Vignettes
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District
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Harris Block (Hochmans Building)
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The oldest agricultural implement warehouse
in the District was constructed for A. Harris, Son & Co.
This Ontario-based agricultural implement manufacturer
opened a Winnipeg branch in 1872 to service the growing
grain industry. It built this Victorian Eclectic warehouse
with details of sheaves of wheat on the façade.
This is the third structure erected in sequence, with the
Benson and Bawlf blocks immediately to the south. All
three were built in 1882, but this third building was not
designed by Barber and Barber but by James Chisholm. The
materials, scale and design of this structure reflect a visual
relationship with the other two buildings. An arch in the
cornice once contained a statue of Ceres, a Roman goddess,
carrying a sheaf of wheat. Other alterations to this three-storey
brick structure include the removal of the iron cresting
from the cornice.
