Buildings of WindsorDemolitionLost Windsor

Essex House Hotel - 317 Riverside Drive West

December 12, 2021
Image from SWODA A look today at the Essex House Hotel from 1961. The Essex House Hotel was built around 1840 and sat on the south west corner of Riverside Drive West and Dougall Avenue. In the late 1950s plans to develop a civic auditorium next door began to take shape and the Cleary Auditorium and convention centre rose to the east. The Essex House started to fall on hard times, and was…
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Osterhout's Confectionary - 333 Ouellette

August 22, 2021
Regular reader John, sent me an email the other week pointing me toward the 1928 Motor Tourist Guidebook of Ontario which got me lookin at all the old ads and this one for Osterhout’s caught my eye. From McAlpine, J. D., “Tourist Guidebook of Ontario…
DemolitionOld PhotographsPostcardsWindsor

Hiram Walker Bottling Plant

June 28, 2021
A view of the Hiram Walker Bottling Building. This one was built around 1906 and was located on the south side of Riverside Drive to the east of the employee parking lot opposite the main office. The site today is a vacant lot. The building was demolished in September 1971. According to the article at the time, the building had been vacant since 1960, when the blending operations…
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DemolitionLost WindsorOld Photographs

Municipal Court House - 1961

February 21, 2021
Image from SWODA While searching for something unrelated, I came across this picture of the old Municipal Court House at City Hall Square. This photo dates from 1961, although the courthouse was built in 1955. It was designed by Sheppard & Masson, who were also the…
DemolitionLost WindsorOld Photographs

Bridge Tavern - 2007

February 8, 2021
Another of Windsor’s legendary taverns, lost to history is the old Bridge Tavern at University and Bridge out towards the University. I spent a lot of time here in my youth, and it was a great place amongst the University crowd as well as locals. Image from…
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Graham Paige Dealership

October 25, 2020
This was a building I was always fond of. It was built in 1928, designed by architects Cameron & Ralston, and was located at 722 Wyandotte Street East. It was built for J. M. Blaine as a Graham-Paige dealership. It’s hard to tell from the older photo, but it had Moorish/Art-Deco influenced brickwork and a stucco plaster finish on the facade. A large garage was located at the rear of the…
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DemolitionLost Windsor

Walker Farms Manager's Residence

September 13, 2020
Going through older photos that I’ve taken over the years, shows how much Windsor’s changed, even in recent times. For example, take the building above at 1767 Walker Road. This building dated to the 1880’s and was built as the residence for the manager of…
DemolitionLost Windsor

Wyandotte & Windsor - 2012

July 26, 2020
While looking through some older photos recently, I came across this one from 2012. Looking north west from Wyandotte and Windsor at the now long demolished Beer Store. This building was a Brewer’s Warehouse, dating back to the post-prohibition days, at least as early…