The Fortune Building:
Extended History

Constructed in 1882 by Winnipeg developer Mark Fortune – who moved the offices of his land development company into the building (see further detail on Mark Fortune below). It is the 5th oldest building in downtown Winnipeg. The oldest building is the Winnipeg Hotel built in 1872, which is immediately south of the Fortune. The very next year, in 1883, Fortune sold the building to Alexander Macdonald who immediately built a near identical addition onto the south side of the building (doubling the size). This addition has been sometimes referred to separately as the Macdonald Building (see further detail on Alexander Macdonald below).

Macdonald moved the offices of his grocery wholesale business into the building. He grew his business into Western Canada’s largest grocery wholesaler by the time of his death – Macdonalds Consolidated. The building was originally designed to be retail storefronts on the main floor and office suites on the upper floors.

After Macdonald’s business outgrew the building and he moved out it was sold and subdivided into two halves – the original Fortune side and the added Macdonald side. The Macdonald side was converted in 1903 to become the Commercial Hotel (which it remained as until the current restoration). 

The upper floors of the Fortune side continued to house a series of smaller office (and sometimes residential) tenants until about 1975 when those floors were shut down and closed off – and they have been vacant ever since until this current renovation. The main floor of the Fortune housed a number of stores and restaurants over the years and in 1957 a small “non-matching” one story garage addition was added to the rear by an automotive business that occupied the space at the time.

One of the earlier main floor retail tenants was a butcher named Charles Harrington who occupied the space in about 1904. In the renovation we uncovered portions of his painted sign on the original exterior rear wall – which is now visible inside the garage addition (in the expanded Times Change(d) space). The building also housed the offices of the first women in the City of Winnipeg to practice medicine, Dr. Lillian Yeomans and her mother Dr. Amelia Yeomans who had both graduated from the University of Michigan medical school in 1882 and 1883 respectively and started their practice in the Fortune Building.

The Times Change(d) High & Lonesome Club has occupied their current space since 1987 and have expanded into the rear garage addition as part of the current renovations. Except for a few days we managed to keep them open all through the restoration period. They are the sole tenant of the building now – soon there will be more to come as we now offer the rest of the spaces for lease.

The Fortune Building side interior had not been extensively altered over the years and so in the renovations we were able to restore it to nearly exactly the original layout and finishing detail. Unfortunately, the Macdonald side interior had been extensively modified and the remaining portions were not structurally sound. As a result, we had to replace the entire inside structure and we have left it as one large open floor plate on each of the upper floors (to be finished to meet future tenant needs). The front exterior of the building had been extensively modified over the years but through historic research and old photos we were able to restore it to nearly exactly the way it looked when it was first built.

Mark Fortune           

Mark Fortune was born in Carluke, Ontario in 1847 and moved to Winnipeg in 1874. He became a major developer of land and buildings in the city and one of its most prominent citizens at the time. He also built the Avenue Building at 265 Portage Avenue which is still standing today. In 1911 he built a beautiful home for himself and his large family at 393 Wellington Crescent which also remains with us today. Sadly, he booked passage with most of his family on the maiden voyage of the Titanic in 1912 where he and his son Charles met their demise. His wife Mary and daughters Alice, Mabel and Ethel made it into the lifeboats and survived.

Alexander Macdonald                

Alexander Macdonald was born in Pitlochry, Scotland in 1844, growing up on a farm. He came to Canada in 1866 and moved to Winnipeg in 1871 with only a few dollars in his pocket. He took a job as a clerk in a general store and eventually started his own business. Although little talked about in Winnipeg history (perhaps partly because he himself was reported to be of a quiet and self-effacing nature) he left a most remarkable legacy. Besides his part in constructing the Fortune Building, he built his grocery wholesale business, Macdonalds Consolidated, into the largest in Western Canada. It was sold after his death to Canada Safeway and continues to operate to this day. In addition, in 1892 he was a founding shareholder of the Great-West Life Assurance Company, but also it’s founding Chairman and President, positions he held for an astounding 34 consecutive years until 1926, and during which time the company experienced tremendous growth and success. Macdonald was also involved in the founding of the Winnipeg Free Press newspaper. As if that wasn’t enough, he also found time to serve one term as Mayor of the city in 1892. Macdonald had a cottage on Lake of the Woods and the family built the Grace Ann yacht (named after his daughter Grace) and which still sails the lake today. Macdonald built his family home in Crescentwood at 246 Dromore – also still proudly standing. By 1911 the Winnipeg Tribune included Macdonald on a list of Winnipeg’s 19 millionaires and speculated that he might be at the top of the list.            

Yet for all his accomplishments, Macdonald was a very humble man. He personally volunteered every Sunday to work with underprivileged children at the Children’s Home of Winnipeg and with the homeless at a mission called Home of the Friendless. He was reported to be a very generous financial donor to many charities in the City but typically insisted on secrecy in doing so. After his retirement from Great-West Life he wrote a paper detailing the history of the company from it’s founding and generously acknowledging all the people who had contributed to its success – but not once did he mention himself.         

Macdonald married Annie Sullivan in 1877 and they had 4 sons and a daughter. Macdonald died in 1928 at age 84 at his home. Sadly, however, he was predeceased by his wife and all 4 of his sons (due to a variety of diseases and one in an accident), with his last surviving son dying of pleurisy just two weeks prior to his own passing. Macdonald, his wife and all their children are buried in the Macdonald family mausoleum at the Kildonan Presbyterian Cemetery.

With thanks to Christian Cassidy for his invaluable assistance with historical research.

Additional Links

CBC: “Developer Turns Back Time on Winnipeg’s 136-Year-Old Fortune Block”

Manitoba Historical Socieity: “Historic Sites of Manitoba: Fortune Block (232 Main Street, Winnipeg)”

Heritage Winnipeg: “Culture Not Condos: The Fortune and Macdonald Blocks”

Heritage Winnipeg: “The Fortune and Macdonald Blocks”

Winnipeg Real Estate News: “Back to the 1880s: the restored Fortune Block”

Winnipeg Architecture: “232-234 Main Street”

West End Dumplings: “Resurrecting the Fortune Block”

Winnipeg Downtown Places: “232 Main Street – The Fortune Block”