Winnipeg Landmark Heritage Structure

St. Boniface Waterworks Water Tower

Winnipeg, Manitoba

Also known as St. Boniface Water Tower, Château d'eau de Saint-Boniface

Contextual view, from the north, of the St. Boniface Waterworks Water Tower, Winnipeg, 2006

Contextual view, from the north, of the St. Boniface Waterworks Water Tower, Winnipeg, 2006

Photo: Historic Resources Branch, Manitoba Culture, Heritage & Tourism, 2006

Built
1936
Recognized
1995
By
City of Winnipeg

The register’s text, word for word

Description

The St. Boniface Waterworks Water Tower, a large elevated steel storage tank built in 1936 and extended upward in 1945, is located in a sprawling municipal compound in an industrial area of east Winnipeg. The City of Winnipeg designation applies to the tower on its footprint.

Heritage value

The St. Boniface Waterworks

Water Tower, a black steel tank atop a tall free-standing steel frame, is a highly visible landmark and rare example of municipal infrastructure remaining from the period before St. Boniface amalgamated with metropolitan Winnipeg in 1972. The tower recalls the French-speaking community's efforts to attract investment and residents by establishing an early waterworks system (1904-12) that pumped water from artesian wells into concrete and underground reservoirs and into a tower for gravity feed through a network of distribution mains. After 1919, when a more plentiful and consistent supply of water became available through the Greater Winnipeg Water District (GWWD) aqueduct from Shoal Lake, St. Boniface continued to use elevated tank storage to boost local water pressure during periods of high demand.

Source: City of Winnipeg Standing Policy Committee on Property and Development Minutes, June 26, 2001

Character‑defining elements

Key elements that define the landmark character of the St. Boniface Waterworks Water

Tower site include:

  • the structure's prominence on the skyline of northeast St. Boniface, clearly

visible for substantial distances in all directions

  • the location within an historic municipal waterworks

compound that also includes the terminus and repair shops of the GWWD rail line and another designated structure, the GWWD Railway Station

Key elements that define the water tower's industrial nature and municipal function include:

  • the 454,000-litre black storage tank of steel construction, 6.4 metres

high, with a hemispherical base, shallow conical roof and 'CITY OF ST. BONIFACE' painted on its north and south faces

  • the steel-framed tower, 45.8 metres high, with four legs anchored in concrete

and stabilized by cross-braces and diagonal steel cables

  • utilitarian details such as the simple metal

service ladder, the tank's catwalk with a latticed guardrail, the spherical rooftop water level indicator, etc.

End of the register’s text

Location

552 Plinguet Street, Winnipeg, Manitoba, R2J, Canada

49.89260° N, 97.10160° W

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Nearby

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Similar places

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From the Canadian Register of Historic Places, as last updated on December 12, 2025. The register’s text is shown word for word.