[rgalston]

Originally Posted by Only The Lonely..

The first two floors of one of these buildings still stands, and is where McDonald Shoes was, and where the Glass Onion is now (facing the back). And which one was the Clement's Block? A Randy R. Rostecki had these remarks to make about it in in 1972

Constructed in 1884, the present-day Clements Block stands on the site of Winnipeg's first court house. Originally, the upper floors of the 1873 structure were devoted to a hall of justice and the sheriff's office. The cellar served as a detention center, complete with cells for the inmates. When the Police Court was finished in 1882, the structure was sold to Henry Brown and Dan Rodgers. One portion became the Royal Theatre, and, presumably, the cellar became the rooms of the Hub Hotel! This situation continued until the old building was razed for the construction of the Clements Block in 1884.

Some expense was saved by the builders of the Clements Block, for they merely retained and built over the foundations of the courthouse. The walls, which are two feet thick, still exist below the concrete surface of Main Street. One cell, now devoid of its hardware, awaits any further inmates. Other cells have probably been destroyed because a large furnace was installed in the basement. Dorothy Garbutt described the old cellar in an August, 1967 [7] newspaper article, but she failed to discover several other interesting facts concerning that dark hole. I discovered a tunnel mouth behind the huge, disused furnace. It had been walled in many years ago. On the other side of this wall, under what was formerly the Empire Photo Salon is another cell. This section is smaller than its counterpart in the north portion of the basement. Here, the old-style pyramid footings on the foundation are exposed to the eye of the observer. A half block south of the Clements Block is Birt Saddlery, which has its own dungeons. Perhaps this too was an early jail.

The Clements Block was once one of the finer and more unusual office buildings in Winnipeg. But the actions of time and owners have taken their toll. The Clements Block was a dollar a night lodging house until its closure by the Health Department a few weeks ago. The Clements Block is in poor condition, and the closure will probably mean the demolition of this building. But if it is razed, then the historic cellar will disappear. The City of Winnipeg does not know of the cellar's existence, or, if it does know, it could not care less. The civic centennial is coming up late next year, and the plans which have so far emerged from the centennial committee are the usual sham and hypocrisy involved with commercializing our past. The true elements of our history lie not in the beer garden or the "Fort Apache" complex which are planned for 1974. But it is these two items which will be given preference over the real history which lies, forgotten in the cellar of a decaying office building.

Found here: http://www.mhs.mb.ca/docs/transactio...uildings.shtml