TreeAlive Map your family tree
← All Manitoba markers

Great-West Life Building

Great-West Life Building is a Manitoba Heritage Council commemoration in Winnipeg, Manitoba.

Manitoba · 177 Lombard Avenue, Winnipeg · location approximate

Directions to the area ↗Start a road tripHistorical trails

Constructed between l909 and l9ll, this building was designed by one of Manitoba's foremost architects, J.D. Atchison, who had trained and practised in Chicago. Built as The Great-West Life Assurance Company's first permanent headquarters, its construction materials were principally of Canadian origin. The Neo-Classical facade is of Kootenay marble from British Columbia, a quality material rarely used for Prairie office buildings. Originally raised as a four-storey structure with provisions for an additional ten floors, only four stories were added in l922-23. Incorporated in l89l, Great-West Life was for many years the only Winnipeg-based life insurance company, and was symbolic of Manitoba's growing importance in Canadian affairs. As one of the nation's leading life insurance firms, the Company moved to larger new quarters in l959.

Français

Érigé entre 1909 et 1911, cet édifice a été conçu par l’un des principaux architectes manitobains, J.D. Atchison, qui a reçu sa formation et exercé sa profession à Chicago. Construit pour loger les premiers bureaux permanents de la compagnie d’assurance Great-West Life, l’édifice était fait surtout de matériaux d’origine canadienne. La façade néoclassique est composée de marbre de Kootenay en Colombie-Britannique, une pierre de qualité rarement employée pour les édifices administratifs des Prairies. L’immeuble a été initialement conçu comme structure à quatre étages, pouvant éventuellement supporter dix étages supplémentaires. Seuls quatre autres étages ont été ajoutés en 1922 et 1923. Incorporée en 1891, la Great-West Life a été pendant de nombreuses années la seule compagnie d’assurance dotée d’un siège à Winnipeg; l’entreprise était donc le symbole de l’importance croissante du Manitoba au sein du milieu des affaires canadien. La compagnie comptant parmi les principales compagnies d’assurance-vie au pays, elle a dû déménager dans des bureaux plus spacieux en 1959.

This is the Manitoba Heritage Council’s text as the Historic Resources Branch publishes it. The Branch calls these plaque inscriptions and says they reflect the time they were written; TreeAlive has not compared them with the plaques themselves, so a plaque may read differently. The Branch’s plaque list ↗

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

Digital Commonwealth, Boston Public Library

Example

The Articles of Confederation marker in Pennsylvania stands under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s.

What that marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years there.

From one family's 77-marker roster

Upload your family tree and TreeAlive finds the markers near where your own ancestors lived.

See your family's markers

Start with a tree file, a FamilySearch sign in, or a WikiTree ID.

Report a problem with this page

We may pass what you report to the state's marker program. Please don't include personal details.

Plaque text and location: Manitoba Heritage Council Commemorative Plaques, Historic Resources Branch, Government of Manitoba, as the Branch publishes them on its plaque pages. The text is the Manitoba Heritage Council’s text as the Branch publishes it; the pin on this page is ours, worked out from the location the Branch gives and marked approximate. Contains information from the Government of Manitoba, licensed under the OpenMB Information and Data Use License (Manitoba.ca/OpenMB)
TreeAlive is an independent project and is not affiliated with, sponsored by, or endorsed by the Manitoba Heritage Council, the Historic Resources Branch or the Government of Manitoba.
OpenMB Information and Data Use License
This marker on the program's own site

More markers nearby

Privacy Policy · Accessibility