"It has a very cosmopolitan feel to me it reminds me of New York," says Wins [Charles S. Bridgman] of Bridgman Collaborative Architecture, whose firm has done restoration work on the now-condominium structure. "But you're also very comfortable and you feel immediately at home."

"In Winnipeg, we have a great wealth of heritage buildings that are well taken care of," says Bridgman. "That is a great attribute that Winnipeg has."

"The conservation of a building depends on the small repairs, the small details," says Bridgman. "We think of it as a part of the practice that believes in the future ensuring those buildings that are treasures continue."