DRIVING THROUGH HISTORY
Heritage quest for 1931 underpass
Some councillors expressed surprise this week when one of the city's worst intersections for crashes was cited as a property worthy of inclusion on the Windsor Municipal Heritage Register.
But the Depression-era Drouillard Road/wyandotte Road Underpass has a venerable history and status as a distinctive entrance to Ford City, members of the development and heritage standing committee were told on Monday, as they voted to recommend 31 heritage properties for the register.
“Similar to many other federal initiatives during the Depression era to address the unemployment crisis, the 1931 Drouillard Road/ Wyandotte Street Underpass project was initiated to create employment for workers who were then compensated with meal and coal vouchers,” a report from heritage planner Kristina Tang says. The end result was a massive structure made of concrete deck and steel plates that provided traffic-jam relief to motorists tired of waiting for trains to cross.
“The underpass is undeniably one of the landmarks in Ford City,” says the report.
But Ward 10 Coun. Jim Morrison said when he looks at the underpass, he doesn't see it belonging on the heritage register, which is largely made up of the city's distinctive old houses.
“I certainly do have some concerns about the intersection because it's been identified as one of the 10 worse intersections for collisions and a candidate for redlight cameras,” he said.
Earlier this year, the Drouillard/ Wyandotte intersection made the Top 10 list of intersections with the highest number of right-angle (or T-bone) collisions, regarded as the most dangerous.
They're likely to be the first to be targeted when council installs redlight cameras to dissuade people from running red lights. Drouillard/wyandotte has a unique setup featuring a descent from all directions, steel beams in the middle of the road and dark tunnel-like sections where the railway passes overhead.
But Tang said putting the underpass on the heritage list doesn't prevent it from being improved in the future.
“It's more identifying it as a landmark in the neighbourhood and its ties to Ford City,” she said.
The report goes on to recommend seven Ford City buildings for inclusion on the heritage register. They're all located in the 900 and 1000 blocks of Drouillard, ground zero of a revival of the once-downtrodden neighbourhood as century-old buildings are renovated and new businesses move in.
Also recommended are 17 stately old homes in the University of Windsor area which is under pressure from investors buying up houses and converting them into student rentals. Just last week, at the urging of residents, council moved to designate a 91-year-old house on Askin Avenue and study whether several blocks of Askin should be declared a heritage conservation district.
There are hundreds of properties on the register, with a preponderance coming from such core areas as Walkerville, downtown and Sandwich.
Another curious addition to the register is the city-owned Chatham Goyeau parking garage, considered an architectural gem when it was built in 1964. It is the only double-helix garage (two spiral ramps to move cars up and down) in the city. Also headed for the register are the 1888 ruins left from Hiram Walker's summer residence on city-owned Peche Island, the 1963 former Alicia Mason Vocational School at 284 Cameron Ave., the Dr. U. Durocher residence and office at 305 Janette Ave., a unique 1950 concrete house at 205 Matthew Brady Blvd., and a Detroit Free Press design home built in 1929 on Granada Avenue in South Windsor, described as “the first model home constructed in Canada by an American newspaper.”
Though being on the register doesn't carry the protective weight of a heritage designation, it does give some temporary protection from demolition — a delay while council decides whether to allow a demolition permit or to start the designation process.
The properties on the register are a “very tangible, physical indication of the city's history, the city's identity and its past,” Tang told the committee.