The Paul Martin Sr. Building is a 6-storey

Art deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

low-rise office building in

Windsor Windsor may refer to: Places Australia * Windsor, New South Wales ** Municipality of Windsor, a former local government area * Windsor, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane, Queensland **Shire of Windsor, a former local government authority around Wi ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

, Canada, located on the west side of

Ouellette Avenue Ouellette Avenue (most commonly pronounced Oh-Let, pronounced by French-speakers as 'Wellette') is one of the main North-South Roads in Windsor, Ontario, and acts as its Main Street. The road diverges from Dougall Avenue south of Downtown Win ...

between Chatham Street and Pitt Streets.

Building

The building, originally known as the Dominion Public Building, was built in 1932 and was designed by local architects Sheppard & Masson with John E. Trace & G. Guller-Colthurst to house

Canada Post Canada Post Corporation (french: Société canadienne des postes), trading as Canada Post (french: Postes Canada), is a Crown corporation that functions as the primary postal operator in Canada. Originally known as Royal Mail Canada (the opera ...

. Canada Post occupied the basement through to the fifth floor with other federal offices on the sixth floor. It is named after

Paul Martin Sr. Joseph James Guillaume Paul Martin (June 23, 1903 – September 14, 1992), often referred to as Paul Martin Sr., was a noted Canadian politician and diplomat. He was the father of Paul Martin, who served as 26th prime minister of Canada fro ...

, father of former

Prime Minister of Canada The prime minister of Canada (french: premier ministre du Canada, link=no) is the head of government of Canada. Under the Westminster system, the prime minister governs with the confidence of a majority the elected House of Commons; as su ...

Paul Martin Paul Edgar Philippe Martin (born August 28, 1938), also known as Paul Martin Jr., is a Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 21st prime minister of Canada and the leader of the Liberal Party of Canada from 2003 to 2006. The son o ...

. The building is also known by its french name "Edifice Paul Martin". The building was renamed on November 18, 1994 by the Honourable

Herb Gray Herbert Eser Gray (May 25, 1931 – April 21, 2014) was a Canadian lawyer who became a prominent federal politician. He was a Liberal member of parliament for the Windsor area over the course of four decades, from 1962 to 2002, making Gray o ...

, the Honourable David Charles Dingwall and the Honourable Paul Martin.

Renovations

Major renovations along with a four storey addition were completed in 1959 to expand post office operations. Various government departments remained on the sixth floor. In 2012 overhead protection hoarding was installed along the north, east and south facades to protect the public from any falling stones. The building's limestone façade was in very poor condition and contained many chips and cracks visible from the street. Repairs were completed in 2017 by the federal government before selling the building to the City of Windsor.

Heritage Designation

The City of Windsor designated the building as heritage under the Ontario Heritage Act in 2013. Some exterior features contributing to the heritage value are the bronze plaques identifying "Post Office" and "Customs and Excise", a stone band above the first floor with carved "Dominion Public Building" and "Post Office" along with Canadian Crests.

Ownership

Built and owned by the Government of Canada until sold to the City of Windsor for $10.00 in 2019. The

Windsor Public Library Windsor Public Library is a public library system in Windsor, Ontario, Canada. It has ten branches and serves the city of Windsor through Children's, Young Adult, and Adult programs, services and collections. The central branch is located at the ...

has been temporarily relocated to the building after selling their former location to the Downtown Mission. They have renovated the first and second floor in the 1959 addition. No long term use has been found for the building.

References

{{- Buildings and structures in Windsor, Ontario Art Deco architecture in Canada Canadian federal government buildings Office buildings in Canada Government buildings completed in 1933