Building the Gingerbread City Hall
Sources
Christian Cassidy, The Gingerbread Man (Winnipeg Free Press).
City of Winnipeg Archival Documents, namely letters sent to Winnipeg’s City Council from Barber & Barber, James Chisholm, Thomas Fogg, Robert Dewar and CharlesWheeler between 1884-1887.
Countless articles are taken from the Winnipeg Free Press and Winnipeg Daily Sun. Some relevant articles:
‘The New City Hall: the Inspector Says Poor Materials Are Being Used’ The Winnipeg Daily Sun. July 8, 1884 (2).
‘The Corner Stone: is truly and properly laid by Mayor Logan’ Winnipeg Daily Sun, July 19, 1884 (4).
‘Barber and Dewar: they tell both sides of the city hall scandals’ Winnipeg Daily Sun, November 3, 1884 (1).
‘City Council: the completion of the city hall discussed’ Winnipeg Free Press, August 25, 1885 (4)
‘The City Hall’ Winnipeg Free Press, October 28, 1886 (8).
‘Arrest of C.A. Barber’ Winnipeg Daily Tribune, May 1, 1903 (3).
Bruce Cherney, First City Hall and Civic Market (Winnipeg Real Estate News)
Charles A. Barber (Dictionary of Canadian Biography)
Charles Wheeler (Dictionary of Canadian Biography)
Alexander McMicken (Dictionary of Canadian Biography)
Alexander Logan (Dictionary of Canadian Biography)
James Chisholm (Manitoba Historical Society)
Alan J. Artibise, Winnipeg’s City Halls 1876-1965 (Manitoba Historical Society).
Winnipeg’s Gingerbread City Hall was an iconic architectural landmark in the city. It was also the source of a tremendous amount of controversy during its construction from 1884-1886. The city’s building inspector hated the architect, the architect was a conman with the contractor possibly in cahoots, and Winnipeg’s city council had no idea what was going on. All they knew was that they had been swindled, the who and why and how was much harder for them to figure out.
Join Sabrina, Alex and Nick as they try to puzzle out this 140-year-old construction scandal.
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