Vignettes
/ Exchange
District
/ McDermot
Wilson Building (Allen Building)
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This six-storey brick building was constructed in 1905
for the J.C. Wilson Company, a Quebec-based paper products
manufacturer and wholesaler. Manufacturing a wide range
of domestic and commercial paper products at mills in Montreal,
Lachute and St. Jerome, the firm established its western
wholesale operations in Winnipeg in 1902. The company subsequently
expanded with a move to its new office, shipping and show
room space at 288 McDermot.
Woodman worked on the Wilson Building with Peter Lyall and
Company, one of the city’s prominent contractors specializing
in large commercial projects. Later known as Lyall
and Mitchell, this firm also specialized in the use of machine
and hand-cut stone crafted at its own yards in Winnipeg. Both
cutting techniques are evident in the Wilson project.
