This one-storey orange-brown brick and concrete, Streamline Moderne-style building was on Charles Street in Winnipeg. Measuring 27 feet by 37 feet, it was built between 1947 and 1948 by the Winnipeg Supply and Fuel Company at a cost of about $12,000, for the Winnipeg Hydro-Electric System. It served as a local electrical substation. It featured a Tyndall Stone block on the side of the building carved with “City Hydro”.
Operation of the substation was taken over by Manitoba Hydro following the September 2002 sale of the company. The substation was decommissioned in early 2018 and, over the summer and fall of that year, the building was demolished. The site was converted into green space.
Winnipeg Hydro Charles Substation (January 2016)
Source: Jordan Makichuk
Site of former Winnipeg Hydro Charles Substation (April 2026)
Source: Jordan MakichukSite Coordinates (lat/long): N49.92724, W97.12570
denoted by symbol on the map above
See also:
MHS Centennial Business: Winnipeg Supply and Fuel Company / Winnipeg Supply Service Experts
Manitoba Business: Manitoba Power Commission / Manitoba Hydro-Electric Board / Winnipeg Hydro / Manitoba Hydro
City of Winnipeg Building Permit 6154/1947, City of Winnipeg Archives.
Winnipeg fire insurance map, #314 January 1957, City of Winnipeg Archives.
Henderson’s Winnipeg and Brandon Directories, Henderson Directories Limited, Peel’s Prairie Provinces, University of Alberta Libraries.
“St. John's hydro substation decommissioned,” Winnipeg Free Press, 15 January 2018.
Property Details [606 Charles Street], Winnipeg Assessment and Taxation.
This page was prepared by Jordan Makichuk.
Page revised: 20 September 2026
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