Driving out along Tecumseh Road East, at Rossini, you may have noticed them before, or you may not have. At the entrance to this planned community, stands large brick “gates”.
This ad ran in the Border Cities Star, March 3, 1923:
Make sure you “look for the Brown and White signs when Motoring on Tecumseh Rd.” 🙂
No sign of the “playcourts” though…
Along Tecumseh Road there are brick entrances to the subdivision.
These two flank each side of Rossini at Tecumseh.
There are also single piers on both the streets east and west of Rossini, Tourangeau and Bernard.
How these managed to survive all these years is beyond me. Note the one on Tourangeau is built into the edge of a parking lot.
Here’s a sample of some of the houses…
This one is interesting…
… because of the addition someone built on the north side!
[EDIT] As requested, here’s link to a copy of the ad you can read….
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FINALLY!!!!! i have wondered forever about those gates! the singles baffeled me even more lol i agree, i have no clue how these have managed to survive in the city of self destruct, but i'm sure glad they did. of course, now that we're admiring them they might as well get torn down. all very nice homes though.
these gates just made me think of the big stone gates at the foot of Moy and riverside.
i wish there were more of these neighbourhood entrances.
any idea what those rusty bits on the columns held? probly nice old lights i'd imagine.
i think i might have found the "playcourts" though on google maps, bordered by: ypres, francois, arthur and somme.
thanks andrew, i'm really enjoying this series!!
.....strange, that white alero is parked in the exact same spot on google maps lol
You said exactly what I was thinking about the gates.
Any way to make the Rossini Court Parkways' ad readable? I can't make out what the words say under the headlines. I tried to enlarge the picture, but it becomes blurry and unlegible.
you said exactly what i was thinking about enlarging the ad. lol
I climbed those as a kid! And I always liked the first house above, thinking that window it the turret would be great place to drop waterbombs!
can't remember the details exactly but a number of years ago, the business on the corner of Rossini and Tecumseh wanted to expand and wanted to have them torn down. a friend has an uncle who lives on the street and they started up a petition to keep the gates. we took photos and wrote up a letter, etc. i think they may have even gone to council about them. so glad that they were able to keep them.
David & Aaron - I've added a link to a .pdf version of the ad, so you can read it...
pc - You are correct - this was probably about 10 years ago... Polkosniks (flower shop - don't know if they're still there?) wanted to have them torn down to expand. The neighbourhood got together and took the matter to city council...
Thanks Andrew. Any idea what the restrictions were that they spoke of in the ad? Normally, when I hear of subdivision restrictions in upscale neighbourhoods, they are talking about min. lot sizes, min. stories, min. above grade square footage, neighbourhood association approved architectural plans and additions/alterations, brick only facades, etc.
There are other gate-type entrances to other streets noticeably on Wyandotte St. E in Riverside. Though these were either installed by the BIA or the city I am not sure but it would be nice to see the city start to install more of these types of entraces to neighbourhoods and streets.
The style is of wrought iron with flowers and shrubs with an ornate street sign. I would rahter money spent on this than on yet more lawyer fees or another arms-length corporation.