Down Scotia St. near the corner of Luxton Ave. stood a large, wood-framed home. Built a little after the turn of the century, 108 Scotia St. would be a home for many families over the years.
A photo around 1920 shows 108 Scotia on the left, City of Winnipeg Archives
The final family to reside in the home, who purchased it around 1977, would be the Gooch family. William George Gooch would marry Marion Watson in 1940, and together they would have three kids: a son Robert, and two daughters, Merry-Lynn and Patricia.
They would live in various north end apartments, including ones on Flora and Burrows Avenues. Initially the couple would make their living as salespeople, Marion working at McLeod’s Ltd., before William would later switch to a caretaker position.
Edgar Court, 401 Burrows Ave, where the family lived in the early 1960s (2020), George Penner
By the late 1970s, the family would move to 108 Scotia St. Unfortunately, William wouldn’t live here long. He would pass away in 1979 after a battle with cancer just a couple of years after they moved in.
William Gooch’s obituary (February 22, 1979), Winnipeg Tribune
Marion would continue to live in the home with son Robert and daughter Merry-Lynn. The three were well liked around the neighborhood, and in the coming decades they would become longtime residents.
Over the years, those closest to them said Marion became extremely distrustful of outside agencies and the medical profession, despite the family needing the support. Marion would pass this distrust on to her two kids.
Robert would sadly lose his ability to walk due to an outdoor accident which necessitated the amputation of his legs, so the home’s main floor would be adapted for him along with the addition of a ramp outside. Merry-Lynn also had medical issues, leaving 90-plus year-old Marion as a caretaker for the three of them.
Street view of the home in 2007 (September 2007), Google Maps
By the 2000s, the home was in poor condition. The roof leaked, there were mice living inside, and many structural problems persisted.
All of this culminated into what happened on February 2, 2009 when around 9:30 at night, on a minus 31 degree evening, the house broke out in flames. The fire was called in by a neighbor.
Fire crews battling the flames (February 3, 2009), Winnipeg Free Press
Fire crews arrived on scene and attempted to battle the flames, but it wasn’t until around 3:30 in the morning that the fire was finally put out.
Fire fighters battling the blaze (February 4, 2009), Winnipeg Free Press
What was left of the top storey by morning (February 4, 2009), Winnipeg Free Press
Unfortunately, due to how quickly the flames spread, the family was trapped inside and none of them would survive. The fire would later be deemed accidental.
What was left of the house by spring of 2009 (April 2009), Google Maps
But unfortunately this wouldn’t be the end of controversy for what was once 108 Scotia St.
After the structure was demolished, the empty lot on 108 Scotia was purchased by a home builder firm Fairview Custom Homes. The initial plan consisted of putting a 5000 square foot, 2-storey, 4 unit condominium complex on the lot.
Blueprints for the condominium complex originally proposed (November 15, 2011), City of Winnipeg Clerks
By the time the developer went to the city to apply for the necessary rezoning to R2 in the fall of 2011, area residents had already banded together to attempt to have it blocked.
Local residents in opposition of the initial proposal to develop 108 Scotia (November 23, 2011), Rob Brown
More than 40 residents — including mayoral candidate and area resident Judy Wasylycia-Leis — showed up at the November 15 Lord Selkirk-West Kildonan community meeting in order to have the proposal stopped, while a petition of over 100 residents in opposition was presented. Area City Councillor Ross Eadie was also strongly opposed to the plan, saying that it wouldn’t fit the character of the neighborhood.
The plan was temporarily halted at that committee before the Standing Policy Committee on Property and Development overturned the decision several weeks later, sparking a passionate response from Councillor Eadie toward the members of the committee.
Coverage of Eadie’s response (November 30, 2011), Winnipeg Free Press
The project would once again be brought forward in the Lord Selkirk-West Kildonan community meeting in early April 2012, where a revised plan was put forward by the developer but the same basic concept remained.
A revised mock-up for the development (April 10, 2012), City Clerks
In the end, the residents would come out triumphant. The 4-unit multiplex idea would once again be defeated in the community meeting. And even though the Appeal Committee would once again overturn the decision of the community committee, the developer eventually backed down and abandoned the idea.
In the following years, the developer applied to have the large lot split into two smaller lots. The lots continued to sit vacant for another number of years before construction would begin on two infill single family homes with an additional unit in each.
The two infill homes that stand at 108 and 110 Scotia (2023)
They would both be completed in 2020. Today they both stand completed on the lot that the Gooch’s 108 Scotia St. home used to stand, with a plaque in the front dedicated to the memory of the family.
