company, full membership in the club has been open to women for the past 30 years, and it has just said farewell to its second female chair, Evelyn Jacks. Also in keeping up with the times, the club recently completed a multi-million dol- lar makeover, a restoration that respects the Victorian architecture of the build- ing but encompasses modern necessities. Te one room that has been left pretty
much as it has always been is the Bil- liards Lounge. Containing six antique snooker or billiards tables, the lounge employs a full-time billiards profession- al, Greg Harder, and has hosted many prestigious tournaments. It has a cur- rent roster of 100 members. “You can sense the history of the Club
when you walk through the door,” says Graham Davis, manager for the past three years. “No other club I have been in has quite this kind of presence.” Gra- ham came to Winnipeg from the Uni- versity Club at McMaster University in Hamilton, but he has worked in other locations, such as Ottawa. Indeed, the august history of the Club is almost palpable. Te halls seem permeated by the pres- ence of famous ghosts. Te Club has hosted General Sherman; Mark Twain; every Canadian prime minister through the 1940s; a long list of governors gen- eral including Governor General Earl Grey, who presided over the official opening in 1905; HRH the Duke of Connaught (1906); Lord Minto; His Excellency the Rt. Hon. Baron Byng of Vimy; Rt. Hon. Lord Tweedsmuir; Viscount Alexander of Tunis; and Te Earl of Athlone and Princess Alice. Te Prince of Wales who became Edward VIII visited in 1919. More recently, the Club has hosted media stars such as Keifer Sutherland, Gordon Pinsent, Len Cariou, Holly Hunter and Kevin O’Leary. While the Club became the gold standard for established presence in Manitoba, its founders were an inter- esting mix of newspapermen, Franco- Manitobans, businessmen, military men and bureaucrats. Tese luminaries built well, though, and the 32 bylaws they drew up remain the basis for how the Club is governed. Te Club started out in rented prem- ises in the same building as Winnipeg’s first post office, which was destroyed by
The Hub
The club breathes history - everywhere you look are reminders of where the club has been.
fire in February 1875. Following ten- ancy in a couple of rented quarters, the Manitoba Club built a dedicated build- ing on Garry Street in the early 1880s. When the membership and its needs outgrew that, three lots were purchased from the Hudson’s Bay Company in 1902, and the current building was con- structed. At one time, there were a limited number of private rooms for guests on the upper floors, but over time the need for private guest rooms waned, and today the Manitoba Club houses its guests with its next-door neighbour, the Fort Garry Hotel. Food service has always been a key
component of the Club’s services and there are three kitchens: one on the sec- ond floor to meet the needs of the func- tion rooms upstairs, one on the main floor to serve both the members’ dining
room downstairs and the modern Buf- falo Bistro which has become a popular lunch and after work gathering place. Te kitchen on the third floor is a full production patisserie for baking, butch- ering and so on. Te third floor also houses the administrative offices for the 40 to 60 staff it takes to keep everything operating smoothly. Kevin Augusta, a banker, is the cur-
rent president who presides over a nine- member board of latter day luminaries, a mix of men and women. Over the coming months, the club
will get an inadvertent outdoor face- lift from the construction of the Upper Fort Garry Gate Park next door. Plans are underway to do some landscaping so that the two properties have a seamless flow on the south side of the building, a nice little gift for the 140th birthday of a timeless idea.
Summer 2014 • 47
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