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Hello again explorers,
With the recent warm weather just ahead of the official start of spring, we headed out to revisit a nearby favourite abandonment of ours around the corner. This old farmhouse has not been occupied for some time but the property is still productive, being used by one or more adjacent farm owners.
Not much had changed. Nature is still working on reducing the structure to rubble and leveling it to grade.
During the summer time, the flooded basement is a favourite haunt of every disease-carrying mosquito, but as the temperature still dips below zero at night and does not really thaw out the frozen block of water in the basement, it is a wondrous suspended animation that we had not really been able to capture appropriately with our cameras.
Personally, I am always amazed when I find muted colours on kitchen cabinetry, wallpaper, and furniture.
I guess I assume that after so much time untouched by human maintenance, all the colours would simply bleed out leaving what I imagine would be a dog's eye interpretation of the colour spectrum.
Anywhoos - we're looking forward to the warmer season to get in a decent amount of time of urban exploration. Look to several more posts over the course of this summer - until next time, Happy & Safe Exploring.
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The Innisfil Marché as it was in 2006.
Located just off Highway 400, this unique log structure has seen more failed businesses than some South American banana republics seen military coups. The last business to occupy this space was the much-lauded Innisfil Heights Marché Restaurant, which opened in September, 2005 and mysteriously shut its doors sometime in the summer of 2007.
Some additional images of the Marché 'back in the day'.
Professional chef couple Jörg and Marianne Reichert, best known for the Mövenpick Marchés in Toronto, opened up this 14,000 square-foot – two-story - log house with seating for 300 just off Innisfil Beach Road, minutes away from Georgian Downs (Racetrack and Slots) and the 400 flea market. The building also boasted 2,500 sq.ft. retail shop that offered everything from gifts and magazines to European chocolate, ham, breads and cheeses.
Not much has changed in terms of the appearance of the building and grounds since the abrupt closure.
The Reichert's also furnished the restaurant with unique custom-made fixtures and furniture which had been imported from Spain, Switzerland, France, Holland and Germany and is reported to be worth approximately 6 million Dollars.
A 180 seat patio and balcony seats were also available to dinners, weather permitting.
The Reichert's location of the restaurant was thought to be ideal for the target market they were after; the thousands of travelers that used Highway 400 to travel from Toronto to get to the cottage in the Muskokas or to go skiing at Horseshoe Valley or Blue Mountain. As owners also employed approximately 100 staff, this business venture was very well welcomed by the Innisfil municipal department of economic development.
The sign just outside the main entrance detailed the Marché master plan which called for a petting zoo . . . very handy if the butcher delivery was late.
The Reicherts planned, among many other things, a petting zoo, outside playgrounds, beer garden, picnic drive-through, a drive up banking machine and a gas station.
Restaurant Apocalypse & Ghost Guests
When I had a peek in the window, I was rather surprised to find that even after several months of closure, all the tables were set to receive dinner guests. As this seriously sketched me out, I did not attempt to determine a P.O.E. during this initial location scout.
From my view outside, I could see through the windows that the coolers were still plugged in and contained beverages. Dinnerware was stacked at the ready to be filled with food and packaged European delicacies were ready for purchase.
The restaurant's web page is off line and it's telephone has been disconnected. Those whom I've asked are not sure when or why the business closed and I am unable to bump into any previous employees.
One theory I have heard is that Richtree Markets, who own Canadian chains of the Movenpick, Marché and Marchelino restaurants had a nasty falling out with its founders, Jörg and Marianne Reichert. There were several lawsuits flying but this was settled even before the Reichert's opened up the Innisfil Marché market restaurant. The theory is that one of the lawsuits reanimated from the dead (appropriate for this post-Halloween post) and bit them.
This still does not explain why the assets have not been liquidated and that the restaurant still appears as if the staff just set up for the next dinner guests.
Post a comment here if you are in the know . . .
aka - The 'Crime-Scene' House
The Township of Oro-Medonte is located just a titch north and east of Barrie and has previously offered up a number of decent abandonments worthy of exploration. This lovely abandoned farmhouse provided decent photographic opportunities and a good number of personal effects left behind by the last denizens.
Those who have had the pleasure of exploring with us know we deeply respect each property we visit and the privacy of the owners. Shown here is our very own JuicyFruitKisses knocking of the (boarded-up) door to ask permission to photograph . . . no owner could be found.
We checked the washroom (read: outhouse), out back and still could not find anyone. Personally, I rather like outhouses . . . you might say I have a 'leaning' for these comfortable commodes.
Speaking of commodes, I am starting to feel that this post is developing a theme . . . perhaps even its own movement. According to a recent survey, this model 245 PortaPottie beat the competition checks down. A poke with a prudently long stick produced a sloshing sound . . . we're hoping its rain-water.
Moving along - we discovered the remnants of a vintage television in the field behind the house. I could not find the remote control so had to 'manually' switch channels using a "dial". I kept getting the same program where this crazy red-head is jeering at me.
As we continued our reconnoiter out back, we also discover that the previous occupant may have been a fancier of outdoor motorised winter sports. We suspect this hobby had a short life . . . from 1969 to 1971.
We found covers for a 1969 Moto-Ski as well as a 1971 Ski-Doo Nordic, shown below with the garish product brochures from the day.
We probed the remnants of the barn which also contained a limited number of items (including another toilet). Observing that the structural integrity was questionable, we left . . . we were sort of 'tired' of this anyway.
On the way back up to the house, I ate a bit more on my memory card with these two shots. I realised two things as I took these . . . (1) no farmhouse is complete without a rusty wheel-barrow parked in the middle of a field and . . (2) I was taking a lot of black and white images.
It is now the part of the post where I explain the alternative title - Oro 'Crime Scene House'. JFK spotted this in the middle of the overgrown track just behind the house.
That's right, several yards of OPP crime scene tape and a 12-gauge casing. If any readers or members of the local constabulary know what may have gone down here on the 7th Line, please let us know.
Near the back door was this relic from another time . . . a time when smiling uniformed milk delivery staff would provide dairy goodness in these metal cases. Don't get too reminiscent, this was also a time of manual channel changing.
Evidence found inside the house from periodicals and fashion faux-pas indicate that the domicile was last inhabited in 1995. We also learned that the previous owners enjoyed vodka and Dobel (a product of a Mexican mistake between tequila and kahlua).
This house was constructed in a day where electric base-board heaters was just a wet-dream of your local utility. We see here the stove flue piping its way up through the upstairs bedroom and then outside.
Attached to the bedroom upstairs was this room featuring a funky tile design and this lovely old-skool hi-fi stereo console. Unfortunately it appeared that a raccoon used the console to dump in . . . repeatedly.
