Happy April everyone! I’m going to declare April postcard month, and we’re even going to venture out into the county this month. I will be the first to admit that I am a pretty urban dude, and I know very little about Essex County in general. So all my readers out there with any knowledge about the county, I will need your help in the comments over the next couple of weeks…
Up first today is post card of the Prince Edward Hotel, this one has a date on the back of 1954.
The Price Edward was designed by architects Esenwein & Johnson of Buffalo, in collaboration with Albert McPhail as the the associate architect. It was commissioned by the United Hotel Company, and was opened in 1922.
The hotel after running into debt of about a million dollars closed in 1967. It was demolished in 1976, and replaced with the hideous Scotia Bank.
A nice street level view of the building can be seen here. What a vibrant place Ouellette was…
For anyone who wonders why buildings like this came down, here’s an editorial from the Windsor Star December 20, 1975:
At long last, the decayed elegance that was the Prince Edward Hotel is
going to its rest. The 54-year-old edilice is scheduled for demolition next
spring, to the delight of City Hall and just about everyone who is regularly
downtown.
With some of the dust still clearing from the BA and Norton-Palmer hotels’
sites, levelling the Prince Edward to make way for a new, low-rise Bank of
Nova Scotia building should conclusively put an end to suggestions that
Windsor’s business core area is dying.
The Prince Eddie is an eyesore. and located as it is, directly opposite the
tunnel exit, it is not one of the more inspiring structures to greet visitors to
the city.
The new three or four-storey bank building, assuming its lines will be
clean and modern, will be a more than welcome addition. not to men-
tion a visual relief.
Sale of the site is not expected to close until late January and is con-
ditional on the city approving the plans.
Mayor Bert Weeks has said he anticipates no problems. in that the
city’s OK is largely a courtesy sought by the bank.
In the eight years the Prince Edward has been closed. the city has
become increasingly anxious for some type of disposition of it.
The Bank of Nova Scotia’s plan is better than many, and may prove as
good as the best.
City council should not, however, charge headlong into a hasty
approval without first ensuring all the zoning rules and regulations are
followed, as it would with any other building application.
So even 35 years ago, the Windsor sentiment of new is better was evident. This line was the scariest of all: “The Bank of Nova Scotia’s plan is better than many, and may prove as good as the best.” That my friends sums up perfectly, why we have such a mishmash of building styles across the city. The worst part is that even though that was written in 1975, the same sentiment in planning seems to be used to this day…
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Thanks for the pictures. My grandparents spents their wedding there in 1930.
I would love to see any interior pictures that you might have.
My mother worked in the Laura Secord shop which was located in the Prince Edward Hotel. She enjoyed it and often received tips from Americans shopping on Ouellette Ave!!!! Also my sister had her wedding reception in 1957 in the ballroom of the hotel, which was quite elegant. Just to make your readers envious Andrew, I now live in London England in a renovated flat. The house was built in 1885 and still considered youngish!!!