Description of Historic Place

The 2 1/2-storey Benard House, a brick structure built in 1903, stands on a conspicuous corner site west of Central Park in a busy mixed-used neighbourhood in downtown Winnipeg. The City of Winnipeg designation applies to the building on its footprint.

Heritage Value

The Benard House, an elegant and costly home designed by Joseph Greenfield, reflects the substantial house-building traditions that typified one of Winnipeg's earliest exclusive neighbourhoods. The dwelling, with its asymmetrical composition, steeply pitched hip roof, cross gables, tower and variety of window shapes, is an excellent example of the Queen Anne Revival style, popular for residential architecture in the late nineteenth century. Originally occupied by hoteliers Hermisdas and Louisa Benard, the picturesque structure, rehabilitated for commercial and residential purposes during revitalization of the Central Park neighbourhood, has become a signature building in downtown Winnipeg.

Source: City of Winnipeg Committee on Environment Meeting Minutes, May 26, 1986

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the signature character of the Benard House site include:
- its location on a corner lot at southwest Edmonton Street and Cumberland Avenue, across from Central Park on the northwestern edge of downtown Winnipeg
- the dwelling's placement on a grassed lot with its primary facades facing east and north

Key exterior elements that define the dwelling's substantial character and Queen Anne Revival style include:
- the picturesque qualities of its asymmetrical 2 1/2-storey form, including a pavilion in the southeast corner, polygonal tower in the northeast corner and two-storey bay on the north wall
- the complex roofline composed of a steep hipped roof over the main volume, broken by north and east gable ends and south-side dormers, a moderately pitched hip roof with a west hip dormer over the rear volume, a tent roof on the tower and a tall brick chimney with corbelled detailing
- the two-storey open porch supported by wooden columns and highlighted by ornamental woodwork, including circular-framed latticework on the second storey and balustrades of turned wood
- the generous fenestration, especially on the primary facades, including tall rectangular flat-headed and segmental-arched windows, some with transoms; an oval window of leaded glass beside, and a transom above, the front entrance; the tower's small horizontal ground-floor, tall second-storey and diminished attic openings; the round-arched south window; etc.
- the various materials and finishes, such as the buff-coloured brick, brick stringcourses and detailing with soldier courses, cedar shingles, wrought-iron cresting on the roof, etc.

Key internal elements that define the building's heritage character include:
- the grand spaces off the entrance vestibule, including the living and dining rooms and large rear kitchen on the main floor and side staircase to the upper rooms
- features and finishes such as an elaborate oak fireplace with a mirrored overmantel, dark-stained oak pocket doors in the formal living and dining rooms, etc.