A few of the places lost in the DRIC demolition that I’ve been meaning to post about for while now. Someone added it to the “future topics” on the right, when the death fences went up in August. I drove past the site the other week, and can confirm that she’s long gone.
This big old buff brick beauty was built around 1927-28 as part of the speculative boom of South Windsor.
There are small pockets of model homes around various places in South Windsor, that were all erected as the first parts of huge planned communities. With St. Mary’s Academy being built, and the new Ambassador Bridge, combined with the projected industrial growth over in Ojibway, this part of town was supposed to boom. That is until the depression came along. As it stand only a small handful of homes were ever built, and with DRIC coming through, today there’s one less.
Located west of the house above is another DRICtim. The old King Kone, is now also no more.
I have no additional information on the history of this place, but I am going to assume by the construction that it is of a similar vintage, likely an old gas station. Can anyone remember what is was before it was the King Kone?
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I’ve been amazed at how good some of these buff brick houses from the 20’s, like this one and the one down the street at 2125 Grand Marais, look/looked after 80+ years. Hardly discoloured or dulled at all.
She was a beauty! Wasn’t she in “Building the bridge”?
I would think KK was a gas station as well. Thanks for the post Andrew!
Aaron, she was in the bridge film.
Prior to king kone, the building was home to La Mona Lisa hair salon for years, before that
I seem to remember it being a Supertest gas station.
As a side note I believe the family who owned 2720 Grand Marais also owned the King Kone property.
It was a pizza place back in the 90’s, forget the name. I’m sure the owner of the buildings made off with a tidy sum from the province with no regrets.
If I’m thinking of the correct other buff house at 2125 Grand Marais, I believe it was owned by the Marrentette family circa 1930s etc – as in Marrentette Brothers Construction. It was later owned by the Marcotte Family circa 1970. There were plans to turn it into a funeral home. People in the neighbourhood were against their children being exposed to funeral processions etc and the plans were cancelled. I think the house was moved to a different location on the same lot back in the 1980s??? Can anyone confirm?
2720 Grand Marais, “Then”
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tiz68/1424555184/
“Can anyone remember what is was before it was the King Kone?”
It was a pizzeria before King Kone, ca. 1990. Prior to that, a hair salon.
I would be willing to bet a nickle that Paula is the winner. I believe she is spot on.
Paul is probably right about 2125 moving at some point. If you look at the late ’20s photo here –
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tiz68/1424592774/
…it is clearly set back from the road quite a bit. Whereas today, it’s much closer.
Just some vague memories of the above home and King Kone building.
As a kid in the late 40’s – early fifties, I remember going to this house to visit my Dad’s friend and boss. I believe it was either Mr. Frank Cundari or Mr Gino Gualtieri. They were both involved in the old MARIO’s restaurant at Tecumseh and Ouellette (As posted in previous articles). I’m pretty sure it was Mr. Gualtieri. He opened GINO’s Italian Village on Riverside Dr.(once Mario’s closed) in the old Norwich block. His son, Tony,eventually took over the business on the drive: then, when the Norwich block was dismantled to make way for the Chrysler home, Tony opened the King Kone and ran it. I recall going to the home a few times and meeting Mr. Mario, Mr. Gualtieri and Mr. Cundari. Mr. Cundari’s daughter, Emily, was training to become an opera singer.
I have met Tony a few times this past year or two and he had told me that his old home had been sold to the government to make way for the new road. His ice cream business as well. Sure hope Tony, himself, can spread more light on the history of the two properties
Hey Paula,
Regarding the house at 2125, my memory is basically the same as yours. In addition I remember it first being moved in the late 60’s or early 70’s when the ditch was rerouted.
The King Kone has been many things over the years. I remember one Burger or Ice Cream business that had a big witch on the pole out front. Creepy looking. It the late 60’s I remember it being painted a lime green and a lawn mower repair business ran out of it.
Interesting that Paula above mentioned a Funeral home when I was trying to know if anyone knew of the morgue on Marentette Ave …
As for King Kone … I used to drive by that building twice daily to/from Holy Names High School. I remember once it looked Tudor with half timbering but, the timbering was painted bright pink! I remember it called “Hair Benders” .. or something to that nature. And yes, it was a pizza place too. The destruction of Huron Church Road is awful – they are building a highway to nowhere because Michigan will NEVER agree to build the “new bridge” … Build the bridge FIRST THEN make the highway … this will be another one of Windsor’s Follies – much like the “32 story tower” at Riverside/Ouel.
Christopher L, it isn’t “Windsor’s Folly” because the city has nothing to do with the new crossing and extension road. That is the province and feds spending that money.
What I want to know once it is built is who is going to cover the maintenance cost of another 300 acres of parkland in a Parks budget that has been decimated over the last 8 years?
Before it was a hair salon back in the 70’s it was a burger bar, run by a guy named Gary. Can’t recall his last name.
I live at 2559 Grand Marais, just down the street, it’s another arts and crafts style house, original brickwork fireplace and everything — crown moulding, still intact — my dad seemed to remember it being the donlon farm when he was a kid (in the 50’s), he did some work there and hosed himself off in the basement. big thanks to John, who actually has shots of my house in 1927 — that’s pretty badass. Very cool site you’ve got here.
King Kone was a B-A gas station in the 50’s. It was owned by a gentleman named Jimmy Grondin who lived just down the street on Lampton. Next door was the old Sandhill Hotel, owned by the Dowhan family, who lived upstairs above the hotel.
Just looked at a photo from the early 1940s of the Marenttette boys with my sister and me. They lived at 2125 Grand Marais. There was a little bridge over the ditch and their house was definitely back from the road at that time.
This house belonged to my grandparents, Adele and Geno Gualtieri. You are correct that my grandfather was involved in Mario’s restaurant and then opened Geno’s Italian village until he retired and passed it to my uncle tony. The. King Kone was to my memory an ice cream place, a hair dressers, and before hat a coney joint with a huge hotdog sitting atop a pole. The do loans did own the other home down the street. Geno owned much of the surrounding properties and sold them to families to build new homes. There was a fire in the home many years ago about 30 years ago. The kitchen unfortunately needed to be remodeled ( a shame since the old one was unique ). Thank you for the great memories for my family. Thankfully old Nanna died a couple of years before the house was demolished.
I am Geno and Adele Gualtieri’s daughter. I moved into the house when I was 2 years old in 1937. The address then was RR #1 which stood for Rural Route. I lived there with my mother, Adele (Walters), father Geno, sisters Rose and Linda, and brother Tony. My father had a big garden and would pick fresh raspberries in the morning. We had a chicken coop, a goat, baby ducks, and a big police dog named Tricky, and at one time we had 13 cats because people would come out to the farm and let them loose near our house.
Life was good on the farm, and we would have skating parties at the Marentette’s house down the street. Our house was beautiful with hard wood floors, solid oak staircase, bevelled glass windows, 4 bedrooms, with beautiful crystal door knobs and mirrors on all of the closet doors. I lived there until I was 24 years old until I got married and moved to Toronto. It was a beautiful area with Donlon’s farm where my brother would go horseback riding. In the summer for a job we would pick strawberries, and tomatoes on the farm and gooseberries on Mangin’s farm down Huron Line.
It was a very sad day when they demolished our house that was in the family name until my mother died at 93 and was still living in the house. Then my nephew lived there until the house expropriated in 2010. For 73 years our family cherished this home as our own with our grandchildren and my mother’s great grandchildren. My only consolation was that my mother was not alive to see the destruction of her house without a care.
Our extended family all have pieces of the house from the doorknobs, to doors, to bricks and will cherish this house forever.
I remember playing at this house with my older sister, Elaine. Nina was in my class at school and came to my birthday party. My sister, was friends with Rosie. Yes, it was a beautiful house and I am sorry that it has been destroyed. Seeing it featured brought back memories of our childhood in south Windsor. Eleanor (Lappin) Henry
I remember it as the La Mona Lisa where my mom went and got her hair done.
Now to have pictures of all those hairstyles….
I always remember commenting on how nice here hairy style was as per advice from my dad LOL
King Kone was originally a “British American” (B/A) gas station. In the early ’60’s a new station was built and it moved across the street. (It later became a Gulf and then a self service Petro Can.) The old gas station was vacant from time to time. Tony and Judy, in the mid ’70’s, turned it into a Coney Island (does anyone remember the giant hotdog out front?) Afterwards they turned it into the “Wicked Witch” ice cream parlour. They had a witch outfront riding a broom. Later the “Mona Lisa” beauty parlour moved in for a while. Afterwards the pizza place was there. It sat vacant again for a while and Tony and Judy reopened it again as an ice cream parlour, but only for take out. (The original coney island and ice cream parlour had tables inside.) I think the second time around selling ice cream was more profitable because it stayed open until the land was bought up for the parkway. It is too bad because that was one of the last examples of an old style gas station left in the city.