Hands down one of my favourite buildings in the city.
From the Border Cities Star September 4, 1930:
- This is an architect’s drawing of the new St. Clare’s Roman Catholic Church, which
will rise in the near future on Tecumseh Road, between Pelissier street and Victoria
avenue. The church is modernistic in design, and will be unique in this respect in the
Border Cities, and perhaps in Canada. The main entrance will front Tecumseh Road,
but there will also be entrances from Pelissier street and Victoria avenue. The new
Church, which will replace the old one of the same name on Bruce avenue, will be of
steel and concrete construction, with vitreous brick facing. The proposed new rectory
is shown at the right. Rev. E.G. Doe, M.C. is pastor of St. Clare’s. … Albert J. Lothian,
architect, … designed the new church. Tenders for construction work will be called
when the plans and specifications are completed.
Every time I pass this beauty, I am grateful for the congregation of St. Peter’s who saved the building from the demolition that was being proposed by the diocese at the time.
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Me too. I love comming west on Tecumseh around sunset, when the sun has almost disappeared and you can’t see any colour on the church, it’s just a blackened sillouette of the tower against sunlit clouds.
Thanks Andrew!
As do I. I pass by it twice a day, so happy it was saved. My daughter and I often refer to it as the “Lego Church” due to the look of the brick work. It’s a loving reference though.
It is a beautiful art deco church that is for sure.
I am trying to picture a church on Bruce ave. Any info on that Andrew?
The church on Bruce is long gone, but the old St. Clare school is still standing in the area, I suspect it was in that parcel of land along Bruce between Wakheta and Shepherd.
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The parcel of land to the east of the school that you speak of – what is the play yard today – was the site of the original St. Clare School which perished in a fire ca. 1970, prompting the building of what we see fronting Janette today. I’d love to know what the old school looked like, and if the church of the same name shared the same property, which would make the most sense. My grandmother, who was born in 1909, went to grade school at St. Clare, giving an idea just how long a school as been there.
I was a student there in 1962-63.I can only describe it as a big red/brown brick cube,similar to Ste Genevieve of the same era. High basement, two floors, not a real eyepleaser but it had a certain imposing bulk.
Andrew, that ain’t the old St. Clare school. That is a monstrosity. Windsor had a number of Catholic grade schools built of red brick and sharing a certain “look”….. St. Clare, St. Angela, DeLasalle…..no doubt others. Same basic design. I believe that the St. Clare school that I attended was built in 1929. The others were probably built around the same time. Not sure about its demise in a fire though. I thought that it was rendered obsolete and demolished. One thing that’s clear to me though – there is a special place in hell reserved for the architects and builders of the structure that replaced it and stands there today. This building has long been at the top of my list of ugliest, most unfriendly looking structures in Windsor, maybe even the world. Grade school-as-penitentiary. Gives me the creeps.
1929. It would then only have been 40 years old at the time, give or take, when it was said to be rendered obsolete. I suppose it’s possible. But at the time I started attending the current school building it was still relatively new, and the fire story was what I was told. I even remember some smoke-damaged library books that were salvaged from the old school, or so the librarian at the time told me.
Boy, 40 years doesn’t seem like much now that I’m pushing 62. I attended from 1955 to 1963. Elvis to Beatles. I remember high windows looking out over Bruce Ave.and Janette. Creaky wooden floors and blackboards. The CPR yards to the west were a constant distraction. Last days of steam. The building would only have been 30 years old but seemed much older to me at the time. Maybe it was the elderly Ursuline nuns that ran the place that gave it that vintage atmosphere. Maybe I got the date wrong. It was carved in stone high up on the facade front and center. I saw it every school day for eight years but the mind plays tricks. There was a concrete pad at the back of the building with several iron manholes for the delivery of coal for the boiler. Would sneak down to the furnace room once in a while. Converted to oil by the time I got there. This was the age of Sputnik after all. You may be right about the fire. Sure wish I knew for sure. One doesn’t spend eight years of one’s life in a place without developing strong feelings……
So true. I shot a couple emails out to people who should know. We’ll see what comes back. I know what you mean about a building “seeming” old to a child. We still had a nun for principal when I first started (but all lay teaching staff). If you are right about the 1929 build date, then the school that’s there now might just be #3 though!
OK – I couldn’t find any info on the old church or any photos of the old school. The new school opened in 1970, along with DeSantis on Marion St.
Here’s a fire insurance map of the old school, which faced Bruce. There is a vacant lot in the map at Janette and Wahketa, I wonder if that’s where the church was…
This is the vacant lot in the map today:
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OK…I have to get in on this conversation! I received an email this morning (must be from you, John)regarding the original St. Clare School on Bruce Avenue. I can lead you to a large photograph of the school. My parents were students there, as were all my brothers and sisters, including myself from 1957 to 1965. I don’t remember the building burning down but I have been living in Ottawa since 1979. I am aware that the “old” building is no longer facing Bruce Avenue and that the school was rebuilt to face Janette.
St. Clare Church…I was married there in 1972. I made my first communion there as well as my confirmation. I recall the students from the school walking to the church (during Lent)in single file with one of the nuns leading or bringing up the rear! The school and church were never on the same property as far as I know. I remember when the alter in the church was remodeled. The green marble was shipped from Italy and it was quite the talk of the parish.
Old St. Clare Church update:
My 90 year old mother tells me that the original St. Clare Church was indeed next to the old school, loacted on the southwest parcel of land. She was a little girl when the church burned down so possibly the late 1920’s since the architectural plans for the new church are dated 1930…
She recalls the foundation of the old church remaining in the playground of the school. I think the ‘boys’ playground was on the southwest side of the school (where the original church had stood) and the ‘girls’ playground on the northwest side of the school.
One of my most vivid school memories is being in grade 7 when President John Kennedy was shot. The classroom was at the back of the school, located in the centre. My late father used to tell us a story about being in grade 8 (1930?) and engaging in a snowball fight in front of the school. The principal at the time opened one of the windows on the ground floor to scold them just as my Dad threw a snowball which ended up square on the nun’s chest! LOL!
I went to st.clare school from 1971 to 1974. i just remember the teachers saying it was a new school.how new i dont remember i was just 6/9 yrs.if any one has pic from that time i would love to see them. i remember my first teacher was mrs mclauglin (something like that)
Let’s get the record straight folks if you don’t mind. I attended St. Clare School and Church from 1964-1970. The original St. Clare school was demolished in the summer/fall of 1970 I believe; it was not… I repeat was destroyed by fire. It was demolished because they were building a new school which is the current building facing Janette Ave. The area where the orignal school was located was the area where they built the gymnasium for the school around 1971-72. I am desperately looking for photos of the original St. Clare School. Does any one know where I’d be able to find them?
Sorry for the typo.. The school was not destroyed by fire in 1970. Any one know where I might be able to find pictures of the original school?
I agree with Joe, St Clare School did not burn down. My parents lived a few doors down on Janette and I too went to school there. I dont know what the reason was to replace the building, but as others have said, it was quite an imposing 3 story building compared to what is there now. High ceilings, huge windows very similar in design to other Catholic schools build in the same era. I remember going to De La Salle School on Fridays for “Manual Training’ as it was called then, basically shop or woodworking (while the girls went there at the same time Friday for ‘Home Economics.” I remember that De La Salle looked very much like St. Clare’s in building design.
My guess is that in the 1970s with high prices for heating etc. that it would have cost a lot of money to heat and was maybe rebuilt to something more energy efficient. It was some 45 to 50 years old but I am sure still had plenty of life to it. I wiah I had some pictures to offer but I can’t seem to find any.
One other observation, in connection with St Clare’s Church on Tecumseh Road, I was a choir boy there in the late 50s/early 60s and we were told at the time, that the pipe organ in that church (which I am assuming is still in the church today, given the high cost to replace them) was bought by the Church in the 1930s from one of the downtown Theatres, either the Palace or the Capitol theatre. It was the organ used in the era of silent movies etc. and was no longer needed in the 30s when movies had sound.
Brian, yup – it’s a theatre organ. I was always told that is why the Wurlitzer there had an unusual complement of stops compared to typical church organs. The Detroit historical organ society used to take care of it. I hope it’s still being maintained. So many churches mothball their broken organs and buy a Clavinova or something like that.
I attended St. Clare from 1971 – 1978. My brother Steve started in 1968, at the old building. He remembers clearly, watching the new building being constructed, while the old building was still in use on the opposite side of the property. He remembers walking across in a ceremony to the new school as it was officially consecrated and opened. The old building did not burn – the new one did. I remember Sister Mary meeting us at the door with soot-covered windows, when I was in grade 2 or 3. You could see the burned ceiling tiles in the area around the staff room (mid-way along the west side of the building). As for the age of the original – my mother was born in 1937, and began attending the school in 1942. That’s as far back as I can peg it’s age.
I went to the old St. Clare school from 1960 to 1962 It was a great old school and I remember it fondly. I have a photo of our First Communion Class taken in the main hall by the principal’s office. The principal was Mother Mary Margaret and I remember Mother Mary Joachim and Mother St. Justin and Mother St. Luke very well. They were the Ursuline Sisters and there order still has a house in London Ontario.