Not sure if you remember last year there was an article about a house that had been abandoned, and was full of cats? The Humane Society came in and removed a double digit number of cats. The house at 1040 Windermere Rd. has been empty ever since and was eventually condemned.
The Building Eater is in the back yard ready to go to work.
Looks like they are trying to do some salvage before demolition. It will likely be a tricky one to remove based on its close proximity to its neighbours.
I was over at my parents yesterday who live nearby, and the putrid smell of cat urine a feces is eye wateringly prevalent even curbside of this house.
It’s a shame, and will leave a big hole in the tight residential streetscape. The house is a two story brick house with a real stucco covering on the second floor. There is also some nice green tiles inset on the front porch.
Hopefully, some thought and planning will go into whatever replaces this vacant lot.
Shouldn’t be too long till it’s gone, so go take a last look at this Walkerville house before it’s in the landfill.
I don’t get it… DId it have a fire or was it termite infested? It looks very nice. What value is in it to demolish it?? I’d have offered more than $49K for it if it wasn’t fire damaged.
And I wouldn’t ruin it with vinyl siding either.
David, it’s permeated with cat urine. No one with olfactory capabilities will ever want to live in this otherwise nicely maintained older house.
Yeah, the building looks OK, craftsmanship probablyis excellent compared to new homes.
Too bad the city let the situation get so far as to condemn the building – acting sooner would have resolved the problem and saved what appears to be a nice looking house.
Like Andrew said – it really leaves a scar in the fabric of a tight-knit neighbourhood when something like this is allowed to happen. I live on the same block on Chilver, and yes JB, the detailing and craftsmanship in these houses have no equal in new construction, Just replacing the woodwork would break the budget of a new home.
Over 80 years of family memories is Walkerville lost, all because of a little cat pee.
Sad.
I just thought I’d let everyone know that I just got back from going through this house. These kinds of opportunities don’t arise too often – the demolition of heritage structures – and I was hoping that there would be something left of which we could salvage.
Just to sate your curiousity, this house is trashed beyond all hope. My neighbour and I went through, hoping that there would be some hardware or something to save. Armed with the best respirators money could buy, we spent 5 minutes in there before even the respirators stopped working. All the metal hardware, floor grates, etc. are rusted away due to the amonia-rich urine, the woodwork is beyond any hope of salvage. Even the front door, which looks great from the street, is worthless. Nothing is left. This house is better off torn down, so that maybe another neighbourhood-friendly home can be built in it’s place which adds to Windermere’s street life.
Now, I’m going to take a shower and throw away the clothes I was wearing. It was sad to go through it, but talking with the neighbours of that house, it seems as though there may be some cause for celebration in the rising of their property values and quality of life.
That was pretty gutsy! Thanks for the effort.
Yeah, it’s really bad. I’m probably one of the biggest preservationsist around, and even I’m not shedding tears. People from the demolition comapny were throwing up it’s so bad there. My parents are only a few doors down, and everone in the area is looking forward to it going, the smell is overpowering. Just drive by with your car windows open and stop in front of it for a few seconds.
Now why there were no criminal charges brought against the owner I’ll never understand…
OMG, this is like bizarro world. You mean a house can be demolished for cat urine? Don’t they have a spray that eliminates it? Even Fabreze does a fairly good job. You mean the hardwood floors were all warped and damaged like it was from a leaking roof? What did the cats eat if the house was abandoned? I still don’t get it. How could a house be structurally unsound from cat urine? Esp, a house built in the early century as they used cedar for most of it except hardwood floors. Unsealed cedar can be exposed to water for 25 years before it starts to rot. THere must have been a history of long periods of roof leaks. I wish you took pictures of the inside so I could get a better idea. How did you even get inside? Was the door unlocked? Better watch out before Chuck Mady gets the bright idea to start dumping stray cats into empty mansions along Riverside. Can criminal charges even be laid for leaving cats in an empty building?
Fabreze?
Bows and arrows against the lightning…..
I was talking with the demolition contractor, and he told me the owners (whoever that is at this point) got an estimate of over $135,000 to restore it. That is fiscally imposible to justify for a house that could be worth tops $200,000 if professionally restored and decorated.
Apparently, there we tons of cat corpses littering the house. Yes, the floors were eaten through at spots – through the floor, the joists, to the ceilings below.
Cat pee CAN completely and irrevocably destroy a house. I learned that today.
Chris, most houses on that block go in the $150-170 range, so it’s not worth the investment.
I guess cats have no problems living with the smell of cat pee…..
I wouldn’t be suprised to see them build a new back-split or modern ranch-style home on the property. You know, no one gives a shit about thier architectural-sensitive surroundings anymore.
I think there is a 50/50 chance they might make the effort to keep the replacement home architecturally consistent with its surroundings. The homes on that street are of a reasonable value, so the incentive is there. Some years ago a home was tore down on Pelissier st. and replaced by one that looks more like the neighboring houses than the one it replaced (go figure). Once in a while, someone will come along and surprise you. 🙂
Looking at how several brick houses on Chilver across from Willistead Manor were covered with Vinyl siding, I wouldn’t hold my breath with anything architectually consistent. The neighbours’ best option to keep the property values up would be to challenge any new building permits to keep the lot vacant. I’m not sure how many feet the building needs to be from the property line these days, but I suspect that newly constructed buildings need to be a lot further from the property line than before. If I were an abutting neighbour, I’d talk to the other neighbour and make an offer with that neighbour to each buy half of the lot for a side driveway.
Are you sure those are brick homes covered with vinyl, and not clapboard homes?
Some of them are brick. There’s one they’re doing right now. Probably, about half a dozen houses south of Niagara on Chilver there’s a house with the styrofoam and plastic wrap up now on the front. The sides are done are vinyl siding. If you look below the foam and above ground level you see brick.
Also, I had a look at 1040 Windermere earlier today. Two thirds of it is already demolished.
I got some video of the demolition of the second floor.
It’s nothing but a hole in the ground now.
Well done Chris. It must have been a challenge for the operator not damaging the neighboring homes.
I drove by late this afternoon and all that was left was a hole in the ground.