Completed front facade (Photo credit: Administration).

Restored stone work (Photo credit: Administration).

Sandwich Fire Hall & Stable, now John Muir Branch, Windsor Public Library, 363 Mill Street (Heritage designated in 1998):

Awarded for: Heritage Conservation, Adaptive Reuse & Honour

This two-storey public building is located on Mill Street between Sandwich Street and Peter Street. It was built in 1921 as Fire Hall No. 6 and the first fire hall for the former Town of Sandwich. There were two large doors facing Mill Street that gave access to the truck bays. The tower was the original entrance to the building and was used to hang hoses for drying. A fire circa 1941 destroyed parts of the second floor and the upper portion of the hose tower. In 1945, the structure was rebuilt including masonry, metalwork, and window repairs, with a redesigned upper facade and shortened tower. In 1964, the fire station was decommissioned and later served tenants such as the Metropolitan Hospital Detox Centre until 2005 and the Windsor Art Studio until 2009. The building had not been well maintained over the years and was vacant for a while.

Adaptive re-use of the building for a community or arts use had been identified during the process to create the Sandwich Community Improvement Plan in 2009. In 2015, the Windsor Public Library partnered with the City of Windsor to convert the building into the John Muir Branch. Jason Grossi, OAA, AIA, CAHP from studio g+G architect, who is also a professor at the University of Windsor, School of Creative Arts, was the architect