Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Niagara Falls Then and Now: Old Storefronts on Queen St. (Part 9 of 10)

This post looks at the storefronts on the south side of Queen St. in Niagara Falls, Ont., heading westward, from St. Clair Ave. to Crysler Ave.
Click on photos to enlarge!
Below: Feb.27, 2009 - at the south-west corner of Queen St. and St. Clair Ave. is a federal post office building. It relocated here from the old Post Office building, which still stands, vacant, on the north-east corner of Park St. and Zimmerman Ave. (see also here)
below: next building to the right (west) of the federal building is the Imperial Bank of Canada, seen in this May 31, 1958 view.

above: same building, Feb.27, 2009 - the post office is seen at the far left; the Imperial Bank is now known as the CIBC.
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below: Jan.8, 1958 - the Imperial Bank is at the far left; next is the Model Restaurant, then Stein-Zuker Furs, then Buckley's Books, then Colin MacQueen Menswear at the far right.
below: May 1965 - same location as above - the bank is at the far left; next is the Model Restaurant, followed by now-"Zuker" Furs (both with a neon sign overhanging the sidewalk); then Buckley's Bookstore; John W. Drew Men's Shop is at the far right.above: same view, Dec.22, 2008 - the former 'Model' is now the Hi-Lite Restaurant, the other storefronts, the former Zuker's (in the middle) and Buckley's (at the right) are vacant.
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below: Sept.28, 1965 - closer view of Buckley's Bookstore, Cyril Luce
above: May 26, 2009 - same storefront that once housed Buckley's Bookstore, now with its sign and some brick from its facade removed. Former Zuker's, with the Cold Fur Storage lettering still visible, is at the far left.
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below: Oct.4, 1964 - Zuker's is at the far left, next is Buckley's, then John W. Drew Men's Shop

above: Dec.22, 2008 - continuing west along Queen St.: John W. Drew Men's Shop was once in the storefront at the centre left (with the diamond on the second storey front). The Sud store previously was home to a Westinghouse store, as seen further below.
above: May 26, 2009; closer view of the former John W. Drew Men's Shop storefront with its sign and some brick removed from its facade.
above: Nov.2, 2009 - same building as above (the former John Drew Men's Shop): the brick facade has been repointed and primered, now a faux-brick red paint job is carefully applied to the facade, with the side coining highlighted with a buff-yellow paint. Where the spalled brick is visible below the parapet, was once a corbel lined with brackets, as seen in the next two photos below.
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below: Jan.8, 1958 - MacQueen Men's shop is at the left (which later became John W. Drew's Men's Shop); next to the right is Westinghouse, then Sandham electric, then May's at the right. At the far upper right is a bit of the east side wall of the Burroughes building.
above: at left, note the bracketed corbel running below the parapet of MacQueen's.
above: Oct.4, 1964, same view as previouly above - at the far left is the corner of John W. Drew's (formerly MacQueen's) Men's Shop, note the brackets running just below the parapet; next, where Westinghouse had been, appears at this time to be a china shop, with an optometrist's office upstairs; next, where Sandham had been, is now (by looking at the sign overhanging the sidewalk) an Imperial Optical shop; next is May's, and at the far right is a bit of the corner of Burroughes Furniture, when it still had its Spanish-tile front.
above: Dec.22, 2008 - same view as previously above. From the left: Sud is where the Westinghouse/later china shop once was; the printing shop is where Sandham electric/later Imperial Optical, once were; Moodie's Bakery is where May's once was. The building which once housed Burroughes is still seen in the upper right.
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below: closer view of May's, Sept.28, 1965. (On May's window can be seen the reflection of the A. Leon store sign across the street.) Imperial Optical is seen to the left (east). Burroughe's Furniture is at the far right. (A Dr. Alex B. Smillie once lived in a house (at 548 Queen St. as of 1945) which was on this site, prior to the May building's construction.

above: Sept. 28, 1965 - a closer view of the Imperial Optical shop which was just to the east of May's (in the former Sandham's storefront).
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below: Dec.22, 2008, the building at the right is on the south-east corner of Queen St. and Crysler Ave.
above: Oct.4, 1964, the building at the SE corner of Queen and Crysler, seen previously above, was formerly F.C. Burroughes Furniture, seen here with its Spanish-tile overhang.
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See the next post in this ten-part series at: Old storefronts on Queen St., Part Ten
Or, go back to see my first post of this series at: PART ONE
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(Also, see my related series of Niagara Falls streetscape views at: Niagara Falls Then and Now: Buildings lost, buildings found, part one)
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Older photos in this study are from the Niagara Falls, Ont. Library Archive, recent photos are by R. Bobak. Thanks for visiting Right in Niagara !
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