Ryan's Boot and Shoe Store
This building that once housed Ryan's Boot and Shoe Store is one of the few buildings included on W.G. Fonseca's Bird's Eye View of Winnipeg from 1884 that still remains today. Located at 492 Main Street, the building has housed many businesses throughout it almost 140 years in the City, and has gone through a multitude of renovations throughout this time.
The building began construction in 1883, and by 1884 the Ryan's Boot and Shoe Store opened to customers. The owner of this business was Ontario-born entrepreneur and shoe-maker Thomas Ryan. He sold handmade shoes and boots, and by 1889 he was ready to expand, selling the store-front of the company to his brother George Ryan, and moved to 104 King Street to open a warehouse and office building to sell his product as a wholesaler. 104 King Street, and Ryan's latter building at 44 Princess Street also remain, with 104 King Street's facade concealing a parkade and housing multiple restaurants.
In 1900, George sold the 492 Main Street location to household furniture seller Armine F. Banfield, who began to expand the original building West to Albert Street, would have to rebuild the complex in 1903 due to a devastating fire. Architect Joseph Greenfield helped design the expansion, as well as the re-furbishment of the original structure.
But fire soon broke out again in 1933 and the building underwent another round of renovations, these making the facade of the building more like the 492 Main Street we know today. This re-design was supervised by architects Northwood and Chivers. According to a report published by the City of Winnipeg in January 1996, the facade of the building changed from the "richly detailed" design of the 1880s, four-stories tall with "three bays of large, single, round-arched windows separated by columns and pilasters; smaller pairs of arched openings along the storey; a modest dentilled cornice; pilaster caps; and a pedimented parapet," to a two-storey masonry construction with features "reflective of both the austerity of the Great Depression of the 1930s and the reaction of period architects... to the visual dissonance created by High Victorian buildings."
Though the building that once housed Ryan's Shoe and Boot Store has gone through a variety of renovations and reinventions, it still is a prominent and deeply historic building in the City's Exchange District.
The building began construction in 1883, and by 1884 the Ryan's Boot and Shoe Store opened to customers. The owner of this business was Ontario-born entrepreneur and shoe-maker Thomas Ryan. He sold handmade shoes and boots, and by 1889 he was ready to expand, selling the store-front of the company to his brother George Ryan, and moved to 104 King Street to open a warehouse and office building to sell his product as a wholesaler. 104 King Street, and Ryan's latter building at 44 Princess Street also remain, with 104 King Street's facade concealing a parkade and housing multiple restaurants.
In 1900, George sold the 492 Main Street location to household furniture seller Armine F. Banfield, who began to expand the original building West to Albert Street, would have to rebuild the complex in 1903 due to a devastating fire. Architect Joseph Greenfield helped design the expansion, as well as the re-furbishment of the original structure.
But fire soon broke out again in 1933 and the building underwent another round of renovations, these making the facade of the building more like the 492 Main Street we know today. This re-design was supervised by architects Northwood and Chivers. According to a report published by the City of Winnipeg in January 1996, the facade of the building changed from the "richly detailed" design of the 1880s, four-stories tall with "three bays of large, single, round-arched windows separated by columns and pilasters; smaller pairs of arched openings along the storey; a modest dentilled cornice; pilaster caps; and a pedimented parapet," to a two-storey masonry construction with features "reflective of both the austerity of the Great Depression of the 1930s and the reaction of period architects... to the visual dissonance created by High Victorian buildings."
Though the building that once housed Ryan's Shoe and Boot Store has gone through a variety of renovations and reinventions, it still is a prominent and deeply historic building in the City's Exchange District.
