Five notable properties around the city were honoured Thursday night at Heritage Winnipeg’s 2025 Preservation Awards ceremony.
The annual event recognizes the work of people and organizations to conserve and advance Winnipeg’s built heritage.
Heritage Winnipeg’s executive director, Cindy Tugwell, said the annual event celebrates the work of people conserving Winnipeg’s built heritage and acknowledges their contributions to preserving the city’s past.
“We need to know who we are and where we’ve been to know where we’re going,” Tugwell told CTV News at the ceremony. “I think it’s the social connectivity and looking around and through these buildings; we know our city’s history, and I think that really connects us all.”
This year’s recipients included a converted turn-of-the-century office building, two historic homes, a former dormitory at the University of Manitoba, and a restored steam locomotive.
“These passionate projects—whether it’s residential in Transcona or in the Exchange District—contribute to revitalizing the area,” Tugwell said.
The 125-year-old Gregg Building on Albert Street won the Heritage Winnipeg’s Residential Conversion Award. The former import-export office had been vacant for about a decade before current owner Jay Knysh purchased the building in 2019. The Gregg Building is now home to 31 loft-style apartment units.
“Heritage is important to me,” Knysh told CTV News. “By doing this [restoration], it’s revitalized a piece of Winnipeg… and now we’re living in it again, and there’s a brand-new community.”
Tugwell said restoration work to spaces like the Gregg Building or the CN 2747 steam locomotive in Rotary Heritage Park is measured in years, not months.
She pointed to the Transcona Museum’s efforts to preserve the locomotive.
“The commitment is amazing,” Tugwell said. “These are people who love their city.”
CN 2747 was the first steam locomotive built in Western Canada back in 1926. It was decommissioned in 1960 and sat in a fenced-off area of Rotary Heritage Park for decades.
The Transcona Museum purchased CN 2747 in 2015 and spent several years fundraising to restore the locomotive. The work included replacing all wooden elements and building a protective structure around it.
The CN 2747 enclosure opened to the public last summer. Heritage Winnipeg presented its Distinguished Service Award to the Transcona Museum for its dedication to the project.
“It was built right in Transcona… so it’s significant not only for the Transcona community, but all of Canada,” Alanna Horedja, Transcona Museum’s curator, told CTV News. “We’re able to continue that legacy by caring for it and preserving it for future generations down the line.”
Other recipients at this year’s ceremony included The University of Manitoba for its restoration work on Tache Hall, as well as the owners of Glasgow House in Armstrong’s Point and Blais House in Transcona.
“These buildings all tell stories, and you can’t imagine not having them,” Tugwell said.
