Another long time local landmark is winding down its final days on the landscape, the old Ford Casting Plant. The demolition work that had gone on previously on the site was simply the removal of the pollution equipment from the exterior that had been purchased at auction. The real demolition has yet to get underway. The entire project should be done, and the entire complex gone by August.
Built in 1934, it was designed by noted industrial architect Albert Kahn.
Only a section of the south facade retains any of the historic Kahn design.
It tough to advocate to preserve these hulking industrial buildings, that would have little potential for any other use.
Sometime we just photograph them and let them pass away gracefully. Hopefully Darren and Cpike will be able to supply us again with photos when demoliton resumes.
what?? it’s being torn down?? I can never understand why they can’t come up with some creative reuse for these buildings. it’s a beautiful structure. in rome they took a similar structure and turned it into a museum…. http://www.centralemontemartini.org/
there’s better pictures of it here http://eternallycool.net/?p=578
i love the way they kept the foundry machinery and just put in art all around it. stunning.
Pina, in Saint-Etienne, France which I recently featured, they too are renovating their old munitions factory into a public space as well. There are a few reasons why something like that will not happen here:
1. The land is surrounded by a still active factory. They generally don’t mix these places with public spaces.
2. There is little lack of vision in this city. From the mayor, through to City Administration there is no one who can envision the possibility of these type of projects.
3. Our litigious nature. Large corporations like Ford are paranoid about possible soil/environmental pollution. The less exposure to these spaces the public has, they happier the large companies feel.
I’m willing to be that we won’t see anything built on these lands for many, many decades.
PS – Thanks for the link above. As I told you I am heading to Rome later this year, and that now on my “to do” list.
Great pictures…is access to the site open to anyone?
Nice update. It is tough to find an alternate use for these buildings, as there is always the lingering question, right or wrong, of dangerous chemicals, etc being present, like our good friend asbestos.
I doubt if Kahn imagined that this building would be preserved at the end of its life, but hard to say.
Any word on what will happen to the site when it’s cleared? Will it be a brownfield?
I WOULD THINK THE GROUND IN THIS AREA WOULD BE FULL OR TOXINS. SIMILAR TO THE OLD CHRYSLER PROPERTY @ DOUGALL, THIS IS ONLY GOOD TO COVER WITH CONCRETE OR BLACKTOP,BUT NO COMPANY WOULD WANT THIS PROPERTY TO BE SOLD & FUTURE OWNERS SUE FOR THE CLEAN-UIP ???
Shawn, it’s not open I had the opprotunity to visit it a few weeks back on another matter and made sure I brought my camera…
JB – From what I understand Ford will keep the site empty and under constant evealutaion and testing to insure the property is free from contamination.
Mike – I’m no expert but the fact that this plant was in use until last year makes me belive that it is probably in better shape contamination wise than older plants that closed inteh the 70’s or 80’s. With all the new laws and Health and Safety requirements, I am certain the levels of toxins has been closely monitored.
I am certain that Ford will be on top of this land and it will be carefully monitored.
It looks all quiet there this morning so far but very clean. they seemed to tidy up yesterday and finish tearing down part of it around where i showed you before that they covered up, but that part is all concrete, sort of like a silo. so not sure how they will tackle that.
i’ll keep shooting video and photos though once they start up again. nice to hear you’re going to rome too. i was there long ago back in 1980 or so. or 1978, hard to remember.
I worked there 20+ years, know every inch of the place,here’s what’s in this string of pics:
1st pic– the cement silo on the right was part of the sand dryer complex, we’d truck the sand from that huge pile at the river, dump it,dry it and pipe it(alreadybeen removed in pic) to the Core Room . Of more interest(to me) is the silvery looking pipe shape on the left at/above roof level. This is/was #3 Cupola where we did the heavy duty melting–I’m amazed it wasn’t sent to China, the stack’s only 5 yrs. old(refit cost almost a million$–I saw the invoice)
2nd pic–only thing to note is you can see where guys were taking brick ‘souvenirs’
3rd pic–hoops anyone?? the ball was always there if ya wanted to toss a few..
4th pic–east wall of plant, walls ripped open to aid machinery removal, also another nicely framed view of #3 cupola(see above) in rear centre of pic–you can see the silver finish
5th pic–east cranebay lotsa removed machinery, you can see one of the 2 overhead cranes(it’s yellow in the pic) that were used to transfer molten metal as well as everything else the full length of the plant(as well as routinely running over less than alert pigeons on a regular basis)
Almost brings tears to my eyes…
If you want/need descriptions of any other foundry pics, I’d be happy to help
Also forgot to mention, in the 1st pic what’s important is what’s missing. The tall blue exhaust stack for #3 cupola, it was identical to the one at the back of this pic, but you could clearly see the “missing” one from Erie St. as far west as Janette.
Whenever I drove by that corner, I could tell if we were melting metal or not.. by the smoke(or lack of it)
Keep the pics comin’
Bob
Thanks for the explanations Bob!
Sorry for the extended rant, just to comment on future use: I’d say imposssible. It was built and used as a foundry from 1934(my grandfather worked there) and even in “modern times” we used lotsa nasty compounds, much less what they used to use…There’s asbestos on lotsa piping(encapsulated so it’s OK– don’t disturb),silica,sulphuric acid,isocyanates just to scratch the surface….my guess…”they paved paradise and put up a parking lot” for Ford use only, the plant’s too close to Ford Windsor Engine plant to sever it….all the pics I’ve seen here are taken from the east and or southeast locations, there’s only a roadway to separate the Foundry from Windsor Engine Plant on the west side….
Bob
Can someone explain something to me? Don’t they need the foundry to make the Ford Engine plant profitable? I was reading in the paper that they are going to reopen the engine plant with government funding, but don’t they need a foundry nearby to cast the heavier parts for the engine plant? Are they going to build a new foundry on that site? Where are the parts supposed to be coming from? Are they going to get those heavier parts from Zug Island in Detroit, assemble them at the Engine plant in Windsor and then send the completed engine back to an vehicle assembly plant in Detroit? I hope that`s not how it works as it seems costly and impracticle to ship it over such distances. Maybe someone can fill in the blanks here,
If Ford & Nemak sees things your way David it could be good news for Essex Aluminum.
If not, it will be good news for long haul drivers on the Mexico run.
David-It’s Essex Engine(on Lauzon Parkway)that’s reopening and at the start it’s only gonna be to machine cranks and rodsand ship them ,neither being cast iron foundry made(cranks-steel,rods-forged)
Ford is done with the foundry business–all outsourced,blocks for Windsor Engine Plant(the current and only producer of the F150 pickup motor)for example,will come from South America(I think Brazil).
As far as impracticality shipping wise, that’s ALWAYS been an issue..eg.#1 In the foundry for a number of years we made a 4.0 litre block,shipped it to Cologne Germany to be turned into an engine which was then shipped back across the Atlantic to Norfolk Virginia to be put in Ford Explorers…go figure..
eg.#2 The foundry being 20 feet away from Windsor Engine Plant produced only 1 small volume part for the F-150 plant..the blocks came from Cleveland(soon to be Brazil)cranks came from Woodhaven Forging etc…..makes you wonder about those who make those kinda decisions…
Bob
You say it’s tough to advocate for such a large building that doesn’t have much reusablility, but really, you just have to get creative. I suggested to the city in the Official Plan Review campaign the city had going in February that this space would be perfect (if restored) for a great museum of Windsor’s history. I mean, what better place??? We have such a rich heritage, surely we could fill most of it with exhibits. But alas, that likely won’t happen.
I think Pina has a great idea! Before I go further, I worked at Ford for seven years and two summers in the Foundry while going to university. The foundry is part of our Industrial Heritage and some of it should be preserved. Pic #4 would be great for an alternative indoor events menu in the better months around here. The available space alone could generate ideas for and by this community, from indoor soccer pitiches, to anything you can imagine. Toxic substances can be cleaned up for low level use and exposure. I don’t think hat all of it should be demolished!
Is pic#5 taken from the shipping area?
Wow…. the place is empty now.
Will–Yup, that pic is from shipping, the back presses are gone,the George Fischer crank shotblast system’s gone….removed through the wall it looks like..
Bob