Manwin Hotel being demolished on owner’s dime after fire ripped through historical building

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Vacant Main Street hotel goes up in flames

Winnipeg mayor, WFPS give Manwin Hotel fire update

Main Street Project shares update after fire evacuation

An infamous Main Street hotel is being demolished hours after the heritage building went up in flames.

Winnipeg fire crews were called to the Manwin Hotel at around 3:45 a.m. Wednesday morning. They arrived on scene to find flames and smoke billowing from the building.

Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service (WFPS) Chief Christian Schmidt said a second crew was called in to help, with 20 firefighters on-scene to try and get the fire under control.

Firefighters attacked the flames from the outside as it was unsafe to go inside, he said. Crews used aerial ladders and hose lines to douse the fire and protect neighbouring buildings, including Main Street Project’s (MSP) shelter, food bank and administrative offices.

Main Street was closed through most of Wednesday as crews worked to remove debris to get at the deep-seated fire still burning at the site.

Nearby shelter evacuated, as staff scramble to find accommodations

MSP executive director Jamil Mahmood found out about the fire when staff received a notification from the building’s fire alarm system.

The roughly 200 people staying at the adjacent MSP shelter were evacuated temporarily to city buses, as staff worked with the city to find them accommodations at other shelters.

“We sent some staff over to help at the winter pop-up at Salvation Army and then we set up an emergency drop-in centre in partnership with the city’s social services at Freight House Community Centre,” he said.

“That will be our temporary drop-in site until we know more about the building.”

The fire is burning alongside MSP’s shelter, food bank and administration office, all of which are currently inaccessible due to the blaze.

City officials couldn’t give an exact time on when those facilities could be reopened, saying it could be a number of days.

Still, MSP staff are grateful the flames didn’t spread to their facilities.

“We see on average about 300 people through the shelter every day, and so that would be 300 people without a place to go,” Mahmood said.

Some people are glad to see the hotel now gone.

“I’m happy, actually, because too many of our brothers and sisters were (overdosing) or getting jumped or getting stabbed,” said Roger West, who previously stayed at the Manwin.

However, at one point, there were people who called the building home.

Gordon Kitchen, a case manager at St. Boniface Street Links, said one of the residents at the centre was forced to leave the Manwin when it closed. He had to leave all his personal items behind, which are now lost to the fire.

“Clothes, his television, just all of his belongings from 20 years of his life,” he said.

‘Could have been a much worse tragedy’

Demolition of what’s left of the Manwin Hotel has already begun, Winnipeg Mayor Scott Gillingham said at a news conference Wednesday.

While losing a heritage building is unfortunate, the mayor said the fire could have had more severe consequences had the owners of the infamous hotel not been slapped with a vacancy order last January over long-standing bylaw concerns that went unaddressed.

“The building suffered from numerous fire safety issues and this could have been a much worse tragedy if there were dozens of people still living there.”

The mayor said city bylaw enforcement officers were regularly checking up on the vacant building prior to the fire.

He touted stricter rules introduced by the city to crack down on vacant and derelict buildings, including passing on demolition costs on fire-burned or derelict buildings to the owner by way of property taxes.

The changes also allow the city to take over ownership of vacant or derelict buildings faster if problems aren’t dealt with.

Gillingham hopes this will lead to more properties being redeveloped, in many cases, into housing.

“We are working to move the needle on the number of vacant or derelict buildings in the city and to start moving it in the right direction,” he said.

Still, the Manwin is the latest loss to Main Street.

The centuries-old Sutherland Hotel, which stood a few blocks from the Manwin, burned to the ground in January 2025, while the 124-year-old Bell Block building met the wrecking ball in November two years after a fire destroyed that former Main Street apartment block and commercial building.

According to the Manitoba Historical Society, the building now known as the Manwin Hotel was initially built in 1882. It was then known as Walker House, with new names and subsequent additions added in the many decades since.

It was temporarily closed multiple times in recent years for health and safety hazards and was the site of several homicides before tenants were ordered out last year.

The building subsequently went up for sale in April 2025 for just under $2.8 million.

- With files from CTV’s Jeff Keele, Michelle Gerwing and Joseph Bernacki