In 1914, three Italian immigrants combined their resources to open the luxury Olympia Hotel in downtown Winnipeg.

Unfortunately, the James Chisholm designed hotel opened shortly after the onset of the First World War in 1914. Tourism had plummeted and within a year, the hotel was transformed into barracks.

The Olympia would reopen once war ended. Six new floors were added in 1921 for $400,000, and a two-storey addition on the north side two years later. Now, nine stories tall, and grandly gothic, the Olympia Hotel was sold to Winnipeg businessmen who renamed the hotel the Marlborough, after Britain’s First Duke of Marlborough.

The hotels façade is of polished granite, soft grey terracotta and red brick. Fine detailing covers the façade, with windows boasting gothic pointed arches, buttresses, and angled pilasters. Stained glass fills the seven arched windows on the main floor, some of which are covered by a large steel canopy. Stepping into the hotel, guests are treated to a rotunda with stone walls, marble wainscoting and marble floors.

A modern north-side addition was constructed in 1956 by owner Nathan Rothstein. This eight-storey addition has 200 rooms, a cocktail lounge, and eighth floor ballroom with an excellent view of Winnipeg.