Some readers may remember the infamous Cat House on Windermere in Walkerville, that we visited back in September, 2007.
The old house was demolished after it was left abandoned by the owners at the time, and full of cats. The site remained a vacant lot for the better part of a year, before some work started on the site.
This is the turd that’s been thrown up in Old Walkerville. A child with crayons could do a better job of urban planning than the people in charge at city hall. The neighbours were told that the house would “blend in to the neighbourhood”…
… uhh, yeah… You can’t even tell that house is new, it looks just like the rest of the street…
Certain areas of the city (like old Walkerville) need to be held to a certain level of design for new construction. If infill is built in old and historic neighbourhood, then you should have to build a house that looks like the rest of the street.
Other cities do it, why are we always having to settle for a silver medal in this city? Its the little things that make our cities and neighbourhoods appealing. If the owners of the replacement for the Cat House wanted a LaSalle style house, they should have built one out there…
The scale and massing of the whole end of the block is thrown off by this place, not to mention that the “porch” is idiotic looking. Building this house to look more like the rest of the ones on the street would not have been difficult or more expensive. I think it’s just a lack of anyone caring in the planning & building departments. Rubber stamp on the plans, and we’re good to go…
Andrew, you HAVE to submit this house as the “Eyesore of the Month” to James Howard Kunstler, lol
It is by far, the most atrocious thing I have seen in some time. It is insulting, really. It looks like some sort of a practical joke, like someone will pull a chord and the crappy suburban exterior will fall apart revealing an Edwardian inspired cottage.
If only…
Furthermore, I feel embarassed for the people who will live in this house, surrounded by character, they are the ugly sister in a row of true beauty… Poor Walkerville, you deserve better
Someone showed up for the Woodward Dream Cruise in a Geo Metro.
What happened to Walkerville’s old building restrictions set up by Hiram Walker? I was told during the Walkerville Distillery Tour that Hiram Walker made everyone sign building restrictions on their deeds in Walkerville before Hiram would sell it to them. I was told that different streets in Walkerville looked similar because of his restrictions on the deeds, e.g. min. two stories on a particular street, brick or limestone (not clapboard), etc. Didn’t this get grandfathered in when Walkerville changed to Windsor? Was the building permit legal based on these restrictions or did the City of Windsor remove them years ago?
Sadly, this new house is totally inappropriate for the street and I agree with all the above. But it is not the only example of new infill homes in any neighbourhood in Windsor. While walking the neighbourhoods of the core over the last few years, I have found many examples of this great inconsideration for the streetscape of neighbourhoods, some are just bad, a couple I found were actually hostile to the neighbourhood(s) and the street.
Those walks got me thinking, Andrew should hold another contest on the best and the worst of infill building in our neighbourhoods, which will show demonstratively that our city planning and building departments don’t have a clue or care to what is being built as long as they collect the fees.
To call that house a turd is too great of a complement. What an absolute disgrace. A raised bungalow has no place on a classic street with gracious two-story homes. Shame on the builder of this and shame on the City of Windsor for allowing it.
oh.
my.
god.
i just don’t know what to say. what did the neighbours say when this thing was finished???
I certainly hope that the builders, the owners, and the city are fined or penalized in some way, and forced to put that ‘turd’ on a truck and move it to other cookie cutter slums in the area.
My brother lives a couple houses down you can see his house in the above piture it the one with the candian flag on the porch I have spoke to him about that house and all the neighbours are not to happy about it
I don’t think the house is that bad style-wise. In fact if it were made to sit higher (with what everyone seems to want today, a finished basement) it would have blended into the neighbourhood a lot better or a second floor might have been better achieved which would give the house better height.
But maybe they didn’t need the room or the higher bills (Windsor does have some of the highest energy and water bills on Ontario). I also beleive there are now by-laws as to how close a house can sit next to one another. With eaves overhanging on both sides it might not have been feasible to build this house as high.
I do agree that the “porch” is non-existing which throws it out place compared to the other houses. It would have been better suited on Lincoln where some of the older houses are only 1.5 stories.
I agree that this style of house should not have been built there. Unfortunately, these types of houses are cookie-cutter type houses and are fairly easy to build since many of the houses over the past 10 years have been of this style. It’s almost a production type of house that requires little or no customization so therefore easy to park on that lot. Still, if the owners wanted to build there, they should have been a bit more creative and built something ‘period correct’ for the area. What a punch in the face for the street and neighbourhood.
One bright spot though- at least it isn’t caked in stucco 🙂
It’s not a bad house but it’s definitely not suited to the area. I think it’s ridiculous that the neighbours were told that it would blend in with the neighbourhood…they should have just said, go find a house that was built in the last few years by us in any neighbourhood and that’s what you are getting. Definitely a Lasalle house. They did this in my neighbourhood too but it’s out of place because it’s probably the best house on the street now; why you would purposely build in my neighbourhood is beyond me!
Wow. In it’s defense, though, at least it doesn’t have a garage in front. Many Toronto “new” infill homes like this (often “monster homes” out of scale — this is kind of like a reverse-monster) put a sunken driveway where there wasn’t one before. In a few years some trees will help obscure this thing.
Shawn I feel like uprooting a few mature trees and politely “obscuring” this home from the rest of the street. Perhaps the trees would create a tad more shelter than that sliver of a porch.
Once again nothing is ever good enough in this modern world. Here we are complaining again about new construction. What would you rather have, another vacent lot? Just be glad someone built something there in these hard times. As for making it like the other houses on the street….those house designs are out-dated adn atiquated. Take into consideration that this is the design the home-owner wanted and we must live with that choice. Given the declining state of our downtown neighbourhoods, we should welcome this new home.
Enjoy it and stop complaining about everything.
I disagree Not You. No one is complaining about new construction, but there needs to be standards held in certain areas of this city. If you want to build in old Walkerville, you be held to a higher standard. If you want one of these build it in the cookie cutter land out at Walker and the 401.
A little bit of consideration for the context of the surrounding homes goes a long way.
Personally, yes, I would have preferred it to remain a vacant lot. So would a few of the people who live next to it.
Not You, Walkerville isn’t downtown and when it was built the economy wasn’t in the dumpster. As for the owners, if they wanted that type of design then why are they building it in Walkerville where there are no designs that are similar.
In downtown, that wouldn’t be a bad thing but in the context of the streetscape above it is not appropriate.
Even Coun. Postma is rebuilding her rooming house instead of building a design such as the one above.
Besides, I believe it could be because of buliding by-laws as I posted previously.
Again, we are not knocking investment we are just holding it uip to a higher standard. Why should any of us “settle” for anything less when it comes to our neighbourhoods? Because that mentality has killed Windsor’s history, streetscape and pride.
Wow, thats a strong opinion-
Maybe you should of bought the lot and done what you wanted with it?
I grew up in South Walkerville and even bought my first house in that area. I’ve since bought one of ‘those types’ of houses above- cookie cutter raised ranch production house- and I’m happy with it. The main thing is that it belongs where it is and not in an older, more historic neighbourhood such as the one above. I appreciate history, older architecture and the old neighbourhoods even though I live out in the ‘burbs. The only reason I decided to go to a new house was because the first house I owned (before it) was a constant work in progress. By the time I sold it, I basically gutted 3/4 of the interior to update and I just got sick of doing all of that work. Still, while I commend the owner for choosing to build on the same lot, they should have built something a little more in tune with the neighbourhood.
Just a bit of a diversion as I predicted the house directly south of the Royal Tavern was distroyed on friday.This house cauld have been moved to this place and looked better than the crap they put up.Why isn’t it feasible to move houses any more ??? To many overhead wires it’s just a shame that nice old houses are bulldozed, nothing saved for more parking but the tax returns on these Mega-drug Stores must be lucrative to the city. My opinion is the city should say the house must be moved if a parking lot is going to take it’s place !!!
Silver medal for Windsor? More like a tin can. At least it isn’t covered in stucco.
Please tell me you photoshopped that picture. Please?
I’m new to this blog so I don’t know the histry of the cat house. What was wrong with the house that they had to tear it down? Can cats really destroy a house?
Dave: Yes, they can. As a matter of fact I heard Andrew is buying a few hundred cats to let loose in this house too. 😉
The term “cookie cutter” is often used on this site. The row of three houses shown in one of the above photos would fit that definition as well. Just because it is old doesn’t mean it is good, and just because it’s new doesn’t mean it’s shit. The cost to build a clone of one of the surrounding houses would be high. Too high to make it a worthwhile investment. I love the pictures on this site but sometimes the opinions and comments are pretty stupid and make some people sound like elitist fucks.
But at least these homes have charm, front porches and……what is it? Craftsmanship? Yeah that’s it. Notice the sidewalks also,and the fact that the street isn’t massive garage after garage, with no trees. Notice how you said three homes? Is someone hereone of thiose crappy contractors who rips everyoe off?
I said three homes because the photo shows three homes very clearly. I’m sure if you look down the street you will find many more built from the same plan. I’m not sure what your references to front porches, sidewalks, garage after garage, or your insinuation that I am a crappy contractor who rips everybody off has to do with my previous comments. I guess you are saying you don’t like new subdivisions and have a problem with contractors ? I don’t like new subdivisions either, but again, that has nothing to do with my comments that you replied to.
Your reply is typical of the kind of comments that bug me, widesweeping and ill informed, black or white, no shades of grey.
The lack of porches, or sidewalks and the fact that the only thing exposed to the road is a massive garage with a house somewhere behind it is the exact problem with the “cookie-cutter” sub divisions Patrick. The whole lack of a community feeling, just park in your garage and straight into the house. Then to the backyard with a 10 foot fence. You rarely see your neighbours, and if you do its generally because one of you is driving out of or into the garage. Was that grey enough? I’m an “elitist fuck”…so I’m not sure. And no, I don’t like modern sub divisions for the reasons above. I know there’s some well built places in there, but they’re boring as sin on the inside and on the outside unless the home owner puts some personal touches into it. And I don’t TRUST most contractors. Next time one rips your family off for 15K, and then never does build the place and goes “bankrupt”,you let me know how you feel about’em.