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.
Built in 1929, the house at 2177 Victoria Avenue was originally numbered 1545 Victoria, pre…
Crescent Lanes first opened on Ottawa Street in 1944 at 1055 Ottawa Street, opposite Lanspeary…
Above is a photo of the home of Mr & Mrs Oswald Janisse, located at…
in 1917 two Greek brothers Gus & Harry Lukos purchased a one story building on…
Photo from Google Streetview A long time reader sent me an email the other week…
An unremarkable end to a part of Windsor's history. The large vacant house at 841…
View Comments
We seemed to have cleared all that up nicely.
I'll be sad to see the building go -- not terribly special, but those lines and form are rare in Windsor. Plus the carbon waste of tearing down a building that could be reused and/or opting to fill in one of the many area parking lots instead.
i remember going to that corner for a new years party in the late 80s, or 1990 with my girlfriend and friends. forget what it was then. i seem to remember it as a furniture store from when i was younger too since my parents were always going shopping for furniture downtown at places like where the fish market is now, or cadillac jacks...? i forget the locations downtown. even where the old teppermans was on ottawa. there used to be so many furniture stores around here. i remember going to that mothers too... got a photo of me in there somewhere around here i think.
Well I think if one were to untackify the exterior of the first level, and do something not half-assed with the big sign, it would be really sharp and might I say unique presence on Ouellette ave. If you view it from the waist up, it's not at all hard to look at.
I worked as a busboy at Jokers and 801 for a few years starting in 2002. It's going to be sad to see the old place get torn down. Lots of memories in that building. Beautiful HDR shots by the way.
Agreed. What's the deal with the grossly beige painted woodwork on the first level? Was it originally naturally stained and varnished woodwork until someone painted over it?
When they had it up on the market, I always thought that some smart entrepreneur would have turned both buildings into some giant liquidation/discount store like Honest Ed's in Toronto. That'd be cool if we had something like that in downtown. Canada Salvage used to be in downtown, but it was way too small compared to what someone could do with these two buildings.
Thanks Josh.
What's upstairs?
I lived in that neighbourhood in the mid '80's and I'm almost positive you entered Elliots from Ouellette Ave. There may have been a side entrance through a patio across the street from WUC.
Upstairs was pretty much empty when I was there although the owners had a couple of offices up there. Once you see the upstairs, you see how truly big the building actually is inside. I think it would have made a great arcade/bar/restaurant. It is something that Windsor is sorely lacking and I think that building was perfectly suited for something like that.
I talked to an older guy I know about the painted beige woodwork exterior on the main floor of 801 if it was naturally stained and varnished wood originally and he said it's all brickwork like on the second floor underneath the woodwork and they just covered it up with wood. When I look at the door on Ouellette St., I notice the brickwork on the left hand side. What a bunch of tards. Can you believe they would cover up that nice brickwork with beige painted boards? I don't know what's worse--using vinyl siding or painted boards to cover up brickwork. I guess it won't matter much now anyway since it's all coming down.
DOH!