This shot looking south west from the corner of Riverside and Ouellette was taken from the roof of the old British American hotel (which I don’t think has ever really been featured on here…). You can see the old bank on the corner that will remain in storage for the rest of my life, and further down the block on the left side is the old post office. On the extreme right hand side you can see a hint of the old Ritz Hotel, which would have been the Merchants Bank building at this time.
Hope everyone had a good weekend!
Where do you keep a bank stored ??? I think it’s just the facade of this bank, but isn’t this been in storage for a decade or more ???
I love looking at these old pictures, and no you haven’t profiled the British American Hotel itself. I’m always looking because my great-grandfather, E.E. Ingram, owned that hotel during the early 1900’s. I would love to see detailed pix of the inside if you ever come across them. I have a bentwood dining room chair that was salvaged from the original hotel which we have refinished and is now in our living room.
I think the city is storing the façade from the bank in the parks yard I don’t understand why the university had to remove the murals from the back wall of the old star building on Ferry st.i’m afraid their going to share the same fate as the bank façade lost forever when I look at photos of what Windsor once looked like it makes my blood boil because the city doesn’t respect it’s past
The murals were removed because the wals were removed to remove the press.
Mike /Gary The bank facade was last seen at the Lou Romano Water Treatment Plant.
There’s no way that facade is still in existence. It was stored at a Water Treatment Plant in the west, who knows where it is now.
Windsor was stunning….”was” being the appropriate word.
I agree Andrew. We won’t see it in our lifetime again. even though they could have used it many times over. I think the city lost parts of it and won’t say so. That is speculation on my part but not out of the ordinary here.
if they stored it at a water treatment plant, they obviously don’t really care about its value. There are so many missed opportunities where this facade could have been used.
Didn’t they just convert Million Dollar Saloon into a medical building? What does it look like? Uninspired space ship plastic. If Chatham Street Parkette is to be revamped as well and the University is moving in soon. I’m sure the community would have appreciated a nice medical plaza with a classic facade. Better to use what you have then let it go to waste.
What are the requirements to use that facade? Can it be used anywhere in the city? Can it be used as a facade on a mansion? It makes me think of the James Book house with the limestone facade on E. Jefferson in Detroit. There’s a lot of classical looking mansions being put up on Riverside Dr E. At least it would be put to good use as a mansion than sitting away in some storage garage at taxpayer’s expense.
Good idea Dave. I’m sure there has to be some wealthy person out there with a love of history who would love to use the facade on their house. Too bad nobody even knows the facade is still in existence and it hasn’t been offered to anyone.
I know the city tried to get it on the new TD bank downtown, at the last minute of course. But TD said it was too expensive to add it to their design.
someone out in LaSalle area or thereabouts, incorporated some arched windows from the Prince Edward building, into his house and it looks fantastic!!!
It’s not a house, I think it’s an old school. He’s a car collector and has a large and impressive collection. He runs his collection as a sort of museum. I went through it once many years ago. I’m trying to find it on Google Maps, but I’m pretty sure it was around Laurier drive, not far from Front Rd.
I don’t have the location yet, but I ran across an interesting factoid…the museum used to be on Ferry St, downtown until the city expropriated the land to build the Cleary.
http://forums.aaca.org/f169/windsor-antique-auto-museum-ontario-canada-291764.html
Found it!
Laurier and Matchette. Here’s a good look at the windows.
http://goo.gl/maps/RCEJj
Bob Galts Canadian Automotive museum was at the northwest corner of Pitt and Dougall and lasted until the 80’s(?) Was replaced by Docherty’s cracker boxes and had nothing to do with the Cleary.
^^^ Ha. The lady that co-runs that place with her husband just came to my house and apraised my Jeep this morning lol
I wish I knew. I would have mentioned the windows!
Joe Longmoore, I just reiterated what I read on the site that I linked to. I suppose the building that stands there now wasn’t the one that housed the museum. Was the old building nice? Maybe his family also owned part of the Cleary property, but then the François Baby House is right in the middle of that area, too. It certainly would have been nice to have a Canadian Automotive museum next to the Windsor Community Museum. It would have been even nicer to have a proper place downtown for both, instead of that set-up we have now.
Does anyone know what the building he’s in now was before? It seemed like an adaptive re-use and not originally built for its current purpose. It reminded me of an old grade school, when I went through.
Anyway, trying to get things back on topic, maybe Mr. Galt can put the bank facade on the building he’s in, to go with the old Prince Edward Hotel windows
Uzzy- It was a nice 1 floor brick building from the turn of the century. Not a great building but certainly a handsome commercial building with nice details that shouldn’t have been torn down. I don’t know where you’d find a picture.
Don’t believe everything you read on the internet. Next time, ask me
I’d like to see the `bank Downtown, maybe at the parking lot at Pitt and Ouellette or kitty corner to its original location as a preserved ruin/gateway to the Piazza Udine fountain.My original idea of this concept was that the Canderel building would have had angled reflective windows at the corner that would have reflected the ghost of the old bank buikding as you walked or drove by.