Hands down one of my favourite buildings in the city.
From the Border Cities Star September 4, 1930:
Every time I pass this beauty, I am grateful for the congregation of St. Peter’s who saved the building from the demolition that was being proposed by the diocese at the time.
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Me too. I love comming west on Tecumseh around sunset, when the sun has almost disappeared and you can't see any colour on the church, it's just a blackened sillouette of the tower against sunlit clouds.
Thanks Andrew!
As do I. I pass by it twice a day, so happy it was saved. My daughter and I often refer to it as the "Lego Church" due to the look of the brick work. It's a loving reference though.
It is a beautiful art deco church that is for sure.
I am trying to picture a church on Bruce ave. Any info on that Andrew?
The church on Bruce is long gone, but the old St. Clare school is still standing in the area, I suspect it was in that parcel of land along Bruce between Wakheta and Shepherd.
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The parcel of land to the east of the school that you speak of - what is the play yard today - was the site of the original St. Clare School which perished in a fire ca. 1970, prompting the building of what we see fronting Janette today. I'd love to know what the old school looked like, and if the church of the same name shared the same property, which would make the most sense. My grandmother, who was born in 1909, went to grade school at St. Clare, giving an idea just how long a school as been there.
I was a student there in 1962-63.I can only describe it as a big red/brown brick cube,similar to Ste Genevieve of the same era. High basement, two floors, not a real eyepleaser but it had a certain imposing bulk.
Andrew, that ain't the old St. Clare school. That is a monstrosity. Windsor had a number of Catholic grade schools built of red brick and sharing a certain "look"..... St. Clare, St. Angela, DeLasalle.....no doubt others. Same basic design. I believe that the St. Clare school that I attended was built in 1929. The others were probably built around the same time. Not sure about its demise in a fire though. I thought that it was rendered obsolete and demolished. One thing that's clear to me though - there is a special place in hell reserved for the architects and builders of the structure that replaced it and stands there today. This building has long been at the top of my list of ugliest, most unfriendly looking structures in Windsor, maybe even the world. Grade school-as-penitentiary. Gives me the creeps.
1929. It would then only have been 40 years old at the time, give or take, when it was said to be rendered obsolete. I suppose it's possible. But at the time I started attending the current school building it was still relatively new, and the fire story was what I was told. I even remember some smoke-damaged library books that were salvaged from the old school, or so the librarian at the time told me.
Boy, 40 years doesn't seem like much now that I'm pushing 62. I attended from 1955 to 1963. Elvis to Beatles. I remember high windows looking out over Bruce Ave.and Janette. Creaky wooden floors and blackboards. The CPR yards to the west were a constant distraction. Last days of steam. The building would only have been 30 years old but seemed much older to me at the time. Maybe it was the elderly Ursuline nuns that ran the place that gave it that vintage atmosphere. Maybe I got the date wrong. It was carved in stone high up on the facade front and center. I saw it every school day for eight years but the mind plays tricks. There was a concrete pad at the back of the building with several iron manholes for the delivery of coal for the boiler. Would sneak down to the furnace room once in a while. Converted to oil by the time I got there. This was the age of Sputnik after all. You may be right about the fire. Sure wish I knew for sure. One doesn't spend eight years of one's life in a place without developing strong feelings......
So true. I shot a couple emails out to people who should know. We'll see what comes back. I know what you mean about a building "seeming" old to a child. We still had a nun for principal when I first started (but all lay teaching staff). If you are right about the 1929 build date, then the school that's there now might just be #3 though!