Back in 2002 I took this photo of the house at Riverside and St. Rose. It was one of the old French farmhouses, predating nearly everything on the east side. While it had been altered and added on to over the last 125-150 years it was easy to see the humble origins of the past…
Preserve the past? Not when there’s McMansions to build! At least it looks like the trees survived.
Honestly, I like the McMansion better. It’s not an eyesore; it’s a nice, classy building. It captures a lot of classical looking elements and quality building materials unlike the ghetto suburban crap in South Windsor. It has a stone facade, not vinyl or stucco and glass. You have the Greco-Roman columns and portico on the front and side entrances. Several chimneys which give it a classical look. Different gables and peaks which give it variety, yet there’s symmetry in the front entrance which almost give it a French Chateau look. Double hung windows instead of an uncut commercial looking window follow the style from a century ago. The metal roof reminds me of slate. It almost looks like a wrap around driveway in the front. This building seems consistent as an extension of the intent of Riverside Drive as millionaire’s row as part of Windsor’s roaring 20s post-industrial past and I’m sure there were small farmhouses that were demo’d to build those mansions. It’s too bad it doesn’t have more land surrounding it though because it looks a little cramped on that lot. But, I’d rather have this building than one of those horrid looking high rises that a lot of those mansions that were part of millionaire’s row fell victim to. By building classical looking mansions along Riverside Drive which was millionaire’s row for over a century, you’ve got no complaints from me.
Also, who knows what the condition of the 150 year old French house was from the inside. I’m guessing a small farmhouse that old would have had a lot of problems with it that may not have been readily noticeable from the exterior photo. The modern looking mods on the farmhouse took away from its charm anyway.
I like this house too. It’s way too big for the lot, but at least it’s not another cookie-cutter raised ranch eyesore. Just think about the house that replaced the “cat house” on Windermere!
I don’t think its fair to rip on that house… It may not match the farmhouses that were originally there, but at least it looks classy. It certainly is not one of those cookie-cutter subdivision houses that highlight a garage in the front. (or worse yet, the ugly “raised ranch” that seems to be in higher percentage here than any other city). Those old houses do not have the interior for today’s lifestyle. And if Riverside Dr. is going to modernize, at least it is being done in a decent way. This house is nice, and I think it makes the trip down Riverside Dr. look classy and rich, as it is known for.
It isn’t a bad looking house but it certainly doesn’t fit the footprint of the land very well.
But I understand your sentiment. We remove yet more history for just another mcmansion which could have been built anywhere.
Fair enough, my biggest problem is that it looks crammed on the lot.
It looks like a marshmallow crammed in a coin slot. It’s way too big of a house for the lot.
It could have been worse… it could have been stucco’ed.
I think style is a pretty personal thing. I was surprised that others like this house, personally I find the whole effect a little odd. To me, this super-large house, jammed on the small lot looks odd. I’m not a fan of this architectural style – but again, that’s my tastes.
To me, the effect of this house is as jarring as the one on Windermere……but that’s just my opinion.
The old house did stay vacant, I think, for a long time and maybe was beyond saving. There is a similar situation on the other corner – that house also replaced a much older house that had fallen on hard times.
I think it’s a nice looking house…if it wasn’t crammed onto a corner lot beside other smaller houses. The three car garage alone looks gigantic compared to other houses around it. At least this house isn’t the same cookie cutter design from a subdivision.
It seems to me that the McMansion in all of it’s monstrosity couldn’t leave room for a sidewalk that was originally there.
Shawn the sidewalk could still be there the two pictures are shot at different angles. I think it’s a very nice house and very smart on how they maximized the use of the property for interior living space after all that’s where most of the time is spent.
The old House on the property was old and decrepit, I was told that the old farmhouse was build around 1790; It’s hard to believe there were houses that old in the city.
This house was designed to take advantage of the water view across the road; The Design for the style of the house was inspired as a combination of Georgian Colonel and English Country Style Homes. I think it’s a nice house, to bad the property wasn’t bigger for this house.
1790? I doubt it would be that old. In the war of 1812, the Americans came down to the Canadian side and looted and burned all the buildings to the ground except the Duff Baby House, which one of the American generals used as a command post. Then, it would be a couple decades before people trusted the area as secure again and came back to farm it–if you were a farmer and had concerns about all the women in your household getting raped by invading American soldiers, you’d probably want to know the area was fairly secure and reasonably protected by the local British government before making it your home and the nearest British garrison was where, Amherstberg, which probably take a day for soldiers to come to the rescue. I’m thinking Andrew’s 150 year estimate is accurate.
I’ve driven by the new house many times. I guess compared to many replacement homes on the Drive, it is about as good as could be expected. It’s not like some of these homes that belong in Florida. I can’t blame the former owners, who probably made a killing selling the property. With these newer homes, people want maximum space and minimum lawn. Similar thing happens in the DC suburbs. Old 50s era ranches are torn down and replaced with homes 3 times the size (and price). Gotta like the 4 car garage though – nice! Look at it this way, that little bit of lawn won’t need fertilizers or extensive cutting, so it’s environmentally friendly.
I know the fellow who bought the old house in the mid 80’s. He did a lot of “un-renovating” to get at as much of the original house as possible. He told me that it was once used as a Coach Stop and one of the features he uncovered was a brick wall in the original kitchen complete with a serving window to what would have been a “common” room. The blue house behind it belonged to him as well and once stood on Wyandotte St. E. around the corner of St. Rose between the Church and the A&P parking lot. Part of the deal in selling that property was moving the house to it’s present location – so I’m assuming the land it is now sitting on was once part of the “Old House” property.
Just because this isn’t a cookie cutter house doesn’t make it right. My wife and I drive by this house often. It is cold. It is always dark. It is lifeless. You never see anyone around. We jokingly call it a bunker. All it is missing is a wall around it. For all it’s surface area, I don’t think they could fit anymore grey or beige on it.
I clearly get the impression that the people within have no interst in being part of the community. They are in it for themselves. They built their castle without regard for fitting in with nearby homes. Oh, and I hope the neibours didn’t mind that they blotted out the sun (and probably some of their view of the river).
I hope they make the millions they are looking for when they put it up for sale when the market gets better.
PS. I don’t remember the old house, but I’ve heard told it had a salon run out of the back.
Well, I guess there’s no accounting for taste. This house grosses me out. For one thing, its a great example of a structure that is poorly integrated with its surroundings. It might have been bearable if it had a broad expanse of space all around (the better to keep it far,far away) but as it stands it appears bloated, claustrophobic, and dangerous, like its gonna swallow up the street. My house could probably fit inside the garage. Has as much charm as a Humvee done up in desert camouflage – a group of rectangular blocks huddled together and dressed up with roof peaks,columned porticos, arched doorways and big chimneys. A Sears catalogue pre-fab on steroids if I ever saw one.
Although the house that stood there might not have been built in the 1790s it was most likely built after 1812 but before the 1850s.
It is clearly of French Canadian design with the two chimneys on opposite sides of the house. I would take a wild guess and place it bewteen 1815 and 1845.
It disgusts me to see it was torn down to make that dank beast of a house.
Sadly this city has a reputation of razing old buildings more than any other city in Canada. When you travel to other Ontario cities like Stratford they seem to keep the
old buildings which gives their community a warm charm. Windsor is a beautiful City and
we have a gem in our water front parks. I realize that we can’t save every building however I do wish that we would save more of the structures that are sound.