Once, more than a century ago, Ford Canada had a London, Ontario, assembly plant. It was in the heart of the city, nestled into a residential neighbourhood. It was much smaller than any plant built today. In later years its small scale may have been it undoing.
On the plus side it is a good looking building and that fact may have saved the building from the wrecking ball. Sadly, its good looks did not save the operation. Ford closed the plant, sold the building and left London. The building has gone through a couple of hands since then but it is still a good looking building and considered a plus for the area.
In later years, Ford opened a very successful assembly plant south of the city. It was often honoured for its excellent efficiency, high quality output and solid employee dependability. But these pluses were not enough to save the plant. It closed and the building was demolished. The newer plant was not guarded by an aura generated by attractive architecture. The newer plant was big, sprawling and ugly. In this case demolition was a plus. The land was worth more with the building gone.
2 comments:
I do like the look of this one.
After Siskins acquired the property sadly much of the architectural elements when it took over the building from Pumps & Softeners where destroyed . Much of the limestone cornice was torn out to accommodate the mono-lithic black tinted windows which had been so popular during the 80s when residential and industrial spaces were converted to commercial property.
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