him? PLUS: Browse original source material, including Brandon Daily Sun articles from the 1910s and early photographs.
brandonsun.com/PrinceEdwardHotel
Brandons
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Brandon firefighters show how high their ladder will stretch up the side of the Prince Edward Hotel in the early 1910s. This photo is taken from the east side of the hotel, facing Ninth Street. Princess Avenue is at the right of the image. (Courtesy S.A. Magnacca Research Centre, Daly House Museum)
the city especially bright and attractive. It worked. The hotel immediately focused attention on Brandon as a city growing in both size and importance. The Winnipeg Saturday Post published lavish photos of the hotels interior. The Manitoba Free Press said that it showed how much confidence the CNR had in Brandon: This hotel is one worthy of a city of 50,000. Brandons population is 16,000. Less than a year after the hotels triumphant opening, it seemed briefly that the imposing edifice would be just the start of something even bigger. Prince Edward Hotel May Have To Be Enlarged, was the headline in April 1913. This palatial building has become so popular with travelling salesmen that the rooms are packed, the Sun wrote, noting that the Prince Extensive details of the hotels Grand Opening gala were printed in Edward had had to requisition the next days paper, including details of every ladys gown. (Brandon space at other city hotels to deal Sun le / Manitobia.ca) with the overflow. It is known that the building was constructed so as to permit of another two storeys being added, and the possibility of this move being carried out is made a probability. But it was not to be. The First World War was just around the corner.
Phone 728-6681 Fax 726-8457
The hotels construction was slowed by at least three strikes serious business, at the time. (Brandon Sun le / Manitobia.ca)
NEXT WEEK: Tough times for the city, but the heyday of the hotel
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SPECIAL FEATURE A3
An early postcard of the Prince Edward Hotel, with the Canadian Northern depot attached at the rear of the hotel. Valentine & Sons Publishing / Courtesy the Brandon General Museum and Archives, Inc.
The Prince Edward Hotel is partially hidden behind trees. Compare their size in this photo to the postcard at the top-right of the page. Terence J. Fowler Photography / Courtesy the Brandon General Museum and Archives, Inc.
Prince Edward, two principles were explained, he wrote later in his memoirs. 1. You were working for Canadian National Railways, as an integral part of its services and 2. Personal service was not menial, but in fact a very honourable profession. Employees of the hotel, Stuckey says, would go out of their way to ensure the comfort of their guests. Some requests were interesting, but we were resourceful Some large tips were suspected of being hush money, which was not necessary as we rigidly followed the rule of the three monkeys. More than 50 years later, Stuckey continued to keep hotel guests secrets, although he wasnt above dropping hints. I could tell interesting stories ... like the professional safe-cracker, he said. But of course, he stayed discreet. With employees so dedicated, it was no wonder that, even when circumstances conspired against the hotel, it acquitted itself with grace. A massive railway strike in 1950 shutting down freight service on the eve of the Korean War sent hotel employees out to the picket line. After all, they worked for the railway, too. Guests and management took it in stride. Theyre making their own beds, but they seem to like it, hotel manager H.L. Morgan told the Sun. Managers were running the switchboard and the union made some provision for elevator service, the paper wrote. A week and a half later, when the strikers were ordered back to work by the federal government, the Sun noted that breakfast was served at the hotel for the first time in 10 days. Breakfast seems an odd detail to note, until its realized that at the time, the Prince Edward Hotel was just about the only establishment in town to serve full restaurant meals. It also had that railroad silver and the railroad linen, adding to the feeling of grandeur that went with hotel eating, remembered Sun associate editor Garth Stouffer, years later. Elegance was an important
Brandons
The private dining room at the Prince Edward Hotel, seen here in about 1912, shortly after it opened. Photo courtesy the SJ McKee Archives / Brandon University.
draw for the hotel. Blue-blooded guests included, in 1919, the very Prince Edward that the hotel had been named after. Throngs had also filled the streets shortly after the hotels opening, for the Duke of Connaught, then Canadas Governor General and father The Prince Edward Hotel stood proudly in the middle of this skyof Princess Patricia. The Earl of Athlone and line scene from a Brandon postcard, seen from across the Assiniboine River. Terence J. Fowler Photography / Courtesy Princess Alice slept at the hotel, the Brandon General Museum and Archives, Inc. as did Viscount Alexander of Tunis. It was speculated that Lord Tweedsmuir may have written some of his John Buchan prose at the Prince Edwards desks. The Duke of Devonshire, Viscount Willingdon of Ratton and the Earl of Bessborough For many years, college by a bon mot quotation. rounded off the list of viceregal Samuel Johnson was graduation in Brandon visitors. meant a banquet dinner at selected to accompany a A number of notable toast to the graduating ladies: the Prince Edward Hotel. politicians also stayed at the I like their beauty, I like their It was one of the few Prince Edward. William Lyon venues in the city large delicacy, MacKenzie-King may have I like their vivacity, and I like enough for such a gathering been the first sitting Prime and it was certainly the only their silence. Minister to visit, but R.B. The S.J. McKee Archives location classy enough. Bennet and Louis St. Laurent In 1937, Brandon College preserves a few remaining soon followed. Their private arts graduates preparing to copies of the program from railway cars waited for them in enter their post-collegiate that evening. Some were the station. lives spent a celebratory signed by friends and fellow Entertainers like dancer Sally evening in the Prince graduates, like yearbooks are Rand, pianist Jan Cherniavski, Edwards dining room, today. mezzo-soprano Gladys Not recorded is what the feasting on roast larded beef Swarthout and actress Gracie tenderloin, chateau potatoes ladies chose for a juicy retort. Fields were some of the other and giant peas au buerre. famous faces who stayed at the Flip through images of There was a full menu of Prince Edward. speeches and entertainment the program itself, online. as well each accompanied (Continued next page)
The Prince Edward Hotel takes central billing in this 1913 panoramic photograph of downtown Brandon. The photo, used as the cover for a promotional booklet about the city, appears to have
been taken from atop the McKenzie Seeds building one of the few from that era that still remains standing in Brandons downtown. Davidson & Gowan / Courtesy Kenneth Jackson
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MORE ONLINE: See the graduation menu from the hotel in 1937. How the country and the Prince Edward coped during that massive railway strike. Read Lawrence Stuckeys full memoirs of being a bellboy in the early 40s. PLUS: Browse original source material, including mid-century Brandon Sun articles and photographs of the hotel.
brandonsun.com/PrinceEdwardHotel
Park lawn bowling club, all held their meetings at the Prince Edward Hotel. Sometimes, they welcomed district or provincial conventions. And the hotel was a natural choice to host even bigger events such as a celebratory kickoff banquet the night before the 1932 inauguration of the International Peace Garden. It was probably the most notable gathering of its kind ever held in the city, the Sun said the next day. The Prince Edward had been so cramped with honourable men that the womens banquet had to be relegated to the Cecil Hotel. For decades, the hotel traded on that air of exclusivity, occupying such a central place in Brandon that it seemed impossible for it to ever be otherwise. But the end would come more swiftly than anyone could imagine. Without notice, in 1975 the Prince Edward would suddenly shut its doors. NEXT WEEK: A once-proud hotel slides into decay
Crowds throng Princess Avenue in Brandon to see the Governor the Prince Edward Hotel to catch a glimpse of the Governor GenGeneral of Canada, HRH the Duke of Connaught, during his eral, including one man who was standing at the corner of the visit to Brandon on Oct. 24, 1912. Note the people on the roof of top-most ledge. SJ McKee Archives / Brandon University
Two views of the hotels sumptuous interior, taken shortly after (at right). The hotels glamour would last for years, linger even its opening, including the Royal Suite (at left) and the Rotunda longer, and is remembered still. Clark J. Smith / SJ McKee Archives, Brandon University
A national settlement agreement that settles all litigation in Canada relating to Vioxx has been reached and hearings have been scheduled to seek approval by the courts.
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The Defendants, while not admitting liability, will pay a sum of approximately $33,112,500, subject to a possible increase to up to $36,881,250 or decrease to no less than $21,806,250, depending upon the number of eligible claims filed. Eligible claimants who had an ischemic stroke (or their estates) will receive a payment of no more than $5,000. The size of payments to eligible claimants who had a myocardial infarction or sudden cardiac death (or their estates) will be based on the number of approved claims and other factors, including length of duration of use of Vioxx and risk factors including age, smoking, high cholesterol, hypertension, diabetes, obesity, family history, alcohol or drug abuse. Spouses and children of eligible claimants who had a myocardial infarction or sudden cardiac death may also be eligible for settlement payments. If you, your spouse or parent, or a deceased person for whom you are the personal representative took Vioxx and then experienced a heart attack (myocardial infarction), sudden cardiac death or ischemic stroke, you should immediately review the full legal notice in this matter to ensure you understand your legal rights, including your rights to participate in the hearing at which Class Counsel will seek approval of the settlement. A copy of the full legal notice can be viewed at www.vioxxclassactionsettlement.ca from the Administrator who can be reached at 1-888-507-8759 or from Class Counsel at www.vioxxnationalclassaction.ca who can be reached as follows: All provinces except Quebec and Saskatchewan: Harvey T. Strosberg, Q.C. Tel: Fax: Email: Tel: Fax: Email: Tel: Fax: Email: Tel: Fax: Email: 1.800.229.5323 (toll free) 1.866.316.5308 (toll free) vioxxclassaction@strosbergco.com 1.800.461.6166 (toll free) 1.519.672.6065 michael.peerless@siskinds.com 1.416.348.7500 1.416.348.7505 kp@toughcounsel.com 1.866.881.2292 (toll free) 1.416.363.0263 jrochon@rochongenova.com
Michael J. Peerless
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Irwin I. Liebman
This notice contains a summary of some of the terms of the Settlement Agreement. If there is a conflict between this notice and the Settlement Agreement, the terms of the Settlement Agreement shall prevail.
SPECIAL FEATURE A3
The Prince Edward Hotel provided this photo of itself on postcards in the late 1960s. Stay at the Big One read the back. there was a $55,000 mortgage on the depot portion behind the hotel, then being run as the Red Caboose nightclub, which was also to be closed. The hotel also hadnt been paying its taxes. Property taxes alone had been in arrears for three years and the bill was $180,000. Unpaid business taxes reportedly raised that amount closer to $300,000. That brought the total owing to $800,000 the equivalent of nearly $3.5 million today. The business simply wasnt making enough money to pay its bills. As a hotel, it is obsolete, said Don Penny, a Brandon accountant who was acting as a local agent for the courtappointed receiver. Its too old. People dont go to old hotels. Too old and obsolete, it was also, at that time, unwanted repeatedly offered for sale, to no buyers, the city would eventually take reluctant ownership through tax arrears. It was quite a comedown for the once-proud giant. Perhaps the first sign of the Prince Edward Hotels eventual demise could have been spied as far back as 1955. Certainly, in the mid-50s the railway hotel was still at the peak of its glamour and was the undeniable centre of Brandon society, but it was also no longer the asset it once had been. The Canadian National Railway, receiving an unsolicited bid for some of its properties, decided it was time to move on and put it on the market. The Prince Edward was sold as part of a package two hotels and two resorts to a syndicate headed by Walter F. Thorn of Moose Jaw, Sask. The syndicate, variously known as T and A Hotels or A-T Hotels, paid $915,000 for the four properties, which included Brandons Prince Edward, the Prince Arthur Hotel in Port Arthur, Ont., Minaki Lodge on Lake of the Woods and Pictou Lodge in Nova Scotia. It was a steal of a deal so much so that it caused a minor flap in Parliament. A Winnipeg MP claimed that Minaki Lodge alone could have been sold for $2 million. On the whole, though, it seemed at the time like good news. The new owners pledged to maintain the hotels traditional high standard of service and efficiency. And Walter Thorn turned out to be a former resident of the city. Ive always liked Brandon, Thorn said as he announced a series of modernizations to the Prince Edward. Plans included getting rid of staff quarters on the top floor to make room for more guest rooms and a complete update
Brandons
A front view of the Prince Edward Hotel in 1968, when it was a CAA-approved lodging, about to play host to a Manitoba Chambers of Commerce meeting.
At the same location, in a 1979 echo of the photo at top-right, a sign reading Jesus saves, Devil destroys has been nailed to the boarded-up front door of the Prince Edward Hotel.
of the plumbing. A coffee shop is planned for the west side of the basement, which would replace the former sample rooms, the Sun wrote of the plans. Also, there will be a lounge or waiting room, an up-to-the-minute lunch counter. Just a few years later, as the Prince Edward celebrated its 50th anniversary, Brandon was preparing for 30,000 visitors to crowd the city for the 1963 Brier curling championships. And the Prince Eddys new owners unveiled even more renovations. The austere formality of the high ceilings (in the foyer) has been replaced by a neutral colour lighting brought down to a 12-foot level, the Sun wrote. Two new banquet rooms have been added on the first floor, one replacing a former sitting room reserved for elite guests. The hotel boasted that each of the rooms now had a full bath or shower. As well, room rates had been dropped and food charges have remained within the moderate price range. And despite all the work
Advertisements, like this one in the 1972 Henderson Directory, were unnecessary in the hotels early days. In the years before it closed, the hotel dramatically ramped up its promotional efforts. theyd already put into it, T and A Hotels said they werent done yet. To help mark the hotels 50th anniversary, new flooring, a front-door facelift and a new parking lot were all proposed. Most stunningly, sometime in the future, a swimming pool is planned on the lower level. Years later, not all of the changes were remembered kindly she was chopped up, wrote Sun associate editor Garth Stouffer in 1975. But at the very least, money was being invested in the upkeep of the hotel; the owners had a future planned for it. That wouldnt be the case for much longer. In fact, the Prince Edward Hotel was about to begin a slow, inexorable slide that would eventually threaten to put Roxy Cosgrove out on the streets, embroil the city in bitter fights and finally, lead to the hotels demolition. Reading between the lines, decades after the fact, its possible to discern a whiff of desperation in the hotels advertising. In its early years, the Prince Edward hardly even deigned to advertise. That changed after T and A Hotels took over. Soon, more ads began to appear. Then, they got larger and more prominent. The implications were clear the hotel was having trouble filling its dining room seats. Through the 1960s, the ads began to turn gimmicky. (Story continued on Page 4)
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in brief
Hive of villainy?
The Red Caboose was a popular pub in the final few years of the Prince Edward Hotel, but it wasnt just popular among people looking to tip one back. For a while, police say, it was also the hub of Brandons largest marijuana distribution system. Mounties busted the drug gang on Valentines Day 1974, arresting the leader and a trio of sidekicks. It was, at the time, the RCMPs largest-ever undercover operation in Manitoba. At the sentencing, court heard that the 21-year-old ringleader was already out on parole for narcotics offences and he bragged about it as he sold more drugs. In fact, he even managed to fit in routine visits to his parole officer while also pushing pot. Unfortunately for the criminals, some of those sales were being made to undercover police officers. RCMP say their officers bought an ounce of marijuana three times and once managed to buy a whole pound, before they made their arrests. One man got a five-month sentence and another two accomplices were each sentenced to 18 months for their roles in the sales. The leader was walloped with a five-year sentence. The Red Caboose wouldnt be there when he got out.
The Prince Edward Hotel wasnt the only historic Brandon building threatened by progress during that era. A needed housing complex was built at Fifth Street and Lorne Avenue. But until March of 1977, that corner was once home to the finest frame house in Manitoba: Hanbury House. For decades, Hanbury Manufacturing was one of Brandons biggest employers, although, like all big companies, the company had its detractors especially in the Duck Mountains, where much of Hanburys timber rights were located. Old-timers of that area recall with hate the name of Hanbury, wrote Kaye Rowe in a 1977 Brandon Sun feature. He was the man whose crews denuded a wide landscape of its trees. But the lumber baron, who also owned a mill to turn the trees into windows and doors, certainly had a beautiful home. The 14-room house was noted for its delicate wood carving over the porticos, with matching work on the veranda and fence. A giant fireplace dominated the living room, with another fireplace in the master bedroom. The butlers pantry was elegant in panels of fine wood and stainedglass partitions. The den to the right of the main entrance had been an office, music room and nookery where children could play quiet games or read. The grounds, too, were immaculate, and used for lavish entertaining or for games of croquet. The home, however, passed out of the Hanbury family before the Second World War. It was rented out, used by the Salvation Army to house visiting wives and mothers of service personnel. Then, it was carved up into small apartments. And then it was demolished. (See online for more on both these stories.)
It was, of course, not the first time in recent years that the hotel had been on the block. In a 1970 letter to city council, a Winnipeg real estate agent wrote, We have for sale the Prince Edward Hotel and also the CNR property which is now on option to the present owners of the hotel. There were no takers then. As late as December 1974, just a month before the hotel was shuttered, there were rumours that a Winnipeg firm had been nosing around with its eye on the hotel and had plans to renovate it, but that deal fell through. This time, though, the price was rock-bottom. Buyers would get a six-storey structure, rich in history and located on prime real estate in the citys core then still Brandons most desirable retail sector. For a quarter of a million bucks ... the community could have quite a centre for many things, associate editor Stouffer wrote in a column, musing on the possibilities of renovation. Unfortunately, that money would only buy the building itself. To pay off the debts that had forced the hotels closure, everything inside was about to be auctioned. Billed as Brandons Biggest Auction, the three-day sale at the end of March disposed of antique furniture, original hotel furniture, lamps, beds, tables, utensils, bedding, chairs, hundreds of articles too numerous to list. It was so popular that they charged $1 admission. In short, the hotel had been closed for less than two months and it had already been looted. Seeing the writing on the wall, the city made arrangements to assume responsibility for heating and power at the hotel. Crews boarded up the doors and windows and the owners provided a key for spot checks and fire safety.
Two ads that ran in the newspaper shortly after the hotel closed in 1975. A prospective buyer could have picked up the hotel for a quarter-million dollars but the interior furnishings would be auctioned off separately. Two years later, the clock finally ran out on the owed taxes and the city officially became hotel owners. It was May 1977 and although no one knew it at the time, the vacated hotel had less than three years left. They were to be a tumultuous three years: The Prince Edward Hotel wouldnt go down without a fight. (Next week: A civic debate ends in demolition)
MORE ONLINE: Further details about Brandons historic Hanbury House. What about old city hall? Why the crumbling structure wasnt saved. Memories of the Red Caboose, taken from the police blotter. PLUS: Browse original source material, including Brandon Sun articles from the time and photographs of the hotel.
brandonsun.com/PrinceEdwardHotel
Thank You
We experienced a very traumatic event Tuesday night when someone decided that starting a car on fire is some sort of entertainment. This event came very close to ending the lives of our family, you will have to live with that, not sure how one gets to a mindset of this nature. We would like to thank the Brandon Police Department, Fire Department, Cancade Restoration, Dick Agencies and Wawanesa Insurance for your amazing work as well as the compassion you gave us. As for our friends, neighbors, co-workers, classmates, teammates and family, the out pouring of concern, support and compassion has completely overwhelmed us. Our gratitude and love go back to you all and wont be forgotten. In the end the material things in life are just that and we are very well aware of what really counts.
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SPECIAL FEATURE A3
A sequence of photos shows the dynamiting of the west half of the Prince Edward Hotel on Feb. 24, 1980. A crowd of people showed up to watch the blast, which was supposed to have been kept a secret. Although police erected barricades a block away, a cloud of dust and snow rushed over the onlookers.
Is it Eddy or Eddie?
Although it was officially named the Prince Edward Hotel, in the vernacular it was always the Prince Eddy. Or is that the Prince Eddie? The earliest written version appears to be Eddie but during the 70s, the Eddy form surged forward in popularity. Its counterintuitive. In the rest of the culture, prominent Eddies like Eddie Murphy, Eddie Van Halen and Eddie Money all use the -ie version. Professional cyclist Eddy Merckx may be the most famous Eddy-with-a-y. Except in Brandon, where recent usage confirms that the preferred short version is Prince Eddy.
Find out more online, including why the nickname may be considered derogatory.
Square and Round Dancing Association and the Westman Media Co-op Ltd, then holding a new license for cable television in Westman and interested in the hotels basement for its offices. At that time, in late August 1977, the damage from lack of heating was limited to peeling paint and many seemed enthusiastic about the possibility of turning the hotel into a multi-arts complex. The hotel itself had been valued at $1.4 million, which would be the citys contribution to the proposal. The federal and provincial governments were expected to kick in matching grants of $1.4 million each and that would be just about enough for the renovation, said Lewis Whitehead, then the president of the Allied Arts Centre as well as publisher of the Brandon Sun, basing his numbers on estimates from a local group of architects. Along with the library, on the top three floors, it would create enough museum space to make the city proud. The idea to turn the hotel into an arts and cultural centre survived the 1977 municipal election hardly even becoming an issue and the
new council accepted $15,000 from Ottawa for an extensive study of the idea. It took nearly a year. In March 1979, Guelph consultant David Scott was finally ready to release the results of his study.
(Continued Page 4)
Brandons
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Scott was a week away from coming to Brandon for a closed city council meeting about the report when it was leaked to the Brandon Sun. The studys contents were blockbuster news. Renovating the Prince Edward Hotel would cost more than $5 million, Scott estimated. And the whole plan relied on the province providing 90 per cent of that. For a city council that had had a hard time accepting earlier estimates in the $3 million range, the cost was staggering. An extra $2 million would be that much harder to sell to a cost-conscious group of aldermen, predicted Ald. Marie Kotyk. The news wasnt all bad. Scotts report showed that the building was still largely in good shape. The Prince Edward Hotel and annex would appear to be excellent buildings, soundly constructed and in remarkably good external condition, the report said. However, upgrades needed to bring the hotel up to snuff were estimated to cost $750,000 an expense blamed on continuing frost damage. And there were worries that the upper floors, designed for people, wouldnt be able to support a librarys worth of books. The city weighed its options, and decided for $5 million, a new library and arts building would be more cost-efficient. Indeed, it could be part of the new downtown mall. They offered the hotel for sale, one last time. Prince Edward plan scrapped said the front-page headline in the Brandon Sun on Aug. 24, 1979. The story featured two aldermen Rick Borotsik and Pat Egan musing publicly that, at that point, the hotel was destined for the wrecking ball. After no offers to purchase
Salvage workers peer over a balcony at the front of the Prince Edward Hotel as debate over the buildings future begins to wind down and demolition seems assured. the building were received, the new mayor joined their chorus. We have to face the fact that the building is not useful ... we cant leave it any longer, Mayor Ken Burgess said. City council first voted to explore demolition in late September 1979. But a former colleague wasnt about to let the building go down easily. Ive lost faith in those who are responsible for letting it get in this condition, former mayor Steve Magnacca said. It was Magnacca who would become point man in a furious campaign over the next few months to Save the Eddy. But first, an even more prominent person would lend his name to the fight. Get out pickets, lie down in front of city hall, scream and shout, renowned historian Pierre Berton advised Brandon residents during a trip to the city. Hold a funeral for it on the main street. His words galvanized supporters, but not everyone was on board. City councillors fought back. Theres probably not a stick of furniture in the building and not a solid piece of plumbing, Burgess said. Theres been a tremendous amount of vandalism and damage. Ald. Borotsik, who called the condition of the hotel dire, arranged a media tour, so that the public would get a sense of the current state of the hotel. For the first time, photos of the decaying and damaged structure were printed in the paper. The front desk had been the main target of vandals in the front lobby. Furnishings, like brass accoutrements from the fireplace, had been stolen. Graffiti marred the walls and staircases. But not everyone who illegally entered the hotel was a vandal. During those empty years in the 1970s, at least one teenaged girl was following her boyfriend up to the roof, where they would gaze out over the citys skyline. That was now-mayor Shari Decter Hirst, who recalls having many profound discussions on the roof of the vacant hotel. Although she says they never ventured inside, the incredible view from the roof is a powerful memory. It was amazing, she said. Downtown was surrounded by church spires . You felt like you could see to the edge of town, which would have been not even 26th Street. And it seemed like it would be like that forever. The roof was heavy with pigeons and studies checking the soundness of the hotel deemed it one of the more expensive fixes that the building would require. But some said that the worst was damage from the engineering studies themselves. Holes had been drilled into support pillars one was sheared straight through, although opponents argued whether frost or overzealous engineers had been responsible. The Assiniboine Historical Society charged mistreatment
Former Brandon mayor Steve Magnacca, the public face of the Save the Eddy committee, takes a final tour of the decaying interior of the hotel. by the city. They were supposedly testing (support pillars) but they did more damage than the vandals did, said Robert Coates, a society charter member. He said most of the vandalism was superficial, since the hotel had been strongly constructed, with concrete and rebar floors underneath the hardwood. Its the way the Germans built bunkers, he said. Its impossible for it to fall. It would last another 100 to 200 years if it was looked after. But the engineers said that a small amount of damage was necessary. And they added they were surprised at the low quality of the hotels construction. For a building of its age, one thing thats surprising is the (poor) quality of the concrete in there, said Bob Petri, director of the company that performed the study. Despite the sour engineering study, many still believed the building was structurally sound. Tony Griffin, a former manager of the Prince Edward who worked in the hotel from 1961-71, thought that a silent majority of city residents opposed tearing it down.
(Continued Page 5)
MORE ONLINE: One hotel, two managers and two very different opinions. The difficult birth of the Brandon Gallery, which did not get built as planned. PLUS: Browse original source material, including Brandon Sun articles from the time and never-before-published photos of the hotels wrecked interior and eventual demolition.
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But I may be a voice crying in the wilderness. A few other voices began to step forward, including another former employee of the hotel. Terry Hudson, who worked in the lounge in the 1960s, made a serious offer to the city to buy the hotel for $1, on the condition that it cancel the back taxes while he worked on salvaging the building. Hudsons plan envisioned a building full of shops, but in the meantime, it turned out that he hoped to move into the hotel and renovate it piece by piece as time and money allowed. Council passed. But the thought that someone might still be able to buy and save the building sparked several other proposals. One, from G.L. Medland, attracted brief excitement. He laid out a 10-stage renovation plan, beginning with protecting the building from the elements and climaxing with the opening of a covered walkway from the hotels upper floors to the new downtown mall. To finance his plans, Medland said he would use some parts of the Prince Edward as a hotel and rent out other spaces to cultural and arts groups. His words were backed with the offer of a $25,000 deposit. But just a day later, when it came time to actually present in front of city council, the offer was withdrawn another, better project had apparently caught his eye. At the same meeting, lacking options, aldermen decided to send out tenders for the hotels demolition.
Magnacca stepped to the forefront. The former mayor raced to collect signatures on a petition and financial pledges to save the hotel. He quickly amassed about 900 names and more than $10,000. He didnt think there would be any trouble raising hundreds of thousands more. He also said he hoped that the costs of demolition would cause city council to think twice. A restored hotel, he said, could be the best possible gift to the city for its 1982 centennial. Alas, demolition tenders were not high enough to change councils mind they eventually went with Rakowski Cartage of Winnipeg, which said it could do the job for just under $200,000. A final tour six city employees and six local business people took a look at the hotel and voted unanimously to demolish it. Dont waste my tax dollars trying to restore that building, they wrote in a statement to council. Tear it down and quickly, before it falls down and kills someone. The Prince Edwards fate was sealed at a city council meeting on Nov. 16, 1979, with an unceremonious vote for demolition. The speedy decision took some wind out of the sails of Magnaccas Save the Eddy committee, but it continued to make a series of last-ditch efforts. The group teamed up with Hudson, the man who had offered to buy the hotel for $1. More funds were raised, and
more signatures gathered. There was talk of a legal injunction and pleas to let the committee take ownership of the hotel. But mayor Burgess said it was too late. Council has made a decision and an agreement has been signed, so were legally bound, Burgess said. If its going to be demolished, now is the time we should start working on it. Magnacca, after one final tour inside the building, gave up. He said he still thought it was structurally sound, but figured that city council had long since made up its mind. You cant fight a losing battle, Magnacca said. Its ready for demolition, the way they had it planned. On Monday, Jan. 21, 1980, crews started taking down the hotel, piece by piece. They began with the Red Caboose and by early February, the night spot was just a memory. Then a wrecking ball was moved over to the hotel. The first cut is the steepest was the headline on Feb. 18, 1980, as the Sun published a picture of the building being smashed in from the front. Plans called for the Prince Edward to be cut in half and then each side would be brought down separately. It was expected to take weeks, perhaps months. But for many Brandon residents, shivering outside on a February afternoon, the death of the Prince Edward Hotel could be pinpointed to a single blast as half the hotel would be brought down by explosives.
LEFT: A worker pulls off protective plywood from a window at the Red Caboose. The word Help is scrawled on the wood. RIGHT: A couple watches from across Princess Avenue as a wrecking ball crashes into the front of the Prince Edward Hotel. The date of the demolition (Sunday, Feb. 24, 1980) was supposed to have been a secret. But hundreds knew, either through word of mouth, or because they spotted the growing crowd that day and joined it themselves. Police hastily erected barriers to keep curious onlookers at bay, a block back at Ninth Street and Lorne Avenue. It was about -14 C and completely still when, shortly after 4 p.m., carefully laid explosive charges vaporized the support columns of the east wing of the hotel. To bring down the building required less than 45 kilograms of special high-velocity dynamite. With most of the hotels weight resting on its support columns, holes were drilled into each one and the explosives inserted, engineer Harold Sultzbaugh explained. The work was made easier thanks to badly decayed concrete. The hotel had shoddy construction, he said, adding that each column had just four reinforcing rods when there should have been 10. When the dynamite was lit, the building collapsed in seconds, sending a cloud of dust and snow rushing toward curious bystanders who had gathered in a crowd. Shutters clicked, recording the implosion for posterity. Its probably one of the most photographed moments in Brandon history. It was a brief moment of excitement to punctuate the long slog of demolition. There werent enough columns in the west half of the hotel building to use dynamite on it and it was too close to a neighbouring building anyway, so crews again brought in the wrecking ball. After about two weeks of chipping away at the west side, workers figured they were about half complete. Instead, on their lunch break, they were astonished to see it unexpectedly shiver and collapse in a heap. The last of the hotel more or less sunk into the ground on its own just before 1 p.m. on March 14, 1980. The demolition company said it was lucky that no one was hurt and blamed the collapse on holes it had drilled in the basement to test equipment. But their prosaic explanation, reasonable as it may be, cant take away from the poetry of the moment the Prince Edward Hotel, for years given up on by the city, finally gave up on itself. Later that spring, an unremarkable parking lot would be opened on the hotel site. But the battle over the property was far from over. NEXT WEEK: Scars left on a city
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SPECIAL FEATURE A3
A man buys dashboard tickets on the site of the former Prince Edward Hotel in 1980, when a parking lot to replace the demolished hotel was brand-new. Parking two hours would cost you two bits back there or you could park all day for 75 cents.
Justin Borody works on a stone bench that became part of a Princess Park amphitheatre in September 1999. The stones, about to become seats for future audiences, were among the last to come from the old Prince Edward Hotel.
Four ornate crystal chandeliers prominent standouts in this modernist environment hang over the sunken foyer in city hall. They were rescued from the main dining room of the Prince Edward Hotel, which once stood just two blocks away.
New visitors to Brandons modernist city hall may be pardoned a moment of cognitive dissonance when they first look up in the lobby. Above a sunken central area, which is mostly illuminated by natural light from the front glass wall, a ceiling full of hidden fluorescent lights ensures that no shadows remain. But at each corner is a late addition. Four chandeliers hang from the ceiling, their teardrop crystals and ornate design harbouring a style that is a notch or 10 more classic than the rest of the building. Those chandeliers are refugees from the Prince Edward Hotel. The city took possession of the property in 1977 after a tax sale, and demolished it in early 1980. But before the building fell, they helped themselves to some of the nicer furnishings
that had been left behind. Only four chandeliers currently hang in city hall. There were originally at least 12 of that style in the hotels main dining room (along with another six of a different, smaller style) and the city apparently still has some of them packed away, deep in storage. Plenty of Westman residents also have bits and pieces squirreled away. Furniture, dishes and other miscellaneous items were auctioned off to pay the hotels owners bills, shortly after the doors shut for the last time, in 1975. Even today, many people have chairs, or dressers or in at least one case, former employee lockers in their homes and garages. They continue to pop up in classified ads, where from the Prince Edward Hotel adds a cachet to the items that other used furniture wouldnt have. Not everything was lovingly saved. A marble fireplace went
missing from the hotel during its vacancy apparently stolen. Others creatively re-used pieces of the hotel theyd legitimately acquired. During the demolition, Stephen Aker managed to obtain the solid oak steps from the Prince Edward Hotel. He spent the next few years carving them into artistic clocks some 40 or 50 by the time he was written up in the paper as well as a half-dozen or so plant stands. It is reasonable to assume many people in southern Manitoba have pieces of the Prince Eddie ticking away on their mantles, wrote Penny Hamm in a 1987 article that described Akers work. But for Aker, this hobby is a good tension reliever.
FIND OUT MORE ABOUT WHERE THE HOTEL ENDED UP ONLY ONLINE.
A4 SPECIAL SECTION
Then, as part of an effort to improve the image of downtown, including new limestone gateways at First and Princess, and at 18th and Rosser (a third was proposed for 10th and Victoria), council voted to permanently pave the lot in 1987 a move that seemed to signal the parking lot was at least semi-permanent. The next year, a new downtown organization, the Downtown Brandon Business Improvement Area, or BIA, was formed. It adopted parking as a major focus of its efforts, and the lot at the former Prince Edward Hotel was believed to be an asset in attracting shoppers downtown. Over the next decade, landscaping and upgrading of the Prince Edward parking lot would be discussed often, but no redevelopment proposals came forward. By the late 90s, though, something changed: People got nostalgic. A major new capital project at neighbouring Princess Park was unveiled a new fountain and performance stage. Both, as it turned out, would be partially constructed using saved limestone blocks from the Prince Edward Hotel. Its name began to ring out in newspaper articles and letters to the editor. It hadnt been this popular since its demolition. The reason? An ongoing tussle over the future of the vacant Brandon Mental Health Centre on the North Hill. Some felt that a casino up there would help pay for the historic buildings restoration. And one study proposed a residential development. They were also being touted as a possible home for a growing Assiniboine Community College. The BMHC buildings had been built at about the same time as the Prince Edward Hotel, and many drew an explicit comparison between the two excoriating the city for its failure in the 1970s, and urging elected officials to step in and save BMHC. The naysayers speak of expensive upgrading. Sure its scary, its a challenge. The Prince Edward Hotel was lost with that argument, wrote Douglas Brolund in a letter dripping with scorn. Drive by the site some time and see the improvements. But a familiar chorus was saying that BMHC wasnt
worth saving, and the buildings were too old, in too much disrepair, to save. We shouldnt be pressured to save these buildings by the vocal minority with big dreams that they cant pay for, wrote Mike Burgess in a letter to the editor. Although the buildings are very nice, they have served their purpose. It is time to cut our losses, knock them down, sell the land and begin to collect revenue from land taxes. But even Burgess, grandson of the mayor at the helm when the Prince Edward Hotel was knocked down, made a nod in the hotels direction. We as a community have learned our lesson regarding the Prince Edward Hotel and made great strides in recent years to preserve heritage buildings in Brandon, his letter continued. Lets not let feelings of regret (Prince Eddy) cloud our judgment. In the end, ACC made a partial move into refurbished buildings at BMHC, although there are still vacant buildings awaiting development. Meanwhile, problems were cropping up downtown. Despite early success, retailers were beginning to pull out of the Brandon Gallery, and the area was once again thought to be in decline. Eatons and Shoppers Drug Mart left as the mall lost half of its small retail tenants. It was a stumble that had obvious repercussions for nearby properties including the parking lot at Ninth and Princess. After all, the mall was supposed to have been a commercial anchor, ensuring that the nearby Prince Edward Hotel lot would inevitably increase in value. Thoughts of developing the parking lot faded. But then, in 2006, a group of skateboarders approached city hall with their eyes on the spot. The group had for years been trying to find land for a new skateboard park, but opposition from nearby residents had taken a 26th Street location off the table, and only a small park had been built, in an out-of-theway location near the riverbank. City council, however, had set aside money to seed the project, if an appropriate location could be found, and this time the skateboarders had enlisted some high-level supporters. Then-councillor Vince Barletta, whose Rosser Ward
included the proposed site, was an early supporter. Marlow Kirton, then managing partner of The Town Centre, was also on board as a committee member. And it didnt hurt that skateboarding shop Senate Skates was earning a reputation as a solid corporate citizen in Brandon. Council demurred at first then-Assiniboine Ward councillor Doug Paterson thought the $400,000 budget for the park sounded a bit rich for a city of Brandons size but eventually ponied up for an architectural study. A year later, plans were unveiled to great fanfare. And, in a nod to the lot it was occupying, the proposed plaza was designed to emulate and honour the Prince Edward Hotel. We have a great deal of respect for the heritage of the site, Kirton told the Sun, showing how steel trellises would emulate the look of the railway hotel, and how different areas of the skateboard plaza would bear names referencing classic locations in the building. Of course, not everyone was supportive. Im very much in favour of a skateboard park (but) I think its absolutely the wrong place for it. said downtown developer John Laurence, adding that the site would be better used for commercial development or for parking. Plans for the park, designed by Scatliff+Miller+Murray, of Winnipeg, moved forward. The price tag had inflated to an estimated price tag of $600,000 and it would eventually cost more than $1 million. But just two years later, with little controversy, most of the funding was in place, and a team of city dignitaries grabbed skateboard decks for a 2009 groundbreaking ceremony. Work on the plaza proper named after Kristopher Campbell, a Brandon teenager and skateboarder who had been killed in a car accident began in 2010, and the park officially opened later that year. A funding breakdown published at the time of the groundbreaking shows the remarkable about-face that city council made on valuing the property. Where once an intransigent city hall had turned down offers of $200,000 and $300,000 holding out for half a million, with big tax revenues, too when it came to a skateboard plaza, the land was given away for nothing. Not only did the land come free, the city of Brandon also funded thousands of dollars worth of feasibility studies. The city also provided some $125,000 in the projects early stages and its arms-length downtown development organization, Renaissance Brandon, chipped in an additional 75,000. The fact that the city was paying out cash for a
Above: Zack Hodgsen, 10, takes a jump on his BMX bike at the Kristopher Campbell Memorial Skate Plaza on Friday afternoon, as his friend Zach Gwyer, 12, circles around to take a turn behind. The skateboard park was designed right from the first designs, at right, to echo the Prince Edward Hotel.
SUBMITTED
A careful walker along the Kirkcaldy Drive dikes can peer over the side and see a jumbled mass of concrete shoring up portions of the Assiniboine River banks that would be susceptible to erosion. The city dumped about 350 truckloads of Prince Edward Hotel rubble into the river.
skateboard facility, rather than receiving tax revenue from a development has not escaped local politicians. It's a dilemma, and it happens all the time, says Mayor Shari Decter Hirst. But rarely do mayors have the luxury of being idealists. ... Im just glad that its full of life. Its a bit bittersweet, agrees Brandon East MLA Drew Caldwell, whose downtown office is nearby. It's not a cairn, which would be a travesty, frankly. At least this celebrates that at that spot, where these kids are enjoying a great sport, stood a monumental building that defined this community for more than half a century. Both say they are now focused on future heritage sites the Brandon Inn, the downtown fire hall, First Baptist Church, the Strand Theatre and additional buildings at the former Brandon Mental Health Centre site. Meanwhile, other private interests are beginning to show an interest in long-neglected buildings like the CP rail station at the foot of 10th Street, the McKenzie Seeds building, soon to be condominiums, the former MTS building on Ninth Street, as well as ongoing efforts at the Dome Building. In the discussions about all of them, though, memories of the Prince Edward Hotel and its fate cast a long shadow.
Keeping it safe
Debbie Quintaine poses with the former safe from the Prince Edward Hotel, which is now used to store routine business records for P. Quintaine and Son. She found the safe rusting away in a back yard before having it fully restored almost. Find out the whole story, including what part shes still missing, online at brandonsun.com/princeedwardhotel.
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