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C.V.M. Café

24 Main Street, Carberry, Manitoba, Canada

Formally Recognized: 2007/06/12

Archival view showing the C.V.M. Café in its original appearance, Carberry, ca. 1900; Carberry Plains Archives, ca. 1900
Primary Elevation
Archival view showing the C.V.M. Café in its original streetscape context (to the left of large building in the foreground), Carberry, ca. 1900; Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Culture, Heritage, Tourism and Sport, 2010
Contextual View
Contextual view, from the southwest, of the C.V.M. Cafe (far right), Carberry, 2007; Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Culture, Heritage and Tourism, 2007
Contextual View

Other Name(s)

n/a

Links and documents

Construction Date(s)

1890/01/01 to 1890/12/31

Listed on the Canadian Register: 2010/02/25

Statement of Significance

Description of Historic Place

The two-storey C.V.M. Café, a long, narrow brick structure built in the late 1890s and later expanded and modified, is situated in Historic Downtown Carberry at the south end of a series of commercial facilities of similar age, construction and function. The municipal designation applies to the building and its deep lot.

Heritage Value

The C.V.M. Café, a modest mixed-use brick structure adapted to serve for more than a half-century as a local eatery in Carberry, represents the kind of unpretentious dining facilities that are synonymous with many small-town main streets. The highly visible building also complements and supports one end of an intact row of pre-1900 commercial facilities that help define Carberry's historically designated business district. The cafe, established in the 1940s by, and named after, A.R. Calvert, W.H. Vopni and M.P. Menlove, began as a conventional western-style outlet, complete with a formal second-floor dining room. It later became a Chinese restaurant and coffee shop operated by the Kwan Yuen family, members of a long-standing line of local confectioners and restaurateurs. The Yuen's operation of the C.V.M. recalls an important Prairie tradition: the small-town Chinese restaurant. Nearly every small urban centre in Manitoba boasted a Chinese restaurant (and many still do), a source of mildly exotic food in an otherwise conventional North American market of dining-out cuisine.

Source: Town of Carberry By-law No. 5/2006, June 12, 2007

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the C.V.M. Café site include:
- the prominent location at the south end of a continuous row of pre-1900 commercial structures on the east side of Main Street between Third and Fourth avenues in Historic Downtown Carberry
- the building's placement, abutting the front public sidewalk and the Moon Apartment Building to the north, and extending nearly the full depth of the lot to the rear
- the building's physical, visual and historical connections to nearby designated structures

Key elements that define the structure's unpretentious exterior character include:
- the long, narrow, two-storey rectangular form, of brick construction, with a flat roofline, high front parapet and one-storey rear extensions, including a flat-roofed section and a concrete-block addition
- the front (west) facade's recessed off-centre main door and three, evenly spaced upper-storey windows
- the construction materials and modest details, including the brown-red finish brick under modern metal cladding, stepped brick side parapets, tall brick chimney, etc.
- the bold front signage displaying the name 'C.V.M. CAFE'

Key internal elements that define the building's heritage character and mixed-use functions include:
- the practical two-part layout, including the main floor's open front space with a high ceiling and rear kitchen and work area, the side stairwell to the basement and the upstairs living quarters
- the serviceable cafe finishes, fixtures and furnishings, including counters, a wood-and-glass display case, etc.

Recognition

Jurisdiction

Manitoba

Recognition Authority

Local Governments (MB)

Recognition Statute

Manitoba Historic Resources Act

Recognition Type

Municipal Heritage Site

Recognition Date

2007/06/12

Historical Information

Significant Date(s)

n/a

Theme - Category and Type

Developing Economies
Trade and Commerce

Function - Category and Type

Current

Historic

Commerce / Commercial Services
Eating or Drinking Establishment

Architect / Designer

n/a

Builder

n/a

Additional Information

Location of Supporting Documentation

Town of Carberry 316-4th Avenue Box 130 Carberry MB R0K 0H0

Cross-Reference to Collection

Fed/Prov/Terr Identifier

M0293

Status

Published

Related Places

n/a

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