Again, another inner-city house falls to make way for a vacant lot, and a little more density is removed from the core areas of the city. This house above at Howard south of Elliott, fell to the wrecking ball last week for no apparent reason. When the demolition request came before council, despite administration’s recommendation to deny demolition, council in all their wisdom told the owner to go ahead.
After the house came down last Wednesday (these photos are from last Tuesday), I headed over to the library to peruse old directories to see what stories the house had to tell.
As best as I could tell, the house was first built around 1903, and was originally known as 34 Howard Ave (it became 820, before being renumbered in 1937 as 884, the address it held until last week). Arzen Dupuis is listed as a Labourer and and resident at the house. I believe that Arzen is a spelling error, and is actually the French name Arsene.
Through the early years, his occupation ranges from Labourer to Worker at the Canadian Bridge Company to Carpenter. By 1919 he’s listed as a machinist, and shortly there after he is listed as being a worker at the Ford Motor Company.
In 1926, the house to the right at 888 Howard is listed as vacant, and the next year Mr. Dupuis is listed as living there, with the house at 884 becoming a four-plex.
I can only surmise that Arsene bought the neighbouring house, and changed the other one into a boarding house. In 1937 he is still listed as a worker at Ford’s, but the next directory I found in 1940, lists the resident as Adeline Dupuis (widow).
In 1963, the directory lists Peterson’s TV Repairs as operating out of 884, with Mr. Peterson being the owner. We previously saw Peterson’s in this 1957 photo, operating a block north.
Mrs. Dupuis is still listed as living at 888 through 1969, when I can only assume that she passed away.
Between the two houses in the photo above, there was either Arsene or his wife Adeline Dupuis living in them from 1903 through 1969. That is simply amazing.
well that’s nice. maybe tearing it down was cheaper then fixing up the porch and balcony. oh…and the porch on the side seems to be a bit run down. that must of been what made demo cheaper. no idea if it’s been vacant for a long time? nothing a little hard work wouldn’t solve, at least on the outside.
The reason (to which I don’t understand the logic of council) it was demolished is because it is cheaper to have a vacant lot than to have one with a building on it, for tax purposes. Just like demo’ing the Joker’s building on Ouellette, once again we see our density being lost for vacant, weed filled lots. Also, our tax base shrinks at I noted above.
So why is council approving this if it lessens density and lowers the tax coffers? Shouldn’t they be trying to improve the density and making it more attractive to build so that we have more tax revenues? Am I in the twilight zone in Windsor politics?
That’s awesome that they lived there that long….my house 1908 – 2004 same people lived in as well until i bought…and in mint shape!
Wasn’t there a house that looked similar to it to the left that was demolished last year. It had a seperate concerete block garage in the back and I think it had a fountain out front. I remember asking about it year a ago while it was on the market. It had roof leaks, the realtor thought the trusses were rotted, the hydro was disconnected for over a year, water was disconnected because of broken pipes, possible foundation problems. I think the realtor said the owner went into a seniors home and it just sat there vacant for a couple years, Then, I guess the owner passed away and the estate trustee listed it for $59K as is. It’s worth a lot less without the building on it. It does seem pointless to have it demolished. I should have gone inside to check it out, just to see what it was like.
Andrew, do you have a name for the TV repair store owner? The elctronics outlet in the 1957 photo has a sign declaring the business of C.M. Peterson Ltd. That is a national electronics supply chain started by the father of former Ontario Priemier David Peterson (LIberal 1985-90) and of which David became president of about 1969 when he was 26. (See Wikipedia.) But David was born in Toronto and I believe C.M. Peterson’s headquarters was in London, Ont., where David was living when he graduated from Western. Could it be the Windsor store is just one in the chain or does David have a Windsor connection?
Andrew, do you have a name for the TV repair store owner? The elctronics outlet in the 1957 photo has a sign declaring the business of C.M. Peterson Ltd. That is a national electronics supply chain started by the father of former Ontario Priemier David Peterson (LIberal 1985-90) and of which David became president about 1969 when he was 26. (See Wikipedia.) But David was born in Toronto and I believe C.M. Peterson’s headquarters was in London, Ont., where David was living when he graduated from Western. Could it be the Windsor store is just one in the chain or does the family have a Windsor connection?
If my memory serves me correctly I went into that repair shop with my Dad in the very early 80’s (perhaps ’82?). I wonder if it can be verified if that same TV repair shop was there at that time?
Very interesting… I never knew about the David Peterson connection. I always thought the Petersons store was an independant electronics shop of the day, kinda like Crescent.
RWS – Maybe the two Peterson’s stores weren’t related? Just a fluke?
I think Petersons carried Fluke, actually. 🙂
One has to wonder what that house looked like inside…
I guess we’ll never know.
I lived at 884 Howard from 1953 – 1968. My great grandmother, Adeline Dupuis, owned 884 and 888 Howard. My mom was born in the back bedroom at 888 Howard in 1929. C.M Peterson was on Glengarry about 2 blocks north of 884. Peterson TV was at 884 Howard, my step father.