Blind Dog Bar Demolition

Owners of the former Blind Dog bar on Ouellette Avenue began tearing down their establishment this week.

The city of Windsor reviewed and approved the demolition of the downtown landmark. Late last week, the building was sectioned off for construction and this past Monday, April 11 the tear down began.

Robert Van from the city’s building department said the city wants nothing to do with the demolition. Van said it is all up to the owners, the city only gave them the permit.

Although they approved the permit Van said they would have preferred to see something else to happen to the building.

“We would have preferred they didn’t demolish the building and would have refurbished the building and repurposed the building. There’s no provisions in the bylaw to restrict demolition in that area for that particular use of building” Van said.

 

The building that the Blind Dog has resided in since 2008 has a long rich history in Windsor.

It first opened in 1937 as a different night club called the Vanity and was designed by well-known Windsor architect Albert McPhail. After changing names and owners many times over years, it spent its last few years as the blind dog during yet another recession.

But three years later, in 2011, it all went up in smoke — literally.

A police officer on a routine patrol at 1 a.m. saw smoke pouring from the roof. Days later, the Ontario fire Marshall discovered the floor had been doused with accelerant for which no one was charged.

Following the fire, the bar stopped their business and the building sat unused for years, until this week.

For many people who visited and worked the Blind Dog bar over the years, it was like a symbol. It was like a song recorder that recorded their music careers.

Ryan Bro, a drummer who used to play with his band in the bar says nothing can replace the building.

“There’s nothing else in the city that was like it. You can play a bar and fit 150 people or you can play a theater and hit a big amount of people, but at Blind Dog, I think the capacity was 900 which was pretty great” Bro said.

Tedd Shearon, a former local concert promoter said the blind dog helped him find and develop his passions.

“It had elements of making me who I am and it helped me develop my business as a young promoter. The memories and the people that I worked with and just helping bring live music and entertainment to the city was something that was really important to me and I’m still proud of to this day,” said Shearon.

Due to the unknown nature of the permit, it is not known what the owners will choose to build on the vacant site at this time.

 

Story by Kayla Wang