Seventy-eight years of memories made at Hollenberg Cottage
The owners of a Loni Beach cottage, which is about 111 years old, have applied to the RM of Gimli to have the cottage designated a municipal heritage site.
The Hollenberg Cottage at 24 North Lake St. is an example of the types of cottages that were built in the early 20th century in the Gimli area after the railway allowed people to travel from the city to communities along Lake Winnipeg.
The cottage’s current owner, Jonathan Sher, lives away but said he tries to spend as much time in Gimli as possible.
The cottage came into his family’s possession, he believes, in 1945 when his grandfather, Dr. Joseph Hollenberg, bought it, said Sher. And he has a plethora of fond memories of the cottage and the lake from his childhood.
Sher said it’s hard to choose his favourite as he has “so many powerful memories going back to my childhood in the late 1960s.” Those include “playing Scrabble with my mother, grandmother and sister. Playing gin rummy with my grandfather. Listening to comedy records with my whole family. Dinners around the table on the front porch (for the longest time the table was an old door with legs attached). The scratchiness of the old Hudson’s Bay wool blankets and filling the big room with balloons for my daughter’s birthday,” he said.
He said he decided to have the cottage designated a municipal heritage site after discussing it with other members of his family. Although there was some debate on whether to take that step, it seemed like the right thing to do.
“Architectural heritage is a precious resource and Loni Beach – as so many have observed – is a truly special place,” said Sher.
He loves “everything” about the cottage.
“The light streaming in through the high windows in the big central room, the linoleum on the front porch, the pine paneling, windows on all sides letting in light and air, the ancient electric range in the kitchen and the cozy little bedrooms,” he said. “But, really, the front row windows looking out at the lake is most compelling.”
Sher’s uncle, Dr. Robert Hollenberg, said the cottage eventually came into the possession of his dad, Abe. And it was in 1945 that he first remembers being there. He loved the cottage and the memories he made with his family.
“I liked the main room the best, where [Jonathan’s] grandma used to have her Thursday night soirees with all her women friends (the husbands were in Winnipeg) and listening to plays on the record player,” said Hollenberg. “In late August when it started to get cold at night, dad would put a big lump of coal in the fireplace that would burn all night. Before we went to bed, mom would hang our PJs on the screen in front of the fire.”
The front room was a screened porch when his dad first bought the cottage, and his [dad’s] friend and fishing buddy, Bill Hamilton (a contractor), did the kitchen.
The kitchen has a quaint red and white checkerboard floor, red and white bench seating and white cupboard doors.
“The absolute best thing was the plumbing, which included digging the artesian well because it meant I didn’t need to take the wagon and carry pails to the well down the block,” said Hollenberg. “That was often my job. I must have been older than four or five for that.”
Pretty much everything about the place stands out in his memory. He has favourite memories of being taught to swim, picking raspberries with his mom in the woods beside a farmer’s field (possibly the Chudd’s), eating corn on the cob that his mom grew in the garden, learning to ride a bicycle on the lawn, which was “tough,” and driving his boat (a 13th birthday present).
“[I also had a] job at the Gimli Summer Club, which my mom and her friends started. They bought an old streetcar which was used as a clubhouse and for a storage facility. It sat by the beach about a half block north of the pier,” said Hollenberg.
He said other members of the Hollenberg family built cottages in Loni Beach, but they were “much bigger and grander than ours.”
Andy Blicq, chair of the Gimli Municipal Heritage Advisory Committee, which advises council on heritage matters and promotes the heritage of the area, said the cottage was first built in about 1912 and is currently quite close to the original building.
“It’s a significant building. The numbers of these cottages in Gimli gradually decline because people want to renovate them or they want a new building. It’s always great to see somebody step up and say, ‘I’d like to have this building’s history preserved,’” said Blicq. “The committee is very grateful to Jonathan and his partner for taking this step. It’s a neat place and a great example of the early cottages that were built when the railway came and Loni Beach and Gimli were opened up to tourism.”
If any renovations do take place, they would be carried out in accordance with a municipal bylaw and be “sympathetic” to the building’s history so that it “remains visually intact,” said Blicq.
At its Oct. 11 meeting, Gimli council passed first reading of a bylaw giving the Hollenberg cottage municipal heritage status.
Express Photos by Andy Blicq
