I was going though some old photos I took a while back, when I came across a shot of the Park Building from 2002, just prior to Stuccoing.
Personally I think the before was better.
Park Building – Then
Park Building – Now
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Wow, that building looked really nice before with the brick and block facade. It’s sad, really. I wonder why on earth they would stucco it?? Did it just get hit with graffitti a lot and they couldn’t get it off or did someone do a really bad repointing job and they were trying to cover it up.
Weird. Are those storm windows of sorts on the second floor? The window at the far right retains its original appearance. And they sort of framed in the relief above it. Small favors, I guess.
None of the above. Someone bought it to make a bar upstairs and turned it into shit.
Along the side of the building on Park Street, there was some stone archtectural elements, as well as the name “Park Building” carved into a block. All the details except for one at the top were stuccoed over. Also at this time the glass entry door to the second floor was removed as was the oringnal wooden staircase and bansiter. Replaced with a steel staircase and steel fire door. If you look closely you can see what I’m talking about at the right hand side of both photos. The “Park Building” block was behind the tree leaves right above the door in the first shot.
yuck, i hear yet another bar will be opening above the honest lawyer soon for more mature people into the 80s… just what we need. another bar downtown.
i remember christian aldo used to have a gallery up above the post office back around 1994 when i moved back from vancouver. i remember going to the opening show. he’s living in the old ymca now.
Yeah the Disney-fying of the city continues unabatted.
Who really thinks this stucco crap lloks good? Do we really want to homogenize all of our bulidings? I agree with Andrew on this, it looks like crap!
Stucco is an enemy up here too….there should be a low requiring people to repoint bricks instead of stuccoing. On the plus, it can be removed at some point. Though not the staircases and other stuff.
It was a good building inside — Darren, we got to go inside an explore a bit somewhere around 1995 or so, when the Park Street Gallery was being opened — there were also a couple of businesses up there. One was “the tickle trunk” (vintage clothes), the record store whats-his-name dj guy opened (that later moved to the back room of the Amersterdam) and a cafe called Room 314 or something like that where the electronic music kids hung out.
When it opened, Windsor was at the height of a cultural arc I think — lots was going on in the city, and it was an exciting place to live. I’ve been away for 7 years now, so it’s difficult for me to say, but things are on a lower ebb at the moment. 10 years ago, downtown felt like it might come back, and there was stuff to do down there. During the day even.
i miss those days too. the norwich block had lots of good places. i used to go for lunch at a restaurant called something .. hardware.. forget the name. i think pit for pasta opened there years later. now it’s all bars… cigar shops, massage parlors… i miss the arcades from the early 80s when i lived at park and pelissier and went to riverside high. kresge’s and the record shops downtown like sams’ and sound effects. coles bookstore, whittingtons, the shops on pelissier even… that are all gone now.
I moved away from Windsor as the wreckers’ ball started hitting the Norwich Block — seemed like a good time to leave.
I remember sound effects quite well. I bought an early Anthrax tape there.
Downtown use to be quite diverse but now it is just plain crap. We can thank Mike Hurst and now King Eddie for the destruction and subsequent downfall of this once decent city.
” First we form our places, then, our places form us” –Winston Churchhill.. ..i think…
I do hope Hurst and the council that was there at the time know the destruction of the Norwich block — the best block in Windsor — and the piece-of-shit that went in is the legacy they will be remembered for. If they don’t remember, we should remind them for the rest of their lives. Windsor’s biggest wound, of many.
Ha..nice, I was at that club last night. The bar above the post office is called ’29 Park’