A plywood walking tour of downtown Brandon

The wonder of plywood is that it is strong, light, versatile and affordable. It’s a perfect building or renovation material!

When plywood was invented in the 19th century, it was hailed as a building material like no other. Made from plies of wood rotated 90 degrees one from another and then glued together, it is remarkably strong and yet also comes in standard sizes, making it a blessing to builders everywhere.

Take an afternoon — and a refreshing beverage? — and take a stroll to see how downtown Brandon has embraced the use of this marvel material!

Start your tour on Rosser Avenue, between 10th and 11th Street. Here you’ll find an aborted second-storey expansion. Although this is technically OSB, or oriented strand board, and not plywood, it’s a similar building product, and can be used interchangeably.

It’s not clear whether this new rooftop expansion is intended to be a patio or a full second storey, or whether this is already done: a full expression of the glory of raw buildings!

Head east on Rosser Avenue and then take a quick jaunt north on 10th Street. Before you get too filled up on plywood, look at what they’ve done here: bricking up a wall instead of plywood?

That’s how they used to do it — that’s not how it’s done today!

Continue east on Rosser Avenue and keep your eyes peeled! This little plywood adornment could easily be missed, unless you are vigilant.

On the wall of this bank is a well-blended white addition. The keen eye will see that this is not technically a plywood, but more likely an MDF product. These medium-density fibreboards are more often spotted in pre-assembled furniture, and seldom used for outdoor purposes.

What a rarity! Definitely one for the log book!

Further east on Rosser Avenue, just past 9th Street, you’ll see this tape-and-cardboard phenomenon blocking a hole in a medical clinic window.

Although not technically plywood, the technology of cardboard is not dissimilar, making this a bit of a “folk art” plywood.

Keep walking east on Rosser Avenue and you’ll find the newest addition to downtown Brandon’s plywood landscape, just past the 8th Street bus mall.

The plywood rectangle — nearly square, but inset into mirrored glass — makes for a wonderful playfulness. Glass or wood, it doesn’t matter: you can’t see in to this space!

Here, at 7th Street and Rosser Avenue, we arrive at one of the Grand Old Dames of Brandon’s plywood architecture.

Once a restaurant with a second floor above, this building has undergone a complete transformation in recent years, resulting in an almost-fully-plywood-clad single-storey building.

Make sure you take a minute to take in all the plywood from every angle; there is quite a bit of it!

Blink and you’ll miss it! This long-abandoned service station is more well-known for its faded posters, empty pumps and dry carwash, but if you take a look, you can see a boarded-over door and windows where the convenience store and cashier once were.

You’ll find this hidden gem on Rosser Avenue between Fourth and Fifth Street.

Our last Rosser Avenue location, you’ll find this long-closed retail spot at just before you get to First Street.

Does anyone remember what was here before? Or has it always been plywood?

Head south to Princess Avenue and then proceed west. You can’t miss this, our next plywood cathedral and a really excellent example of the form.

Note the door on the front, camouflaged by being made of plywood as well!

Despite the lingering scent, you can’t buy fried chicken here any more. It’s long been “cl . . . osd”.

Another one that you might not spot unless you know where to look, this “tiny house” is actually the former sales office for Binkley Motors.

Now it is another stop on downtown Brandon’s plywood walking tour, a little west on Princess Avenue, just past 5th Street.

Adventurous tourers can walk right up to the house, but the safe, legal option is to take in the spacious parking lot and classic chain-link fencing as well — both also downtown Brandon standards.

It’s difficult to determine whether government jumps on the plywood bandwagon, or whether they are working hard to support the arts, but either way they are a clear supporter of the plywood trend in downtown Brandon.

Formerly a call centre, this new city government office space boasts a plywood feature wall along Princess Avenue, a clever call-out to the wood features at the main entryways to the building, which are on either side, by the parking lots.

Directly across from the previous plywood is this long-in-progress restaurant at 7th Street and Princess, which used to be a fire hall.

Showing a bit of a modern twist on the “naked plywood” elsewhere in the city, this decorative entry into the downtown Brandon plywood canon asks viewers “Where is the Bell?”

The answer, of course, is that one must first realize, “There is no bell.”

Wow.

Just stop and take a look, here at 10th Street and Princess Avenue.

It’s the Brown Block Memorial Plywood Wall.

It’s the Strand Theatre Outdoor Second Screen.

It’s the single-largest plywood installation in downtown Brandon — and unlike any of the other entries on this walking tour, it doesn’t even pretend to be temporary.

This is the permanent solution to a collapsed building, and it is intended to stay this way forever.

Longtime Brandonites will remember that there was some debate over whether or not to paint this plywood. Wood-grain lovers can get up close to see remnants of the original plywood, but from afar it appears seamless, except for many the wood seams.

Take your time.

Very near the enormous plywood wall above, you can find this lonely old entrance to what used to be an underground bowling alley.

Now, it’s a brick-and-painted-plywood memorial, not to be overshadowed by its larger, bigger brother.

Keep walking north on 10th Street.

“Downtown Hub: The Place for Plywood”

In a perfect world, this 10th Street plywood would be the best way to end our walking tour, but there’s actually a coda to come!

Here, on 10th Street near Rosser Avenue — close to where you began this tour — you’ll find the last sheet of plywood on this walking tour.

The plywood, the graffiti, the signage for a restaurant that’s been closed for decades, it’s one of the many places where you can have it all in downtown Brandon.

Since you’re so close to where the tour started, you can undoubtedly find your car. Have a great drive back to 18th Street!