Located on Riverside Dr. in Windsor, next to the RCMP station is this small soon to be demolished home. As the story goes, this was the pool house to the summer “cottage” next door. The O’Shea’s came from money, being the second generation heir’s to the family fortune, that was made in the early days of the automobile. The story isn’t too clear, but the ancestors made their fortune in Windshield Wipers or Defrosters. The pool house was orignally open air, and built some time around 1940. The mansion next door was demolished sometime in the 1950’s.
I was kindly given access to document the home prior to its demolition.
The front of the house as seen from Riverside Dr.
The entrace to what was the changing areas.
The orignal front door. It will be salvaged and reused.
The rear of the house facing the river. At one time a massive chimney rose from the rear. It was knocked out and replaced by a picture window sometime in the 1990’s.
The interior hall. The rectangular bumps on the floor cover what used to be the pool. An unsympathectic remodel has also added bedrooms over the pool area.
Tudor details and stone columns are visible along the sides. At one time these were open to the outside.
More Tudor details, this was the wall between the fireplace and the pool area.
The window that replaced the fireplace offers a panoramic view of Belle Isle. It’s hard to see but the hearth is still in the floor infront of the middle window.
Into the bowels… The pool filtering machinery is all still in the basement.
Finally a crawlspace hatch in one of the makeshift bedrooms leads down into the pool area. This photo was taken from the deep end.
The O’Shea pool house is scheduled for demolition in early November.
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~ Andrew, do you know why it was demolished? What a shame
Annette - The owners rebuilt a new home on the property.
thanks Andrew... I'm really enjoying your site. Great stuff
Andrew - The O'Shea Pool House was owned by the Larson Family of Grosse Pointe in the late 60's and early 70's. They used it as a "Cottage" and used to come over frequently or for lengthy stays during the summer holidays. We used to live across the street at 6065 Riverside Drive East (1517 Riverside Drive East before amalgamation) and used to hang around with the Larson boys. There was also a little sister, but I can' remember her name. The story was that their Grandfather or Great Grandfather held the patent for windshield wipers. They sold the house to one of the Tingle boys. I left town in 1977 and came back in 2008, and was shocked to see that it was gone. We as kids also used to sit on the docks at the old RCMP Headquarters in Riverside, and they had a huge old proud boat at the dock.
PS - we used to swim in the pool, so it was still used when we were kids.
Looking for relative Stephen Cotter, lost track a few years ago. Help please, Dennis