Buildings of Windsor – International Metropolis

Buildings of Windsor Notable Windsorites

4219 Wyandotte Street East

June 2, 2024

Photo from Google Streetview A long time reader sent me an email the other week about this house at 4219 Wyandotte Street East, on the south side of Wyandotte, just east of Rossini Boulevard. The house was built around 1877 by early settler Stanislas Janisse. His house was originally located closer to the river on his farm. The land for the farm was sold off around 1916, and the house was…

Buildings of Windsor Demolition Old Photographs

Dieppe Park Demolitions - 1954

April 4, 2024

Before the waterfront park system was in place, there were once buildings on the north side of Riverside Dr. Back in the early 1950s work was set in motion to clear the north side of Riverside Drive and establish a civic centre and park. Across the river in Detroit, the same…

Buildings of Windsor Old Photographs

Park Building - July 2002

December 17, 2023

Going though some old photos from 2002, I came across this shot of the Park Building at the south west corner of Park & Ouellette. This photo is pre-stuccoing when the 1925 still displayed its architecture. This one was designed by Windsor architects Nichols, Sheppard…

Buildings of Windsor Windsor

Jackson Park Bandshell

December 3, 2023

The Jackson Park Bandshell has been in the news lately with Council’s decision to spend $100,000 on a feasibility study for the reuse of the site. The mayor who doesn’t care about the bandshell, and doesn’t rate it as a part of Windsor’s heritage worth protecting and bringing back into use, attempted to bully and control council into voting against the motion. At the end…

Buildings of Windsor

St Stephen's Rectory - Oldcastle

October 15, 2023

I’d made note of this building previously, but this past weekend I finally had a chance to swing by and take a look at the rectory for St. Stephen’s Anglican Church on Howard Avenue in Oldcastle. The house while very average, and looking like many houses of…

Buildings of Windsor Windsor

493 Ouellette Ave - Lazare's Furs Building

September 24, 2023

The building at the north west corner of Ouellette and Maiden Lane has been for most of its life known to Windsorites as the home of Lazare’s Furs, however the art deco styled building we know today isn’t the the original look or design of the…

Buildings of Windsor Windsor

181-187 California Avenue - Henry T. W. Ellis House

September 17, 2023

This house located on California Avenue, just south of Riverside Drive was built in 1921 for prominent Windsor lawyer Henry T. W. Ellis. Ellis was born in St. Thomas in 1848, and studied law in Toronto, before practicing there, and in Stratford before arriving in Windsor in 1876. He practiced law in Windsor in various partnerships, even spending some time as City Solicitor. In 1884 he became a…

Buildings of Windsor Demolition Lost Windsor Notable Windsorites Old Newspaper Stories

Clarke Monuments - 1044 Howard Avenue

August 20, 2023

Here’s one that’s a more recently lost piece of Windsor History. This small block building on Howard, just south of Erie Street, stood from the early 1920s until about 2020. For most of a century this was the home to D Clarke Monuments, a gravestone maker that…

Buildings of Windsor Old Photographs

1478 Wyandotte St E - A Minto & Co

February 6, 2022

A view of the building from Google Streetview This building on the north west corner of Wyandotte and Gladstone was built in 1921, and designed by Windsor architect Gilbert Jacques. It was built for the A. Minto & Co as their new store. The Minto store opened in this…