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Categories: Photo Du JourWindsor

Bye-Bye Cat House

Not sure if you remember last year there was an article about a house that had been abandoned, and was full of cats? The Humane Society came in and removed a double digit number of cats. The house at 1040 Windermere Rd. has been empty ever since and was eventually condemned.

The Building Eater is in the back yard ready to go to work.

Looks like they are trying to do some salvage before demolition. It will likely be a tricky one to remove based on its close proximity to its neighbours.

I was over at my parents yesterday who live nearby, and the putrid smell of cat urine a feces is eye wateringly prevalent even curbside of this house.

It’s a shame, and will leave a big hole in the tight residential streetscape. The house is a two story brick house with a real stucco covering on the second floor. There is also some nice green tiles inset on the front porch.

Hopefully, some thought and planning will go into whatever replaces this vacant lot.

Shouldn’t be too long till it’s gone, so go take a last look at this Walkerville house before it’s in the landfill.

Andrew

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  • I was talking with the demolition contractor, and he told me the owners (whoever that is at this point) got an estimate of over $135,000 to restore it. That is fiscally imposible to justify for a house that could be worth tops $200,000 if professionally restored and decorated.

    Apparently, there we tons of cat corpses littering the house. Yes, the floors were eaten through at spots - through the floor, the joists, to the ceilings below.

    Cat pee CAN completely and irrevocably destroy a house. I learned that today.

  • I wouldn't be suprised to see them build a new back-split or modern ranch-style home on the property. You know, no one gives a shit about thier architectural-sensitive surroundings anymore.

  • I think there is a 50/50 chance they might make the effort to keep the replacement home architecturally consistent with its surroundings. The homes on that street are of a reasonable value, so the incentive is there. Some years ago a home was tore down on Pelissier st. and replaced by one that looks more like the neighboring houses than the one it replaced (go figure). Once in a while, someone will come along and surprise you. :)

  • Looking at how several brick houses on Chilver across from Willistead Manor were covered with Vinyl siding, I wouldn't hold my breath with anything architectually consistent. The neighbours' best option to keep the property values up would be to challenge any new building permits to keep the lot vacant. I'm not sure how many feet the building needs to be from the property line these days, but I suspect that newly constructed buildings need to be a lot further from the property line than before. If I were an abutting neighbour, I'd talk to the other neighbour and make an offer with that neighbour to each buy half of the lot for a side driveway.

  • Some of them are brick. There's one they're doing right now. Probably, about half a dozen houses south of Niagara on Chilver there's a house with the styrofoam and plastic wrap up now on the front. The sides are done are vinyl siding. If you look below the foam and above ground level you see brick.

    Also, I had a look at 1040 Windermere earlier today. Two thirds of it is already demolished.

  • Well done Chris. It must have been a challenge for the operator not damaging the neighboring homes.

    I drove by late this afternoon and all that was left was a hole in the ground.

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Andrew

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