Power House, Welland, ON

© Christine Mastroianni, all rights reserved

I used to walk by the old Power House building at the corner of Lincoln and Hellems Streets in Welland and wonder what it was like inside. Abandoned for years, it was probably an eyesore to those in the proximity, but I always thought it was an interesting building to look at, with its power line fixtures in a row along the top. At one point it had actually become a women's gym, but I don't recall how long it was available for workouts before it was deserted again.

I recall seeing this quirky old floodlight and thinking: I should bring my camera over here sometime and take some pictures of it. I think what really motivated me to actually do it was when I passed by and saw that someone had smashed the glass inside of it. I decided I'd better hurry up and do it for fear it would disappear altogether some day. So I grabbed my old Miranda and walked over and shot a whole roll on the red brick building and all its nuances. I would have taken this sometime between 1999 and 2000 I guess.

The day after I did this, (and yes, it was exactly one day!) there was an army of Caterpillars on site to finally demolish the lonely, neglected building. Mere hours later, there was nothing left of the structure but crumbling framework and massive piles of bricks. Cleanup took a little longer of course, but to this day, there has still not been a replacement erected at the corner of Lincoln and Hellems Streets.