The building located at 203 Bathurst Street in London is known as the "City Centre Storage" building, but only a limited number of Londoners know that this was at one time a textile factory and a very important industry.
In 1919, American industrialist Carl Freschl constructed this 4-storey, 9,000-square-metre structure on the corner of Bathurst and Clarence to house his hosiery business, Holeproof Hosiery Co. This company's flagship factory was in Milwaukee but was expanding by leaps and bounds. Holeproof already had a smaller operation in London from 1911 but needed to expand their production capabilities. As Mr. Freschl needed to received his raw materials and shipped his finished goods for this factory by rail, the location was expertly chosen just south of the rail yards. The business at one time employed 500 Londoners.
Although this was a great location, in 1933, the City of London closed the railroad grade crossing road at Clarence which put a dent into some of the logistics of Holeproof. So much so, Holeproof sued for $ 50,000 which during the depression was no small amount of money. This eventually wormed its way to the Supreme Court of Canada.
Textile company Kayser-Roth later bought the company and ran it until 1989 when the factory closed. Approximately a year later, Dick Berdan purchased the building for commercial storage and and is now known as City Centre Storage. Mr. Berdan converted the upper floors to accomodate 770 storage units to self-storage units while the main floor houses an antique furniture store.
Looking back at a warmer time when I popped around to this beautiful Seminary which is still quite active although I do think that they are operating far from their capacity.
The Seminary was founded by the Right Reverend Michael F. Fallon in 1912 with the present seminary building constructed in the the 1920's and the opening / dedication on September 29th, 1926. To the left is an image of the Seminary's first graduating class in 1912.
The seminary building is designed in the collegiate gothic style and constructed of Credit Valley stone with Tyndall stone decoration. A wing was added to the Seminary in 1957, providing a new auditorium and recreational facilities. The library was also expanded at that time by changing the cloister into a reading room.
The front doors of this structure is just about the most beautiful creation in wood I have ever seen.
This recreational facility added in the late 1950's appears like a time capsule from that era with the garish splash of a 1980's couch standing in stark comparison.
In the same room, is a lovely wood-paneled bar. I can almost imagine students gathered here at the end of the day swigging on soda-pop and singing their fav psalms accompanied by this ancient piano.
I would seriously love to get a guided tour of the absolutely glorious / beautiful Chapel Of St. Thomas Aquinas
A familiar site in downtown London years ago was steam rising from manholes lids and grates. Many pedestrians may have simply thought that vapours from sanitary or storm water sewers were just steaming in cooler air at street level. This may be partially correct but steam would still be visible during warm summer days as well. In fact, minor leaks from miles of underground piping was the direct cause.
A centralized heating system began operating in downtown London in 1880 and may very well have been the first in Canada. Centralized steam plants where boilers provided steam to nearby commercial buildings were very popular in most major North American cities at the turn of the century.
The popularity of such a system was due to the economics of steam plant owners buying bulk fuel (coal) at a discount which was not available to individual building owners in downtown London. With the introduction of relatively inexpensive natural gas, Clients started to move towards retrofitting to their own individual gas-fired heating systems.
Cities Heating, located near Queen's Ave West and was the company which distributed steam heat in downtown London. The company, just like many other business entities evolved over the decades. The old steam supply facility outgrew its usefullness and closed down quite some time ago. A company known as Trigen replaced the function of Cities Heating in 1996 and began planning a new service facility. It is now known as - London District Energy with new modern facilites located at the corner of Bathurst and Colborne. London District Energy currently supplies environmentally considerate heating and cooling to more than a dozen large downtown buildings including London Free Press, Galleria London, City Hall, Federal Buildings, Court House and the Public Library.
Althought the old Cities Heating Building sat derelict for years, the London Ontario Live Arts Festival did use the massive wall of the building as a large artist's canvass in 2007. Visual artist Michelle Gay projected animated images within the building's windows.
The building is currently being converted into apartments.
You may recall this post I had last December on the beautiful and elegant London, Ontario manor called Woodholme castle.
I have been informed by acquaintance in London that development has begun around the Estate. He was very kind to share this recent update and images . . .
Sifton (a London-area property developer) originally proposed two plans - one including Woodholme situated on 1 acre of land, surrounded by 50+ premium single detatched condominums. Essentially, the terms Sifton set out: buy the land (cost was about $400,000) - and the manor itself is yours. The catch was they wanted someone, not just anyone, who had the gusto & funds to restore the mansion - it needs about $1,000,000 worth of work... (by their estimation) The second plan was to plow the manor, and build a slightly different plan which incorporated a few more condos in the place that the manor stood...
Both plans called to "save as many trees as possible". Apparently it appears that the developer is clearing more trees than most had anticipated... It sat for a long time "Under Contract". Former Councillor Sandy Levin (he was an amazing councillor, I wish he hadn't "retired" from politics) wrote in the North London Beacon that "Under Contract" meant they found an undisclosed buyer, subject to the terms of approval for the condo properties to surround the manor. Looks like they've proceeded with the first plan, partly as only one applicationwas filed to the city which outlines the condo plan that will surround the Woodholme estate. One feature to note - the plan that incorporated Woodholme would change the "front door" location. The front door currently faces what was the pool - but under the Sifton plan, it would utilize the western most south facing door as the front door, if that makes sense.
Miggsie Lawson (bless her soul) must be turning in her grave . . .
As I mentioned in my previous post, I was afforded precious little time in between Easter gorgings to allow me to get any serious explorations undertaken in London.
I was, however, able to escape my gastronomic chains to be able to get downtown to the former Salvation Army Men's Mission. The Sally Ann operated a 100-bed temporary shelter, thrift store, and provided other social services at this location since being built in 1952. The Salvation Army latter sold the property in 2003 and have since moved to their new digs at the corner of Bathurst and Wellington Streets.
Here is a short video of the exploration . . .
Since coming onto the 'UrbEx' market in 2003, paint peel production (P3) has kicked it into high gear. Everywhere within this 3-story brick structure one may view absolutely exquisite peelers in a rainbow of tacky institutional hues . . . Lets start in the stairwells ->
Similarly, a panorama of peelers may be found in the passageways. Melt water, finding its way into the the structure had formed a frictionless sheet of ice. Were it not for the peelers on the floors, yours truly may well have gone a$$ over tea-kettle . . . . (whatever that means - ? )
This propensity for peelers did not confine itself to the perimeters of the above-mentioned stairwells and hallways. Indeed, they may also be found within the group dormitories. ! ! TEST ! ! - What colour do you think this dormitory was before some kind-hearted soul chose a more neutral (read: "natural") hue ? ?
Time for an intra-post image randomness . . . What does Clark Gable and a roof-access ladder have in common - - not much I think BUT both of these things may be found in this hostel.
Attached to the shelter is a two-story storage / warehouse deal. As I entered the large open space upstairs, I took notice of a large cat checking out my exploratory progress from the other side of a window. I also noticed the classic 'is it a wagon wheel or a chandelier' ceiling fixture. What I did not notice was the gang of vicious attack-pigeons laying in wait for me . . .
At the time of my exploration, the toilet bowls were surprisingly devoid of any hobo-dumplings. As I was denied my 'di rigeur' money-$hot, I had to settle for a urinal and weird-a$$ basin stand.
Hope everyone had a pleasant holiday. I spent the Easter weekend in London with relatives. In between servings of ham, turkey and other gastronomic goodness, I managed to slip away for a quick exploration of an apartment building being demolished on Kipp's Lane in London's north-east, not far where I did some growing up.
Buildings under demolition are an inherently dangerous place and I am very hesitant to venture in as the entire affair becomes structurally unsound with the removal of supporting walls.
This being said, these types of 'in-process demolishments' do offer the urban explorer a glimpse of what it may be like for a war correspondent on assignment or what it may feel like for a Palestinian living in the West Bank.
It may also provide a window into the lives of the denizens who had, until recently, called this place their home. Unfortunately, any personal effects or other detritus produced by human occupation had been all cleared from the building and was piled in a large heap on the east side of the structure leaving the rooms without any flavour.
This area of town was decidedly bad-a$$ back in the day when I was growing up here. As a result, I took extra precaution when poking around half expecting to find a crack party in progress . . . all I found was an abandoned hobo carriage.
What better time to celebrate the New Year than exploring an abandoned retirement home. Somewhat aprospo I should think.
Versa-Care Centre Lambeth is location just west of London, Ontario near Delaware. This long-term nursing facility for the aged was constructed in the 1969 and subsequently had a large addition added soon after effectively doubling its size. The structure is approximately 34,000 square feet and was licensed for 135 beds.
Our exploration was rather hurried (20 minutes of fast photographic documentation) for reasons I will not go into other than there was a bit of 'hide-and-seek' happening. Here for your enjoyment is a brief video of our very short exploration.
Due to regulatory requirements the physical building layout fell out of compliance and the owners, Central Park Lodges (aka Versa-Care) built a new facility in London and moved its residences there.
The last meal was served in June, 2006. It currently sits abandoned and slowly is deteriorating. The building and the 10 acres it is sited on is for sale. The asking price is $ 789,000.
From the floor plans, it appears that residents were housed two to three per room. From our quick tour through some of these rooms it appeared that they were far from spacious.
From a small number of reports I did read on-line, it also appears that this facility may not have been a picture of happiness for some residents. Judging from the gaudy wallpaper patterns and unreflective choice of colours, I imagine some residents did contemplate hanging themselves from the curtain dividers.
There were some indications in the material I reviewed that suggested there may have been patient neglect as well as issues of some elderly residents of sound mind being roomed with those suffering from advanced dementia or 'senile agitation' as this vintage advertisement has labeled it. I should think that given the choice, staff would have liked to order thorazine by the keg.
To counter this, I did find evidence shown here that the late denizens were occasionally treated to a day at the spa. You know the equipment at the mini hair salon downstairs was certainly dated (you can date such equipment when see a built-in ashtray in the arm rest ! ).
For those residents still capable of shuffling to the shared washroom, they were treated to a relief from the frightful and grotesque wall treatments in their rooms to this refreshingly bland lavatory. For those mobility-impaired residents unable to get to the washroom without assistance, they were treated to a good bed soaking.
For those readers who drop by the blog frequently, you will know that I have a penchant for institutional, industrial and commercial abandonments (in that order). Exploring this particular institution, I had something of an epiphany in the home's basement kitchens . . . every memorable institution I have explored was indeed equipped with an industrial kitchen. Perhaps this may be a secret ingredient ?
You may be asking the same question I have here . . . Why yellow ?
Although it may provide somewhat of a brighter atmosphere, I harbour serious doubts that the facility owners had had these good intentions in mind for the servile sycophants toiling in this gastronomic crypt.
Although most of the kitchen equipment was somewhat dated, there were a few pieces present such as the hot buffet cart on the left and coffee maker on the right which appeared still serviceable. Perhaps it simply did not match the more recent equipment at new home in London.
I shall sign off with a comment about building occupant safety and the Ontario Fire Code. I may not be an expert here, but it should be obvious to most that to camouflage an emergency exit may be less than intelligent.
Note: camouflage is taken from the French word 'camoufler', to disguise or to play a trick. I was tricked by this brick-patterned wallpaper for just a moment. Imagine if you will a hall full of slow-moving alzheimer-sufferers in a smoke-filled hallway . . . not pleasant.
Another brief note - My photography is a skill which is evolving slowly for me. I am very flattered by some readers who have used some of my better images for Facebook group pages or the like. Please remember to either link back to the blog here or provide credit.
The building located at 203 Bathurst Street in London is known as the "City Centre Storage" building, but only a limited number of Londoners know that this was at one time a textile factory and a very important industry.
In 1919, American industrialist Carl Freschl constructed this 4-storey, 9,000-square-metre structure on the corner of Bathurst and Clarence to house his hosiery business, Holeproof Hosiery Co. This company's flagship factory was in Milwaukee but was expanding by leaps and bounds. Holeproof already had a smaller operation in London from 1911 but needed to expand their production capabilities. As Mr. Freschl needed to received his raw materials and shipped his finished goods for this factory by rail, the location was expertly chosen just south of the rail yards. The business at one time employed 500 Londoners.
Although this was a great location, in 1933, the City of London closed the railroad grade crossing road at Clarence which put a dent into some of the logistics of Holeproof. So much so, Holeproof sued for $ 50,000 which during the depression was no small amount of money. This eventually wormed its way to the Supreme Court of Canada.
