Glengarda

View Comments

• Sorry to revive this blog but it is important to know the FACTS in this case.
  We have two eye witness accounts to the planning proceedings and both are in direct opposition to the other.

  Either Mady was planning to incorporate 60% of Glengarda or he wasn't.

  Which is it?

  In my opinion, if a plan was put forth by Mady to incorporate as much of the building as possible (at least 60% of it) and was "laughed at" as Charles suggests, then the ACO is entirely responsible for the "complete" loss of Glengarda.

  My Mother and my Father-in-Law worked at Glengarda for years and I hated to see it go.
  However, those who are legally entitled to re-zone or re-build on that site don't owe anyone an apology for what they did IF and I stress IF, they provided a reasonable compromise to incorporate 60% of that structure into the new one.

  So, whats the truth of it?

• The sketches for what I would call "The Compromise" which would have saved most of the building were delivered to the Mayor's office. I believe it was Mayor Kerts [?]. I'm quite sure they were never retrieved as I never saw them again...so hopefully they reside somewhere in the City of Windsor Planning files. Maybe someone can check on that. OR...perhaps the Architect who drew the plans could be contacted.
  But in response to the query from Chris...make no mistake..the compromise was clearly and unequivocally offered!!

• on the corner of Raymo road and wyandotte where the new gaudaloupe church presently stands way back in the 50's there was a farm on that corner house barn chicken coup,the only reminder that Glengarda once stood on the riverfront is on the north side of wyandotte at raymo there are 2 old concrete pillars with balls mounted on the tops they look ancient standing there i think they mark the original entrance onto the Ursilene property from the south

• thanks for pointing out those pillars gary, I've never noticed them before. they even have the old wraught iron gates attached. for anyone looking for them on streetview they are a little east of the intersection at the end of the glengarda property.

  you should go get yourself a picture of those Andrew before they get ripped out of the ground!
  or maybe even make a move to have them preserved since they probly are the only things left of glengarda.

• Charles Robinson , even with his first hand knowledge, has confused the issues. He explains that..."When this plan was presented at a meeting with the Windsor head of the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario it was LAUGHED AT!" I was at that meeting and I was shocked and embarrassed for the Developer and what great pains he had gone through to develop such a fabulous concept. The Developer was told in no uncertain terms that the ENTIRE Glengarda building was to be preserved and the proposed 2 towers should go behind the Glengarda building."
  Mr. Robinson's comments are misguided; the ACO had and has NO STATUS when it comes to the city's decision on matters under the Heritage Act. The ACO (Architectural Conservancy of Ontario) is a separate provincial organization whose mandate is to preserve places of historic significance and natural beauty in the province.The direction for matters under the Heritage Act comes from the City's Heritage Committee and Heritage Planner. If Mr. Mady's "stunning" compromise was abandonned because someone from the ACO laughed at it, I question the degree of commitment that Mady Development Corp. had to it in the first place.

  I'm not sure what version of the "stunning" plan that Mr. Robinson saw - As I recall, Mr. Mady took a marker and drew new features onto his existing blueprint - I would not describe the result as stunning.
  While the Representative from the ACO did make the suggestion about putting the towers behind the existing Glengarda building, there was no reason given about why this could not be done - unfortunately, I think the ACO rep. unwittingly gave Mady a convenient excuse to say that the ACO was being unreasonable because they had the temerity to put forward a different solution than the one Mady had proposed.
  Mr. Robinson's attempt to pretend that Mady came with a settled intention to do the right thing in this case is simply an attempt to re-write history!
  I stand to be corrected but I believe Mady commissioned Michael Gladstone White to write the history on Glengarda. It was Mayor Michael Hurst by the way, and I would be surprised as all get out if those drawings were found at city hall. Mayor Hurst had his own loyalities and getting everyone in town to do the circle-jerk (including Mady by the way)over the Canderel Building was his highest prioroty. If that meant being nice to Mady and letting him demolish history, so be it.

• yuck.....now i know why nobody wants anything to do with the Canderel building. i wouldn't invest in the byproduct of a circle jerk either. ;)

• I think the only thing thats ever gonna breath life back into the core is a reasurgence of retail like we had 50 years ago and i don't think thats ever gonna happen no matter what these so called experts say i was thinking they should have the art section of the city all in the pelishier street coridor like torontos queen street and i think some of the art should adorn parts of the street the only risk is one of these little graffiti assholes defacing it with spray paintkeep it all in the same area

• To Carol...
  Either you have a bad memory or you are an out and out LIAR!!!
  and what does candarel have to do with Glengarda??
  and the sketches presented were COLOURED ARTISTS RENDERINGS and were spectacular.
  but you are not interested in the truth....you SPIN the truth ...you are a mean spirited person and i feel sorry for you. You and some of your cronies are the reason Glengarda doesn't exist today. SHAME ON YOU!!
  I will pray for you carol.

• Glengarda was a residential school for intellectually challenged children during that heartbreaking time in our past when a child born with Down Syndrome or some other disability was hidden away from view.

  The nuns used to take the kids for walks in the park across the street, always walking along the south sidewalk to the light at the corner of Pillette to cross. Almost every time, some group of snot-nosed kids would shout obscenities and call them names. Every time I pass that corner I think about those sweet, innocent kids, and the human garbage that would find it funny to be that mean.

  Just before demolition the place was opened to the public. Few places have felt more haunted and lonely. The presence of these children was palpable. I tried to imagine being institutionalised from early childhood that way, sleeping in these tiny rooms, marching to showers with ragged curtains, built especially for little kids with tiny toilets and sinks, then down to the basement dining room for breakfast. It wasn't hard to imagine what that must have been like on a cold, bleak January morning. To cry or be hurt and never have their mommies around to hug them and kiss their booboos ... it was an atmosphere of heartbreak.

  The whole time during the open house people were taking crowbars and screwdrivers to everything - hardwood flooring, tile, fixtures, trim, you name it. Whatever they could pull out was theirs.

  The building was a work of art. It was the one place in Windsor you could imagine artists setting up easels to paint the gardens with Glengarda in the background one one side, and Belle Isle on the other. Losing the building made Mady a Riverside pariah, and I don't think he will ever be forgiven by those who grew up with Glengarda. No matter how you slice it, the condo and the Sunrise buildings just claw at the scenery. There's nothing organic or romantic about them. I'm sure many a bride and groom have asked the photographer to make sure the buildings aren't in the shot. That wouldn't have happened with Glengarda.

  Regardless which side of the slapfest opinion falls on, the loss is tremendous. Compromise, no compromise ... to-may-to to-mah-toe ... it's gone.

• HOW WOULD I GET A COPY OF THE BOOK HISTORY OF GLENGARDA AND URLINE RELIGIONS ORDER AND WHERE TO BUY IT