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The
TD bank: What Now?
 Editor's
Note: Special thanks to readers of The Walkerville Times who raised
their voice to the powers that be in City Hall to save the historical
Dominion Bank building.
One
block at a time: the tedious task of dismantling the old Dominion
Bank building at Riverside and Ouellette, the last vestige of the
razed Norwich Block, is due to be completed in March. Once taken
apart, the bank's facade will be stored for an uncertain future.
The
fate of this landmark is in the hands of a steering committee composed
of community members, including the Windsor Architectural Conservation
Advisory and the Architectural Conservancy of Ontario.
The
Dominion Bank Building Reuse Committee held its third meeting in
December and will meet monthly every second and fourth Wednesday
at City Hall.
Steven
Bezaire, the committee chair, says the main order of business is
to establish criteria ranking submitted future use proposals. The
job to assess these proposals will be done on a basis of agreed
to committee criteria.
"One
criterion could be the extent to which the façade will be
located close to its original site - this is very important to some
business members," says Bezaire. "Another criterion could be how
close the building is to the downtown core, or whether it is on
a corner setting."
Bezaire
says the committee has brainstormed between 15 and 20 different
criteria and are ranking them in accordance to significance.
Bezaire
estimates that it will be at least a month before the committee
issues any kind of call for Dominion building proposals. Once all
criteria are considered and set in stone (so to speak!), calls for
proposals will be announced. By mid-summer, the committee hopes
to present the best proposal to Council. Stay tuned for more in
these pages...
Archive
From Issue # 5: City Agrees To Save Bank's Facade
The
City of Windsor Council members have voted to save the facade of
the Old TD Bank. The historic Norwich Block will be razed, but the
bank will be taken apart. It is still unclear what exactly will
happen with the bank's facade- but the good news is that it will
be saved.
From
Issue#4: The Dominion Bank's Last Stand
Take
a good look at the photo on the above; this is the corner
of Riverside Drive and Ouellette Avenue looking west in 1912. Downtown
Windsor once featured splendid turn-of-the-century architecture.
As we approach the millennium, it is almost all gone.
The
city has completed the process of expropriating the Norwich Block;
the last occupants will soon move on. Few of us will shed a tear
with the demise of most of the buildings in this block. But one
gem, The Dominion Bank, has a special place in Windsor's architectural
history.
Built
in 1909 by renowned architects Carrere and Hastings, this elegant
Beaux Art style building is the last marble structure in Windsor.
As
of press time, there's hope that the bank will not be torn down.
The plan is to carefully deconstruct the facade and store it for
some future consideration. Suggestions include replacing the 50's
era Welcome Centre in Dieppe Park; filling in the hole adjacent
to the Hilton on Riverside; or, incorporating it into the structure
of a new Windsor museum.
The
Walkerville Times supports the preservation of this historical landmark.
Leaving the bank where it is to form part of the future Chrysler
Building would have been the ideal scenario. Since this is not to
be, The Times endorses incorporating the facade into a new museum.
Walkerville gets our vote as the location.
If
not for associations such as the ACO and concerned individuals,
our history would only be found in books.
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