Description of Historic Place

The former Walkerville Post Office is an early 20th century, two-storey brick structure in the Beaux Arts style prominently located on Devonshire Road.

A local landmark since its construction in 1914, it is formally recognized for its heritage value by City of Windsor Bylaw 12756, 1996.

Heritage Value

Historical Value
The building’s historical value lies in the fact that its very existence was a recognition by the federal government of the growing importance of the Town of Walkerville. Constructed in 1914 on lands purchased from the Walkerville Land & Building Co., it played a prominent role in the community, providing postal services from 1914 until 1993.

Architectural/Aesthetic Value
The post office was constructed by Pigott & Healey Contractors, based on designs provided by staff architects from the Federal Department of Public Works, who included the Beaux Arts style for important government buildings. Its aesthetic quality is reinforced by the deep setback, rhythmical symmetry and massive styling.

It displays the architectural complexity of the Beaux Arts style by featuring pedimented entrances, projecting end bays, engaged columns that separate five window bays across the front façade, an ornamental parapet that conceals the flat roof and an immense entablature decorated with a dentilled cornice.

Contextual Value
The addition of the Walkerville Post Office, with its massive styling and detailed design, further heightened Devonshire Road as Walkerville’s main street which at the time had a bank, train station and hotel, as well as Romanesque Revival semi-detached houses for management and the clergy. The area surrounding the Walkerville Post Office site was developed by the Walkerville Land & Building Co. Contrary to the company’s preference for red brick and limestone, buff brick and cast concrete were chosen to distinguish the building from its surroundings.

Sources: Building Analysis Form, March 26, 1996; City of Windsor Bylaw 12756, 1996; and City of Windsor Heritage Planner’s files.

Character-Defining Elements

Character-defining elements that express the architectural value of this Beaux Arts style government building include its:
- massive proportions;
- symmetrical street façade on a stone podium;
- distinguishing ochre-coloured brick veneer on reinforced concrete with pre-cast concrete trim;
- six engaged non load-bearing columns across the front separating five window bays;
- flat roof concealed by ornamental parapet and decorated with a dentilled cornice;
- projecting end bays with pedimented entrances;
- bays on the side elevations, defined by flat brick pilasters; and
- generously proportioned windows, one-on-one sash in simple frames, with those on the first floor having keystones.

Key elements that contribute to the building’s local landmark status and contextual value include its:
- massive styling and ochre-coloured brick veneer, distinguishing it from the neighbourhood’s largely red brick and limestone buildings;
- prominent siting with landscaped setbacks on three sides;
- location on historic Devonshire Road in the heart of early Walkerville, which was developed by the Walkerville Land & Building Co.; and
- close proximity to other important residential and commercial heritage properties, including the Crown Inn (1893), former Walkerville Town Hall (1904) and Devonshire Road Bank Building (1921).