Photo © 2015, Brian Worrall
As many of you might know over the weekend the University started demolition on the buildings fronting Goyeau between the Tim Horton’s at Park, and the Burger King at University. One of these building was formerly home to the Nut House, a long beloved Windsor institution.
A reader captured this shot and sent it along for the site. Thanks Brian & Kathryn for sending the pictures along.
Bummer.
Slowly but surely, the oldest building in Windsor will have been built in 1990.
@ShawnM Ain’t that the truth.
That’s just wrong. It didn’t look like there was anything wrong with it and the city doesn’t have a lot of old three story red brick historical buildings. Unless it had a bad fire, it shouldn’t be allowed. In the very least, the city should have required them to move the house to an empty lot on Janette Ave like they had in the past.
It’s sad how they take these down. If you’re going to demolish these old homes it would be nice to reclaim the brick and wood. If more care was taken these materials could be used to build furniture, pave paths or driveways, etc. Many of these old homes have great solid wood doors, trim and casings, even door hardware that can be salvaged and sold. Instead they seem to just level them and dump all the debris straight into the landfill.
Shane, I agree. It’s too bad they don’t take the time to recycle and reuse the materials.
What bothers me most about these demolitions (& what has bothered me since the Norwich Block was taken down in 2001 for the Chrysler Building) is that, if there is one thing that Windsor doesn’t lack is EMPTY LOTS/SPACE. Continuously buildings are taken down when an empty lot might rest just a block away. Fill the gaps before you take down something … take a hint Windsor, heritage and architecture matter!
Was THIS Nut House the one that followed the one on Ouellette after it burned down?
Annette, this Nut House was in this location, long before the former location on Ouellette burned down.
Should have found a re-use of the building. At least open up the rooms and use them as arts and jam spaces for Students. Would have worked nicely with the new campus.
There was a string of similar houses along both sides of Goyeau back in the 40’s – 50’s. I believe some were rooming houses, and all gave way to such things as Westcourt Place and the Ontario tourist bureau beside the downtown park. The Nut House that I remember was McPherson’s Nut House on the west side of Ouellette Ave., south of Park Street. The scrumptious nutty (of course!) smells that emanated out of there onto the street beckoned like a magnet and reflected the quality of the delicious merchandise sold inside. It was a very unique attraction and was one of those great spots along the avenue that provided respite from the rigours of shopping the many wonderful stores along this great avenue (along with Lyttle’s Bake Shop, the Honey Dew Restaurant, Laura Secord’s in the Prince Edward Hotel, and the soda fountain in Pond’s Drug Store in the Labelle Building at Ouellette and London Street (now University Ave.).