Description of Historic Place

The Henderson Building, a five-storey mill-constructed brick facility built in 1910, stands on a corner site near the western edge of Winnipeg's historic downtown warehouse district. The City of Winnipeg designation applies to the building on its footprint and the following interior elements: tin ceilings, columns and beams, and the wood partition with windows in the main-floor shipping room.

Heritage Value

The Henderson Building, a large structure in an Edwardian-era transitional style, is a serviceable example of the multi-use factory, storage and office facilities built in the latter stages of pre-1914 development in Winnipeg's central warehouse district. Architect D.W. Bellhouse's design crosses from the Romanesque Revival style commonly found in the district to a restrained functional expression of the later Chicago School, with its verticality and grid-like organization of windows and wall surfaces. The sturdy, little-altered building, a mannerly neighbour to a street of period warehouse giants, has consistently accommodated the types of businesses for which its district has been so important, including clothing manufacturers, such as the first owner-occupant, R.J. Henderson, printing companies, wholesalers and commercial agents.

Source: City of Winnipeg Standing Policy Committee on Property and Development Minutes, October 4, 2005

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the Henderson Building site include:
- the prominent corner location at southwest Bannatyne Avenue and Adelaide Street
- the building's situation, set flush to public sidewalks on two sides (east and north) and in proximity to other designated sites, notably the Kelly Residence and Western Glove Works to the south

Key elements that define the building's restrained exterior character include:
- the substantial rectangular form, five storeys high on a raised basement, of mill construction with a concrete foundation, brick walls and flat roof
- the primary facades' juxtaposition of architectural styles, Romanesque Revival in their bulk, rough textures and near symmetry; Chicago School in their vertical emphasis, flattened wall surfaces and grids of multiple flat-headed windows; modestly Neo-Classical in their detailing
- the shared features of the primary facades, including bases delineated from the upper storeys by the use of rusticated and smooth-cut limestone and channelled brickwork, fenestration aligned vertically in recessed bays capped by corbelled brick, the modest corbelled brick and stone cornice, the parapet, etc.
- the primary facades' distinctive features, including the east's three-bay division, paired windows, banded stone and brick entranceway, and the north's seven bays, single windows, west-corner vehicle entrance leading to a rare interior loading bay, etc.
- the plain west and south sides, finished in common clay brick and with few windows irregularly placed
- the modest details, including the rough-cut stone windowsills, rooftop flagpole, brick chimney, etc.

Key elements that define the building's interior character include:
- the exposed internal frame of large square wooden posts and beams in an open plan
- all floors, including the basement, finished with pressed tin ceilings and floors of golden oak
- features such as the wood and glass shipping room partition, loading dock doors with intact hardware, small basement and main-floor vaults, etc.