Home / Accueil

Maison Bernier

265 Provencher Boulevard, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R2H, Canada

Formally Recognized: 1989/11/29

Primary elevation, from the southwest, of Maison Bernier, Winnipeg, 2007.; Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Culture, Heritage and Tourism, 2007
Primary Elevation
Roof tower detail of Maison Bernier, Winnipeg, 2005.; Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Culture, Heritage and Tourism, 2005
Roof Detail
No Image

Other Name(s)

Maison Bernier
Bernier House

Links and documents

Construction Date(s)

1882/01/01 to 1882/12/31

Listed on the Canadian Register: 2007/07/19

Statement of Significance

Description of Historic Place

The 2 1/2-storey Maison Bernier, a substantial wood-frame dwelling built in 1882 and later modified, stands mid-block in a mixed-use area of St. Boniface, Winnipeg's historic French quarter, facing a busy street and a park. The site's City of Winnipeg designation applies to the building on its footprint.

Heritage Value

The Maison Bernier marks the contributions of a prominent French-Canadian family to the promotion of francophone rights and development of the Franco-Manitoban community during a crucial period of its history. Built for Thomas-Alfred Bernier, a Quebec lawyer who held important educational, administrative and political posts after moving to Manitoba, the eclectically designed dwelling, with a fanciful tower, gingerbread trim and other fine features, functioned as a social and intellectual centre in St. Boniface for many decades beginning in the 1880s. Bernier's children also became influential in fields such as law, politics and newspaper publishing, while his large house continued to be a community focal point during the tenure of his son Joseph, a long-serving provincial politician and Manitoba's first francophone county court judge. Situated on a highly visible site, and on one of St. Boniface's primary thoroughfares, the Bernier House, now in multiple-family use, remains a community landmark.

Source: City of Winnipeg Council Minutes, November 29, 1989

Character-Defining Elements

Key elements that define the heritage character of the prominent Maison Bernier site include:
- its location on the north side of Provencher Boulevard, across from Provencher Park and near St. Boniface's historic commercial district
- the building's placement on a grassed and treed lot within a group of houses of similar scale and age

Key elements that define the dwelling's eclectic design and fine exterior detailing include:
- the irregular 2 1/2-storey massing reinforced by a polygonal tower and a pavilion at the corners of the front (south) elevation and by a 1 1/2-storey rear addition
- the complex roofline composed primarily of a steeply pitched and truncated hip and cross-gable roof, with a cone-shaped polygonal roof on the tower and two high brick chimneys
- the numerous openings, including tall rectangular single-hung sash windows, segmental-arched windows in the front and side gable ends and a west-side French window with a segmental-arched transom
- the wood-frame construction richly detailed by features such as ornate bargeboards with wooden pendants, return eaves on the front gable, the tower's decorative wooden eave brackets, the segmental-arched hood moulds over the French window and east gable-end opening, etc.

Key elements that define the dwelling's interior heritage character include:
- the segmental arches, one with a decorative surround, that carry through from the exterior to the dining room and the plastered walls with rope moulding

Recognition

Jurisdiction

Manitoba

Recognition Authority

City of Winnipeg

Recognition Statute

City of Winnipeg Act

Recognition Type

Winnipeg Landmark Heritage Structure

Recognition Date

1989/11/29

Historical Information

Significant Date(s)

n/a

Theme - Category and Type

Peopling the Land
Settlement

Function - Category and Type

Current

Residence
Multiple Dwelling

Historic

Residence
Single Dwelling

Architect / Designer

n/a

Builder

n/a

Additional Information

Location of Supporting Documentation

15-30 Fort Street Winnipeg MB

Cross-Reference to Collection

Fed/Prov/Terr Identifier

W0133

Status

Published

Related Places

Primary Elevations

Bernier House

The 2 1/2-storey Bernier House, a substantial wood-frame dwelling built in 1882 and later modified, stands mid-block in a mixed-use area of St. Boniface, Winnipeg's historic…

SEARCH THE CANADIAN REGISTER

Advanced SearchAdvanced Search
Find Nearby PlacesFIND NEARBY PLACES PrintPRINT
Nearby Places