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The Galpern (Porter) Building, 165 McDermot Avenue, a six-storey steel, brick and stone structure built in 1906, stands at the east end of a group of historic warehouses on McDermot Avenue in Winnipeg's Exchange District. The City of Winnipeg designation applies to the building on its footprint.

The Galpern (Porter) Building, a handsome Chicago School warehouse with modest classical detailing, is a major component of a continuous row of brick buildings from the 1881-1921 period in downtown Winnipeg. The structure, designed by J.H.G. Russell, also is an important example of the aesthetic transition that occurred in the city's warehouse district in the early 1900s from Romanesque-influenced styles to a more restrained commercial architecture. Built for James Porter and Co., a crockery and china wholesaler, this functional facility, with its showroom, office, storage and service areas, has adapted well to subsequent uses, including as the L. Galpern Candy Co.'s factory. Through its tall profile, rich materials and classical composition, the building forms a striking visual anchor at one corner of a significant streetscape in the Exchange District National Historic Site.

Before 1885, McDermot Avenue was known as Owen Street. McDermot has always been a commercial area, and today a substantial turn-of-the century streetscape still exists between 165-179 McDermot Avenue beginning at the intersection of Rorie Street and McDermot Avenue.

The large brick building located on the corner is familiar as the Galpern Candy Factory. It is larger in scale than its neighbours, its size making it a visual anchor as well as a bridge to the larger warehouses and commercial structures along Rorie Street.

Originally constructed in 1906, for James Porter and Company, a crockery and china wholesale firm, to replace their cramped quarters on Main Street. This company dealt in large shipments of china and crockery for domestic use. Arriving by train, the goods would be sub-divided into lots and then shipped west.

The firm of James Porter and Company remained in the building until it closed its doors in 1943. The building was then shared by Sanford Evans and Company, a firm that dealt in research and statistics; and the Galpern Candy Company, a family business that was started in the early years of this century.