Recently news came out that the two properties at 801 and 819 Ouellette were sold, and are being prepared for demolition.
I went out and shot them the other day, the buildings are probably best remeberd as Joker’s Bar and Mother’s Pizza. I figured the Joker’s building was from the 1930’s with the Mother’s building a fair bit older…
Needless to say, I was shocked to discover that neither were present on the last fire insurance map, meaning they both came later than 1937.
So off to the Library I went to go digging through old directories.
The former Mother’s Pizza building at 819 Ouellette was built in 1939.
It was home to an A&P Grocery Store from 1940 – 1975. The building is shown as vacant in 1976, and as Mother’s from 1977 – 1992. The 1993 directory shows the buiding as vacant, which it has been ever since. As for A & P closing, I think the A & P on Goyeau opened around 1975, so the store likely moved to a new space on the former Patterson Secondary Site, rather than closing. Today it is a Food Basics.
A & P 1940 – 1975 Vacant – 1976 Mother’s – 1977 – 1992 Vacant – 1993 – 2007
The building at 801 Ouellette was built sometime between 1953-1957. When I was at the library the directories from 53-57 were missing. There was nothing in the 52 directory and the building was listed in the 58 guide.
It was built as the Archibald Rose Furniture Company. They moved from a location on Sandwich St. This might have been when building were being cleared on the north side of Ouellette Ave. for Dieppe Park. c. 1954-55. In the mid 60’s (more missing directories) it became a Leon’s Furniture store (maybe Rose was bough out?), Then a Mac’s before becoming Jokers.
A. Rose Furniture – c. 1955 – c 1966 Leon’s Furniture – c. 1966 – 1984 Mac’s Convienience 1984 – 1991 Vacant – 1992 Joker’s 1993 – 2005 ? Club 801 – 2006 – 2007
The pictures speak for themselves, but it’s a rather handsome structure. Great brickwork too. It will be a huge loss to the downtown streetscape. More loss of density.
A HDR shot of the former A&P/Mother’s Building at 819 Ouellette.
A HDR shot of the former Joker’s building at 801 Ouellette.
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Another option if the owners think the brickwork looks too dated to lease out would be to cover the brickwork on both building with smooth cement to make it look like a true streamline modern like the Fish Market building on Pelissier and University. Anything is better than seeing it demolished and turned into another parking lot.
Wait a sec, Fishmarket building is on Pelissier and Wyandotte.
What's the story behind the Fishmarket building anyway? That's such an awesome looking building.
Last time I was inside it I got the distinct impression it was falling apart.
Different Fish Building.
The A&P on the Paterson school site opened in the late eighties, stumbled into oblivion and was converted to the green monster, Basics in 2002.
When I was a student at St. Anne's H.S. in Tecumseh, there was a teacher there was was part owner of Joker's I never stepped foot inside the building, however. It's 2013 now and it's still just a gravel parking lot. I forgot what the building looked like. For some reason, I remember it being much uglier and smaller. I don't recall it going to the back of the block. And I don't remember Mother's Pizza at all. It was before my time.
If that building is located on the South west corner of Ouellette and Elliot then it was Leon's Furniture. My grandmother lived in the apartment right across the street and I remember back in the early 60's that there was a Mario's (?) restaurant on the other corner. There was also an Arby's restaurant just south of her building on Ouellette. Patterson High School was a block east. I can remember all of these placements because I moved away from Windsor in 1971 and my memories of the city are like a photograph of that time. The few times that I have visited the city recently and have had occasion to see the down town area, I am really really sad. It is so ghetto and I think that the building of a casino to "buck up the economy" are the worst things that could happen to this wonderful city.