Congratulations to Phog Lounge in downtown Windsor. The winner of CBC Radio 3’s online poll as the Best Live Music Venue in Canada. First we crushed the competition with our local blogs, now our best live music venue has slayed the competition as well. Congratulations Tom and Frank.
The wraps are off the pig! Yes, we’ve got more stucco downtown…
Look at that fine detailing, only fit for royalty. Burger King indeed.
Another demolition for 2009.
Looks like this house on Pelissier, just north of Tecumseh Road, fell victim to parking lot expansion.
Also interesting to note, that despite the fact that St. Peter’s has been in this church since 2000, no one has bothered to change the signs. They still read St. Clare Church Parking.
Have a good weekend. See you back here Monday.
ha! more stucco… well, it could have been worse I suppose (there are some brick after all!). Is that the old Top Hat site? (and tell me you are not serious that it will be a BK?) You know, nothing like coming out of the Symphony at the Armories after a nice dinner out at BK! hahah
ps. Congrats to Phog. I voted!
ha! – Yes to the Top Hat site, and yes to it being a Burger King.
I’m impressed with the new Burger King. That’s a lot of brick on it, unlike the all stucco Burger King down the street that will be torn down for the tunnel plaza. This looks 10 times better. And it’s using the classic dark brown colour of local Windsor clay that a lot of the downtown houses were built with in the 20s and 30s. And, as I recall, the Top Hat had white stucco, so that’s a huge reduction in overall stucco use in downtown. I think this is a great overall improvement for downtown.
Also, I’ve gotta hand it to them for building it in record time. Quite unlike the ugly TD building that’s still just a hole. Is that gonna be the joke as the new Doherty’s hole in downtown? BK started after the demo for the TD site and it’s already done. Got to hand it to that construction company. Who would want to deal with Petratta anyway after seeing how slow they are to build anything? If Petratta is an example of local construction companies, no wonder so many out of town firms get hired. The Reichmann’s were building skyscrapers in Toronto and Montreal in that time and they can’t even finish a hole here…
When are we going to have guidelines for our buildings downtown? This isn’t all that bad but gee more stucco? Don’t architects have any pride anymore?
to: ME. No, they have traded their pride for greed. Its much cheaper for stucco finishing touches then stone work. Its (unfortunately) always about the bottom line. But I agree with David, for a BK, its not that bad. and i did laugh about the “overall reduction in stucco comment”! Lets just see how they manage to make it tacky with signage!
true it’s not THAT bad (or maybe we’re just getting complacent?). walking by it the other day i thought “hey, at least the entrance isn’t in the back with the parking lot.” looks like the entrance is in the front!! can you imagine?? that must have took some brainstorming to come up with an idea like that. an entrance in the front. genious.
Hey folks lighten up on the Petretta comments. First of all Dave Petretta is respected name in Windsor contracting circles. He is one of very few gentlemen left in the industry. Secondly building a one story BK out of sticks and plywood is very different undertaking than building a bank building with one floor of underground parking. The other guy’s job always looks easier until you have to do it yourself. The BK was obviously an accelerated construction schedule. That schedule does not come cheap for winter construction. Complicated and detail oriented projects take longer to finish just by their nature. The BK building probably has a built in life cycle of 7 to 12 years. The bank on the other hand is probably in the 50 to 70 year range. You get what you pay for.
pinstripes – Thanks. There is one person here for some reason who feels the need to constantly drag Petretta’s name into unrelated conversations.
I think anyone with half a brain can see that a burger king and a 3 story bank building are two different projects.
How old is the old TD Bank up the street that they are moving from? How long is that life cycle? Will it be demolished? How long did the old RBC bank used for this site last for before their tastes changed and it was vacant? In 10 years, TD Bank will want another new building to move into and this one will be vacant. Another three story bank is just another disposable building. What’s the other 40 years ago good for, if it would last that long, anyway?
I’m willing to bet that the BK building will be tenanted by it’s original owner a lot longer than that TD building.
Wow, if a construction company could build a 3 storey (plus underground parking structure) bank building in the same amount of time as a 2000 square foot, one floor BK I’d be a little worried. A one floor BK construction project and a three storey office/bank building is not even a relevant comparison.
The Canada Building is lookin’ pretty tawdry in the background of the magnificent new Burger King. Time for a stucco make-over to bring the old girl into the 21st Century. Has anyone ever attempted to stucco a skyscraper? Might be a global first. I for one would like to see the Tunnel Bar-B-Q razed (it bears scant resemblance to the classic greasy spoon I fondly remember, although I hear the chicken is still pretty good) and replaced with a Seattle style space needle topped by a revolving McDonald’s golden arches and a heliport.
Who’s the heliport for? Donald Trump?
It’s for Igor Sikorsky
It’s not perfect but that’s probably the best looking BK I’ve ever seen.
If we want to complain about the true eyesores of downtown, a good place to start would be the building that houses Phog.
Heliport? Why aim so low? What Windsor needs is a space elevator.
I guess the BK looks better than a traditional BK, like the one on Manning that just closed. Is that going to become a new TBQ? Stucco is cheaper than stonework to be sure, but on a fast food restaurant, stonework might look a little pretentious I think. I mean, it’s not a bank or something.
Time is money for BK. But why go to BK when you can go to Harvey’s a CDN institution. At least it’s nice to see some construction and the assorted work that goes with it.
Hahaha Embee. Very true…
At least BK make an effort and tried to do something better than what was customary for them by using lots of brick, quite unlike TD Bank that Andrew’s now defending with their all glass building and refusing to use any classical materials from the former building that was offered to them free by the city.
David, I’m hardly defending the building. It’s a turd.
However you keep attacking the contractor for unrelated things. I don’t quite understand that. I’m all for calling out people or companies when it’s deserved, but come on…
Did you work for them and get fired? Because you sound like a bitter ex-employee when it come to Petretta.
you know, if BK hadn’t put that eyesore of a hat on that building, and maybe capped the roof edges with stone like above the doorway it would actually be pretty damn nice! however, the space elevator sounds like a solid idea!
i heard that two years ago,Petretta apparently had this employee who insisted on constructing multi-level office buildings in the blink of an eye. when that wasn’t happening, this employee started going out to the build sites in the wee hours of the morning and finishing the jobs, literally by hand…no tools,ith the exception of the heel of his shoe, and occationally his teeth for removing damaged rebar and such.
anyways, long story short, the unions of the framers, plumbers, bricklayers and so on complained he was leaving no work for them and basiclly taking food right out of their mouths overnight. so his license was revoked with his union, and therefore couldn’t work for Petretta, and they had to let him go. legend has it,that on that imfamous day with a very distant look in his eyes, as if focusing on the flicker of a candle a mile away; he vowed that he would speak ill of the terrible evils of any and all unions who would shun this miricale builder, sent from heaven above for the good and betterment of mankind, and he would continue doing so until the day he died
……..no….it couldn’t be. could it?
well…till next time everyone! LOL!
Hi Andrew: Love your blog. I work across the street from this newest architectural wonder in downtown Windsor. I love to got to Senator Croll Park in the summer to read and people watch, but I’m afraid that is going to be spoiled by the smell of charred meat and the stench of grease (depending on which way the wind is blowing of course). Its too bad that those who make these decisions at BK head office couldn’t have a better imagination than this stucco monster. I believe it is possible to make these buildings more pleasing to look at.