Subtle Grandeur: The Story Of 80 St. Cross Street

 

Many years ago, in the area known as St. John’s Park, a man would move his family from the rural community of Minnedosa and have a grand home built. The story of this neighborhood gem would begin in 1910, when Reverend Edward Anthony Wharton Gill would be among the first to call the area home.

Gill was born in Scraptoft, England in 1859 to Joseph Wharton Gill and Elizabeth King. He attended the University of London before teaching school for five years. In 1883, he immigrated to Canada and would teach at Brant School in Rockwood, Manitoba. 

Sketch of Brant School, Shayne Campbell

During this time, he would meet a lady from Ontario who had moved to Manitoba around the same time as him, Ellen Agnes Cook, and would marry her in 1886. Over the following decade, they would go on to have five children: Evelyn Jordan (1887), Alfred Wharton (1888), Ellen Mary (1891), Herbert DeArze (1893), and Agnes Lance (1897). 

St. John’s College at the southwest corner of Main St. and Church Ave. (1900), Archives of Manitoba

After studying remotely at the University of Manitoba’s St. John’s College, in 1889 Gill would be ordained as a priest and begin a 21 year tenure in Minnedosa at St. Mark’s Anglican Church.

St. Mark’s Anglican Church (1903-1904), Government of Manitoba

In 1910, Gill became a St. John’s College professor, teaching English, French, German, geometry, and history. He was also appointed to lead St. Martin’s Mission on Smithfield Ave. But upon the arrival of the seven person family to Winnipeg, one question remained: where would they live?

First mention of Gill leading a Sunday morning service at St. Martin’s Mission, and first mention of his new home, 3 St. Cross (October 15, 1910), Winnipeg Tribune

The answer was a magnificent Queen Anne, standing two and a half storeys tall and boasting 2600 square feet. No photos exist of 3 St. Cross, the original address, as it originally stood, but being the only house on the block a few hundred feet from the riverbank would ensure a full river view from the front windows. 

Originally finished in a combination of brick and shiplap cladding, the home now features white vinyl siding. The front (east) façade features a prominent wrap around porch that extends to the south side of the building and is supported with six wooden columns and embellished with a subtle railing and gingerbread trim.

The most striking feature on the home is the grand two storey tower and twin set of bay windows that look east and south toward the Red River and St. John’s Park, which is complimented with a white finial on top. The third storey features windows along the gable roof ends that look both east and south and a set of chimneys in matching red brick to the north and south. 

St. John’s Park as Gill would have seen it (1912), City of Winnipeg Archives

As the area matured and more homes were built along the street, in early 1912, the address would be changed from 3 to 80 St. Cross. Gill and his family would reside in the home for a decade. It was in the home during this period where Gill would write his now famous works, Love In Manitoba (1911), A Manitoba Chore Boy (1912), and An Irishman’s Luck (1914). 

An ad for Love In Manitoba (November 11, 1911), Manitoba Free Press

In August of 1919, Gill was appointed professor of Pastoral Theology at St. John’s College and Canon of St. John’s Cathedral, succeeding the previous Canon E.E. Phair. It was at this time that Gill would move from 80 St. Cross to the Parish Hall at 181 Church Ave. 

Gill being appointed Canon of St. John’s Cathedral (August 30, 1919), Manitoba Free Press and St. John’s Cathedral (around 1920), Winnipeg’s Digital Public History

In 1940, he would retire and move to 4 Emslie St.; just across from St. John’s Cathedral and the cemetery where he would be buried after passing away at the age of 85 on January 10, 1944. 

Gill’s gravesite (2023)

By 1920, 80 St. Cross would see its second owner: Harold Wynne Trenholme. Trenholme was born in Montreal, Quebec in 1878, son of Norman William Trenholme who was Justice of the Court of King’s Bench. After graduating from McGill University, he began a career in finance at the Canadian Bank of Commerce in Montreal. 

In 1907, he was transferred to Winnipeg and became branch manager of the Crump Block bank at Main St. and Dufferin Ave. Around this time he would meet Maud Elizabeth Matheson, daughter of Samuel Pritchard Matheson, and they would get married in 1912. In 1915, they would have their one and only son, Wynne.

Crump Block (1907), Jordan Makichuk

Trenholme would go on to manage the Dominion Trust Company before becoming the manager of the Winnipeg Mercantile Trust Company in 1918. It was around this time when the Trenholme family would move from their home at 139 Machray to 80 St. Cross. 

Trenholme and Archbishop Matheson, who lived at 172 Church Ave., being visited by a jumping deer (June 18, 1921), Winnipeg Evening Tribune

Trenholme would continue to live at the home until February 27, 1925, when he died of pneumonia. A day after his passing, a service would be held at the family home and was officiated by Revrend Canon Gill. 

Coverage of Trenholme’s passing (February 28, 1925), Manitoba Free Press, Winnipeg Evening Tribune

He would also be buried down the street at St. John’s Cemetery. 

Trenholme’s gravesite (2023)

The next owners of the home would be the Malby family: possibly the largest single family to inhabit the home. They would assume ownership almost immediately after Trenholme’s passing. The head of the home was Frederick Joseph Malby, who was born in London, England in 1885 and immigrated to Canada in 1907. 

In the 1910s he worked as a bookkeeper for a number of organizations including the Sons of England Benefit Society, St. Chrysostom’s Anglican Mission. In 1917, he began working for the city’s hydro department, later becoming the manager of the accounting department in 1918 and business manager in 1924. 

Winnipeg Hydro showroom (1924), Vintage Winnipeg

Together with his wife Florence he would have three sons, Arthur L., George, and Fred Jr., as well as five daughters. As the family grew, so did the need for a larger home. In 1926, the family would move from their longtime home on Polson Ave. to 80 St. Cross. 

Florence Malby winning first place in a radio quiz as part of the Second World War effort (1942), The Industrial Development Board of Canada

All three Malby boys would go on to graduate university and become engineers. The family would maintain possession of the home for around two decades. Interestingly enough, the family seemingly had additional guests in 1946, Lieutenant C.J. Spearin and his wife Doreen. Spearin was a member of the Royal Canadian Navy and was captured in 1942 and became a prisoner of war for eight months in Algeria before being freed in the 1943 invasion of North Africa. 

Announcement of Spearin being freed (March 17, 1943), Winnipeg Free Press

An advertisement for a P.E.O. Sisterhood event being hosted by Doreen at 80 St. Cross (May 18, 1946), Winnipeg Free Press

On December 12th, 1947, it was announced that the Malby family patriarch had passed away while on a trip in Toronto for the city. Not long after, Florence and the remaining kids would move out of the home.

Malby’s obituary (December 12, 1947), Winnipeg Free Press and gravesite (2023)

By 1949, the home had switched hands yet again. The house’s fourth owner would be Frank Leslie Chester. Chester was born in Winnipeg in 1901 to William G. and Nellie Chester. His father was a successful company manager, working with Tilden-Gurney and representing and managing Clare Bros.

Chester was educated in both Winnipeg and Vancouver, British Columbia. In 1923, he would marry Dorothea Helen McIntyre Lineham in Vancouver and they would have a son together in 1925, Ronald Miller Chester. Unfortunately, their marriage wouldn’t last and Chester would move away, leaving Dorothea and Ronald with her parents. In 1929, Helen would die in a car accident and Chester would travel back to Vancouver and re-adopt Ronald, bringing him to Winnipeg at the age of five. In 1930, Chester married Margaret Isabel Shumway and they settled at 158 Scotia St. 

After working as a salesman at one of the companies his father managed, Chester would open an agency business with his father called W.G. Chester & Son. They would represent Enamel Heating Products, manufacturers of furnaces, Hart and Cooley, and Tuttle and Bailey. Chester would go on to sell Enamel Heating Products and briefly go into partnership with Ernest H. Price with a business called Chester & Price, before selling his stake in the business in 1946. He would also open a successful hardware store called Chester’s Hardware at 950 Main St., on the corner of Main and Flora Ave.

Corner of Main St. and Flora Ave. (1940s), John Kehler

Ad for Chester’s Hardware (May 28, 1943), Winnipeg Tribune

All of his success in business would lead him to pursuing a career in political office. In 1946, he would run for city council as an Alderman for Ward 3 a second time.

Chester filing nomination papers (November 8, 1946), and opening campaign remarks (November 13, 1946), Winnipeg Tribune

Chester would campaign over the following weeks and conclude with a victory on the November 25th election day. It was during this period that Chester and his wife would begin to look for a new home. It was at some point during this time that the Chester family would move to 80 St. Cross. 

First appearance of Chester’s name listed alongside the address (1949), Henderson’s Directory

In 1949, Chester would be elected president of the North Winnipeg Liberal Association. This would pave the way for a run for office later that year, this time federally, as a Member of Parliament for Winnipeg North. He would win the race and serve as an MP until he lost his race the following election.

Coverage of Chester becoming North Winnipeg Liberal Association president (February 10, 1949), Winnipeg Free Press

Following this, he would move from the St. Cross home to Ottawa in order to be chairman of the Canadian Farm Loan Board where he would serve for six years. In 1960, he moved back to Winnipeg to became district manager for Investors until he passed away in 1966 after a long battle with cancer. 

Chester’s obituary (August 15, 1966)

In 1954, 80 St. Cross would change owners yet again. The fifth owner, and potentially the owner with longest consecutive ownership, would be the Roitmans. Samuel Roitman was born on March 7, 1902, and would make his living as a tailor at various businesses around Winnipeg including Broadway Tailors, Glazerman Fur Co., and Garnet R. Dodge Furs. He would marry his wife Esther in 1929. 

The Roitmans would purchase the home in the mid 1950s when it would be converted into a multi-family residence. It was around this time that the home began appearing in local classified regarding a suite for rent. 

Ad for a three room suite for rent (1956), Winnipeg Free Press

An interesting piece of this period in the home’s history is some of the tenants the Roitmans had. Their first and most notable guest was Maryon McKay. McKay was a Saskatchewan native who moved to Manitoba and was a trailblazer in the Royal Canadian Airforce, becoming the first female staff member of the force’s Survival Training School. Later on, and at the time of her stay at 80 St. Cross, she worked for the Society of Crippled Children.

A biography on McKay (December 15, 1952), Winnipeg Free Press

Roitman would pass away on April 18, 1985, and Esther on November 28, 1986. Around a year later, her name reappeared in the Legal section of the newspaper surrounding her will that had been lost. 

Ad searching for Esther Roitman’s lost will (December 14, 1987), Winnipeg Free Press

From the late 1980s onward, not much is known about the home. It last went for sale in August of 2008, so it’s likely that the current owners have resided there almost 15 years. 

Ad for the home (August 3, 2008), Winnipeg Free Press

The home is currently zoned as a Detached Single Dwelling by the city, so it’s likely that it was converted back to a single family home at some point in the last few decades. No photos currently exist of the inside of the home throughout the years, so there’s no way of knowing how much of the original character remains intact on the interior. 

80 St. Cross as it currently stands

But if the subtle grandeur of the exterior is any indication, the current owners are giving it the care and love that a home with this rich history most certainly deserves. And with this type of care, one can only hope that this 113 year-old Victorian will stand another century.