A few older postcard shots of the Cleary Auditorium. Designed in 1957 by Johnson and McWhinnie, the buidling that was built was a much scaled down version of what the architects had imagined.
Even back then the Mayor and Council meddled in the plans, and the auditorium was shrunken as was the convention space. Plans for a smaller second theatre in the basment were also scrapped. The basement theatre would have been able to share dressing area and technical areas with the larger theatre above.
Instead of a multi-purpose facility, we got the scaled down version that was recently sold to St. Clair College. Almost immediatley the short comings of the truncated facility became evident.
Johnson & McWhinnie were comissioned in 1963 to add a freight elevator (that was removed from the original plans) and a kitchen. In 1966 they were again called on to work on an addition to the building.
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Roses grow in the area in abundance because of the steam-heat of our summers down here. I know that's a simplification--but whatever the source of the actual nickname, it's the favorable climate and soil that started the ball rolling.
Oh well, it doesn't matter any more anyway.... Windsor is no longer the Rose City.
It is now "The Place to Be". :)
I seem to recall when Windsor became "The City of Roses" in the 60's everyone was encouraged to plant roses in their gardens - and I do think it was just an artificial marketing ploy. Windsor sure does have some nice rose gardens though - or at least did when I lived there. (The one in Jackson Park is still lovely.)
And - I can remember sitting on the lawn down there in front of the Cleary and listening to Trudeau campaign for PM in the summer of '68. It was like seeing a rock star. We all had Trudeaumania back then. I think I was just about to start high school and very sorry I wasn't old enough to vote...
I don't remember the pre-'90s renovation Cleary well. But looking at these pics, I just realized how much the main auditorium looked like the Edsel Ford Theater across the river, which they recently knocked down.