J.H. Ashdown Hardware Store Renovation

The J. H. Ashdown Hardware Store will undergo a $6-million renovation to accommodate the Manitoba Conservatory of Music and Arts, School of Contemporary Dancers, Winnipeg’s Contemporary Dancers, and Crocus Investment Fund.

Dudley Thompson of Prairie Architects, and many organizations including Heritage Winnipeg, led the campaign to save and redevelop the building. The building will be restored to its former glory of a red brick exterior, cornices and window awnings.

The original Ashdown outlet was destroyed by a fire in 1904, so a brand new store was commissioned. Walls of solid red brick enclosed a steel skeleton, while the upper five floors were trimmed with white terra cotta. The Ashdown store was heralded as a fine addition to the street, a symbol of the “characteristic energy of Mr. Ashdown”. The building served as the head office and retail arm of the hardware empire of James H. Ashdown. Ashdown’s stocked tools, building hardware, paints, sporting goods, electrical and automotive supplies and house wares and household appliances.

James Ashdown, Winnipeg’s merchant prince, was not only an actor in the growth of Winnipeg, but a casual factor in that growth. Ambitious beyond his retailing skills, Ashdown lobbied a citizens’ group which lobbied hard in 1973 for the incorporation of Winnipeg as a city, although the population was only that of a small village. Ashdown also sat on numerous boards and was elected mayor in 1907.

The Ashdown Hardware store survived the street action of the 1919 strike, the death of its founder in 1924 and the evolution of the commercial district. But when its second president, Harry Ashdown, the son of the founder died in 1970, the business was sold and closed its doors. In 1970, the building was purchased by Big 4 Sales.

With the death of James Ashdown in 1924, Winnipeg had grown from a scattering of crude shacks huddled n the prairie in the shadow of a faltering fur trade to a commercial metropolis with several hundred thousand people. Both the man and the business had been an active participant in that growth.