Friday, August 13, 2010

Moses and Manly Finkelstein

Moses Finkelstein c.1906. Credit

When he was a boy, Moses Finkelstein arrived in Winnipeg of 1882 with his family. Moses went into business, and at 32, became the city's first Jewish aldermen. In 1911, Moses lived at number 111 Henry Avenue, in the Fonseca Terrace built by early Point Douglas investor, William G. Fonseca. Residing there were his wife Sarah's parents, Isaac and Dora Rosen, and Moses and Sarah's five children: Edyth, Manly, Kenneth, Noel, and Pearl. As well, a 65-year old domestic, Mary Prutzecha, lived with the family.

Fonseca Terrace. The Finkelstein's lived at number 111, the door on right

Moses' son Manly Finkelstein was born in 1898, and became a physician and Captain of the Canadian Medical Corps during World War II. He married Freda Rosner, a sister of Saidye Rosner, who married a man named Samuel Bronfman, who managed the Bell Hotel.

In 1949, Manly died while in Montreal for the wedding of his niece, Saidye and Samuel's daughter Phyllis, who was marrying the French Baron Jean Lambert. Though the marriage would last only four years, Phyllis kept the name Lambert, and become a leading figure in Canadian architecture and heritage preservation. In the 1950s she was involved in building a landmark of Modern Architecture, Ludwig Mies van der Rohe's Seagram Building, located in Midtown Manhattan.

Phyllis Lambert, niece of Manly and Freda Finkelstein, c.1960s

The Seagram Building, Park Ave., Manhattan

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