At 294 Wellington Street stood the City [Steam] Laundry, across the street from CN's ex-GTR reight shed and down the street from the still-standing Bajus Brewery. This 1953 photo shows the storefront addition added sometime in the previous four years. (Queen's University Archives photos, top and below).
Ensconced by the fire, I was ready to begin the kitbash. I had come across this Smalltown U.S.A.Parcel Delivery Service I'd tucked away (hey, got it on sale!) and though the window arrangement is not exact, it had a lot of character, the right proportions and a false front.
The Smalltown front, pre white-washing, has been added to some Pola pickle factory sides that I'd stacked for an earlier kitbash of Winnipeg's Five Roses Flour mill. They were already painted the colour I wanted, and had a pilaster structure similar to the prototype.
The rear view, for which I used the Smalltown rear wall. I've glued a sprue for the roof peak. Using cardstock, this sprue was enough to support the styrene-free roof!
Adding the storefront addition:
There's not too much that doesn't benefit from a coat of paint! I can't tell from the black and white prototype photos what colour the trim was, so I'm going with basic black!
I blanked out two of the upper-storey windows with styrene, to replicate the prototype window spacing.
Addition has a roof now.
Signage. The prototype has a hand-lettered sign that didn't include 'Steam', so I left it out, though I did include (Kingston) Limited. After all this formatting, I too ended up hand-lettering the main sign lettering.
Signage added, including a 'Laundering' hung sign taken from a 1913 Whig ad for a laundry located at Princess and Sydenham Streets. Also a few stacks, window shades, and window-glazing using clear styrene.
On the layout, located between Bajus Brewery and my second typical Swamp Ward house. Earlier the site of a gas station/garage. I did not glue on the storefront addition, so it remains removable for flexibility on Wellington, my most visible street upon entering the layout room.
An October 26, 1956 Whig clipping:
A 1946 Whig ad from the year of Kingston's centennial:
Frank Ellison would approve. Nice work. Keep up the fun.
ReplyDeleteJohn F.
Thanks, John. Frank Ellison did so much with comparatively so little (compared to what is available today, but which I don't think I want to spend money on!)
ReplyDeleteAnd you're right, it is fun!
Eric