From the December 31, 1965 issue of the Windsor Star
An aerial photograph of the brand spanking new GM Trim Plant on Lauzon Road. Now as our manufacturing might decreases, a new arena is set to open in the field behind the plant, and this plant, with its great modern office building is threatened with demolition.
The Lear sign, still sits out on the road advertising what was.
A view of the front entrance, with the massive 1960’s era canopy over the front door.
A couple of storage tanks on the site, complete with the Lear Canada Logo.
When I took these photos a few months ago, the plant had only been closed since the summer, but nature was already starting to reclaim the land through the cracks in the roadway.
A view back looking north from the parking area towards the offices.
This building is a great example of the architecture of the era, and when it comes to the most under appreciated buildings, in my opinion it’s usually the industrial ones that get no love.
When this plant is wiped off the face off the earth, this office will be looked back upon as a great loss. It might not happen next year or the year after that, but 20 or 30 years from now there will be some regret.
From the Border Cities Star - December 6, 1924, almost a century ago to the…
Built in 1929, the house at 2177 Victoria Avenue was originally numbered 1545 Victoria, pre…
Crescent Lanes first opened on Ottawa Street in 1944 at 1055 Ottawa Street, opposite Lanspeary…
Above is a photo of the home of Mr & Mrs Oswald Janisse, located at…
in 1917 two Greek brothers Gus & Harry Lukos purchased a one story building on…
View Comments
Wrong, Randolph- the recently demolished Pillette assembly plant was built in 1974-75 and I'm not sure of it's age but isn't Essex Aluminum a more recent plant too? In addition, it's just down the road on Lauzon Parkway from the Lear plant.
The truth is, we need to keep what we have left in this city as far as manufactruing goes. We've lost way too much over the past several years and it's hitting this city hard. Investment isn't and won't come into the city at the same fast pace are we are losing. The best scenario is that we keep what we have, attract high tech companies and grow in other areas all at the same time.
I'm glad this plant made the cut for posting here. Awhile back I was admiring the office block -- it really is a great looking building with the symmetry and vertical glazing. It seems to me a few of the GM facilities in the Detroit-area have very similar looking office blocks--Livonia comes to mind, though I may have my geography off.
Though it was not located in Windsor, the former Ford of Canada HQ in Oakville (built when the company moved out of Windsor) was a fantastic looking building, that also met with demolition in the recent past.
It's wierd to witness both the start and end of such developments in one lifetime. Solid brick and mortar developments that once represented the most powerful sector in North America. This place, the Pillette Van Plant, the GM-Trans H-Building, Nemak and soon the balance of GM Trans. If this isn't the tell-tale sign that the demise of Windsor as the Automotive Capital of Canada is eminant, I don't know what is. The U.S. Congress and Senate along with our Federal and Provincial governments have to look at the current Aid Package Proposal to the Big Three as more than a tradeable spreadsheet correction. These were the same companies which stood by their government in the early 1940's. Dropped all that they were doing to pound out thousands of military vehicles and aircraft to support the North American war requirements. If this was to ever happen again who would the government turn to? Toyota, Hyundai, Daimler, VW? Will these be are future industrial bones?
Paul, I'm not suggesting just low wage or tourism jobs. Windsor needs massive economic diversification and manufacturing is on the way out. Windsor cannot stop this trend. The fact is that wage levels and prosperity are higher in economically diverse cities like London, Ottawa, Kingston and Kitchener-Waterloo. It is the manufacturing and blue collar cities like Windsor, Sudbury, Hamilton and Cornwall that are hurting. Over the past 50 years there has been a huge economic transition way fron manufacturing to services. It is a mistaken belief that service sector or white collar jobs are low paying (ie. a Chrysler worker could not even afford to live anywhere in Toronto). London's largest employer is the London Health Sciences Centre while Windsor's is Chrysler. I would debate with anyone that London is better off.
If not a community college or warehouse, how about a convention centre? How many square feet is this? Cobo Hall is 2.3 million square feet just across the river and it works. It would be world class. I remember reading a couple months ago that they were planning on expanding it.
I did a tour of the casino when they opened the new section and their salespeople said they were booked solid at their convention centre for the two years. There's other businesses that could work nicely there being its next to a railroad and use that space like a brewery or a distillery, but I guess now that they have an arena next door that they'd be complaining about the smell. So many re-adaptive uses for it to avoid demolition, but the city would rather see it demo'd without even trying to market it to someone for re-use. What a shame. I guess wasting millions of tax dollars on bridge lawsuits or demo'ing and replacing old useful buildings for junk is tax dollars better spent...
Do you know why Communism was such a spectacular failure JB? It was because the Communist countries produced nothing of value, refused to modernize old and inefficient industries and relied on huge foreign loans to keep the government afloat. Kinda sounds like what's happening in America, doesn't it? Nations need a manufacturing base to survive hard economic times and without a healthy manufacturing base we'll end up falling apart like the Soviet Union.
I believe that this building is now owned by Farhi Holdings Corporation of London http://www.fhc.ca . Their intention is to demolish the plant for mixed use. From the looks of the properties they own (check out their website) they do an excellent job of preservation and re-use of historic buildings.
Sigh...
David, that is going to be our "new" downtown. It is next to the new, funky arena (if we can have a funky bus termainl, why not a funky arena?).
I just wonder how much Windsor is going to pay for it?
Most cities welcome new development, not Whinesor. It's a vacant auto plant from the 60s for crying out loud. We can either get rid of eyesores like this and rebuild as a normal (non-industrial) city and try to attract diversified business and industry or we can whine about the once mighty auto industry. I, for one, do not like to look at vacant factories. This would never be designated as a heritage building and if you don't own it, and the City of Windsor does not either, you have no right to plan for it's future. Fight to save buildings like the Seagrave Building that have potential for heritage designation and opportunities for re-use.