Demolition blues
This is an email that has been circulating this corner of cyberspace:
"This Saturday at 2pm a group of protesters and musicians will gather in front of the Windsor Hotel to rally against the demolition of Winnipeg's most historic blues and roots venue. It is about to be thoughtlessly destroyed to make way for a parking lot. Despite the substantial one million dollar bid to buy the hotel by the owners of the Royal George Hotel: Rick Penner and Boyd Newton as well as their partners, the offer was denied. These bidders would surely respect the institution as a prominent institution in the history of Winnipeg and would keep the musical fires burning in the heart of Winnipeg. Definitely a better choice for our city! Charlie Chaplin stayed there and in the past 30 years, some of the best blues acts in the world have performed there, including numerous local artists who still faithfully frequent the location.
The Windsor is 107 years old and is a historic building."
A rumour of the demise of the Windsor Hotel was first heard in 2005, which was the same year that it was removed from the City's Historical Building Inventory--a move that typically precedes a building's demolition.
Naturally, the Windsor, located at 187 Garry St., straddled between two surface parking lots, and sitting amidst the most barren urban landscapes this side of Gary, Indiana, is to be replaced not by a new apartment block, or even another health authority office (so far conspicuously absent from this particular block), but a surface parking lot.
From the street, the Windsor--from where in 1913, local lore says, touring vaudevillian Charlie Chaplain wrote a letter to his brother saying he was getting into the movies--is hardly an architectural treasure, but it is a building with windows and doors, and is used. Its legendary blues bar is a lonely outpost of (generally) friendly humanity in a neighborhood already ravaged by this kind of destructively numb-skull thinking.
For what it's worth, contact your city councillor.
"This Saturday at 2pm a group of protesters and musicians will gather in front of the Windsor Hotel to rally against the demolition of Winnipeg's most historic blues and roots venue. It is about to be thoughtlessly destroyed to make way for a parking lot. Despite the substantial one million dollar bid to buy the hotel by the owners of the Royal George Hotel: Rick Penner and Boyd Newton as well as their partners, the offer was denied. These bidders would surely respect the institution as a prominent institution in the history of Winnipeg and would keep the musical fires burning in the heart of Winnipeg. Definitely a better choice for our city! Charlie Chaplin stayed there and in the past 30 years, some of the best blues acts in the world have performed there, including numerous local artists who still faithfully frequent the location.
The Windsor is 107 years old and is a historic building."
A rumour of the demise of the Windsor Hotel was first heard in 2005, which was the same year that it was removed from the City's Historical Building Inventory--a move that typically precedes a building's demolition.
Naturally, the Windsor, located at 187 Garry St., straddled between two surface parking lots, and sitting amidst the most barren urban landscapes this side of Gary, Indiana, is to be replaced not by a new apartment block, or even another health authority office (so far conspicuously absent from this particular block), but a surface parking lot.
From the street, the Windsor--from where in 1913, local lore says, touring vaudevillian Charlie Chaplain wrote a letter to his brother saying he was getting into the movies--is hardly an architectural treasure, but it is a building with windows and doors, and is used. Its legendary blues bar is a lonely outpost of (generally) friendly humanity in a neighborhood already ravaged by this kind of destructively numb-skull thinking.
For what it's worth, contact your city councillor.
posted by The Rise and Sprawl at
8:29 PM
25 Comments:
Also home to a fantastic pizza place.
Wild Wedge Gourmet Pizza.
Sad day.
Travesty. I spent many a night in the basement of that joint taking in the homestyled blues of Big Dave, Parkins, etc., Can't believe they are going to tear it down.
It is unclear to me from your post if it is a fait accompli, has the City definitely signed off of the demolition?
Ugh. Well that really ruined my day.
Hmmm...pretty non descript building considering what has already been torn down around town.
Once again, property rights are where its at. You own, you can basically do what you want with it , and in this case, since the building isn't worth anything, maybe the ante should be higher than 1 million.
Write your City councillor ? How about you write a cheque if it means so much. I know, but that seems to be the reality.
Hey Mr. Douchebag just keep championing "property rights" while the downtown turns into One Great Parking Lot. Real smart.
Property rights are null and void when owners actions threaten the history and the continuity of the downtown. All cities have bylaws and guidelines, and given the way this one's downtown looks today, I'd say a blanket moratorium on demolitions-for-parking sounds like a great idea.
1.3 million Dallas, or sit down and shut up so the serious people can conduct bidness.
While I am flattered that the comment section of my blog is a place for people to "conduct bidness," I am finding the continual 'if you don't like it, buy it' mantra a little tiring. Mr. Nobody, this is a little like saying "if you think Mike Kelly is a bad football coach, join the coaching staff yourself instead of complaining," or "if you think Harper is doing a poor job, shut up and run for the leadership of a major federal party."
Maybe tiring but it illustrates what the majority of people think about owning property.
I'm sure most qualified coaches would try and join the coaching staff unlike armchair quarterbacks who throw darts. And most politicians would run against Harper if they disliked him.
Point is, if you don't like it, in this case, money is the currency.
Facts are facts, the bidding opens at 1.3 million.
on a positive note, 550 people signed the petition to save the hotel, if you get it to 1000 and donate 300 bucks each, you'll hit the ask price and own a part of Winnipeg's cultural heritage.
Come on, whats 300 bucks for a plaque in the hallway.
@Mr. Nobody: It's a great idea to get a group of people to partner on buying the place, but if the asking price is $1.3 million and you have 1000 people, then it's $1300 each, not $300. Possibly still doable, but it's a lot more than just $300.
Anybody feel like heading up this initiative? Maybe make it a Blues Co-Op with a $1000 single share buy-in for those who want to own a real piece of it, and a $5 "nightly co-op membership fee" (read: cover charge) for anyone who just want to come hear the blues?
Mr. Nobody, put your money where your mouth is. It is time for you to stop complaining about demolition permits, zoning laws, building permits..etc.
Become mayor, build consensus among council, change the law ...etc ad.infinitum...ad nasueam..
Bjorn, I was only making the calcualtion based on the Shortfall of 300K. In essence, you would become a benevolent saviour of Winnipegs Cultural heritage for a small amount.
Of course, the new owners would perhaps give you a perk for your donation. making a tax writeoff or half price wings for life.
Fortgarry, I don;'t know what you are talking about.
I'm a Winnipeg ex-pat living in Edmonton. Whenever I tell people here about Winnipeg I never fail to mention the abundance (compared to Edmonton) of historic buildings that make the downtown so charming. Historic buildings here are few and far between since most have met their demise in the name of development. Don't let that happen to Winnipeg!
so while the st charlse sits empty they make a fus over a rather blandish building thts loosing its souls why can't we find someone to take the st charlse over and make that into the new house of blues?
Great cities follow a few simple principles:
1) Make cities for people first, not cars. Make cities walkable, and provide decent public transit (the best form being subways). Massive surface parking lots are unthinkable under this model.
2) Preserve heritage structures whenever possible. Period. Full stop.
3) Support higher density, mixed use neighbourhoods.
Does Winnipeg follow ANY of these principles? No. Hence, although we have many great apects and huge potential, we remain the butt of jokes. So sad.
And what great Cities would that be ?
Rio
Beijing
Shanghai
Sngapore
Dubai
New York City
Philly
Chicago
LA
Vancouver
MOntreal
Toronto
Even Great ancient cities like Paris, london, Rome, etc, which were built centuries before the car are heavily trafficked.
As far as mixed use developments, you folk keep knocking Portage Place which by definition is an example of mixed use, Is the aprtment complex full ? Is the Parkade underground ? Is the smll functioning ? Looks like exactly what you are talking about. Same for Garry St.
Heritage buildings, you mean Warehouses. They will never be priced for the average joe. The costs are just too high to recondition them and may be a bad investment seeing as they may be nearing the end of the line without massive infusion of monies to recondition them from the foundation up.
As for jokes, never quite heard any relating to parking lots and auto congestion. More like deep freezes and skeeters.
You want more people downtown, you have to make tough choices which we aren't even able to contemplate since they are impossible.
Mr. Nobody, you are a troll who makes no sense, who puts words in other people's mouths, and who smells bad. On that last point, I admit I'm guessing, but I'd be willing to put money on it.
I'd say you're guessing, at best, you are regurgitating obscure mantra's which have already been built right here in your town some 25 years ago.
Save your money and one day you can buy a building or parking lot and renovate it to your hearts content.
Mr. Nobody
Your one of the board members on CentureVenture that keeps saying "the private sector and the private market need to take care of the downtown, if it could only be marketed properly".
You must be an idiot and enjoy watching the decrepit Avenue Building and all those surface parking lots just sitting there for the private sector to do something. Waiting and waiting. Speculating and speculating. You’re the reason why the downtown keeps falling short. Get out of the way your a detriment to our City.
Seems to me me Urbandude "your Gang" had ample opportunity to purchase these buildings before they went to shit. Your lack of commitment and creativity is what has done downtown in.
I've given you plenty of ideas of what to do to save the core.
But in typical fashion, you blame others and expect others to do the heavy lifting for your fantasies. Go ahead, buy the Avenue building with your friends, restore it, I dare you and you huggafriends to do something....chump.
@Mr Nobody, I don't know when the last time you were in Chicago (or many of the aforementioned cities) but their streets are in fact not that heavily trafficked.
Chicago's transit system is second to none in this continent, with a combination of public (the CTA) and private (the Metra) systems that allow you to essentially make your way through every square mile of the Chicagoland area going from Milwaukee in the north to Indiana in the south.
Riding mass transit, be it the bus or the train it is not uncommon at all to see executives from the country's top advertising firms sitting along side crack dealers from the projects. Furthermore, the city has an incredible bicycle path system that allows you to ride for miles and miles and miles from the north burbs to the south side along Lake Michigan if your so inclined.
As far as heritage is concerned, there's nary a city in North America that takes as much pride in preserving it's heritage structures than Chicago. As a result, the city is considered to be one of the most livable in the world, especially when you factor in the laid back midwestern lifestyle.
I've lived in montreal and toronto, 2 cities with massive subways.
I've traveled all over Europe. I've been to a few US cities. The automobile is here to stay.
People take Mass transit for economic reasons. Alot who work in manhattan travel upwards of 2.5 hours by train both ways. Toronto is experiencing the same condition. people who choose to live in surrounding cities are commuting 1 to 2 hours to metro toronto. This has been going for a long time.The Montreal Metro began in 1967. And it is by far the slickest one in all of North America, that I know of. Most of this increased travel time is due to real estate costs.
Winnipeg just doesn't fit the requirement that would justify the infrastructure investment for mass transit like major cities.
How we adapt is another thing. Personally I believe 2 seaters will be the norm in a few decades and most probably based on battery energy. this is a perfect solution for smaller cities.
I just asked the commenter to name a few great cities. Not many I dare say that fit the description given. I would say, Great Cities adapt.
Having lived in a great lake City, I've never been interested in visiting Chicago.As far as heritage, I have a fondness for Old Montreal, Ottawa and Quebec City - eastern type of heritage and history.
By Jon Hilkevitch, Chicago Tribune Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News
Sep. 8--Chicago area motorists spend the equivalent of 1 1/2 workweeks every year stuck in traffic, making the region the third most congested in the U.S. for the second straight year, according to a national study released Tuesday.
Drivers in northeast Illinois and northwest Indiana spent an average of 56 hours snarled in traffic delays in 2002, the latest year for which figures were available, said the study by the Texas Transportation Institute. That number is up from 50 hours ...
there is definetly a strong love affair with personal transportation...even in a Great City like Chicago. I have great confidence in the ability to use technology ( one that is increasingly getting faster ) to solve and satisfy everyone's issues when it comes to transportation.
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When The popular comment layout is common, so it is easily recognized scanning to post a comment. If the comment section is in a different format, then I am going to spend more time trying to decipher what everything means.
study abroad
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