Victoria is the capital city of British Columbia, located on the southern tip of Vancouver Island off Canada’s Pacific coast.
The Carr House is where Emily Carr (1871-1945) was born and lived. She is a well-known author and one of Canada’s most famous painters. The house and its surrounding environment, and the impact they made in her life, are mentioned in all of Emily’s books.
The Empress Hotel, built 1924-1928, is a stone hotel prominently located at the head of the inner harbor in the city of Victoria.
Fort Victoria began as a fur trading post of the Hudson’s Bay Company and was the headquarters of HBC operations in the Columbia District, a large fur trading area now part of the province of British Columbia, Canada and the U.S. state of Washington.
The Parliament Buildings were built in two main stages, the first from 1893-98 and the second from 1911-16. The initial construction was a T-shaped building comprising the two arms of the facade and the legislative chamber in the stem to the rear. The later additions were an extension to the stem to house the Legislative Library, and two wings parallel to the stem. The style is an eclectic one that has been termed Late Victorian Free Style.
207 Government Street – Emily Carr Home – This two-story Italianate Villa has a side-gabled roof with a central front-gabled projection creating a very formal balanced composition. The front full-length verandah is broken in the center by the entry above which, on the second floor, is a balustraded balcony. The balusters for both the verandah and balcony are pairs of fretwork “C†scrolls. The front windows are paired; the sashes of the upper windows are arched. The eaves have brackets and pendants. The gables have tall slender turned urn finials. There is a pair of twin-flue corbelled and paneled brick chimneys on the main ridge of the roof, and another at the rear. The right end of the house has a two-story angled bay, the left, a one-story angled bay with a balcony above. The entrance has a simple Classical sidelight and transom.721 Government Street – The Empress Hotel, built 1924-1928, is a stone hotel prominently located at the head of the inner harbor in the city of Victoria. Built for the Canadian Pacific Railway (CPR), the Empress Hotel is one of a series of Chateau-style hotels built by Canadian railway companies in the early 20th century to encourage tourists to travel their transcontinental routes. Popular with the traveling public for their elaborate decor and comfortable elegance, these hotels quickly became national symbols of quality accommodation. The key elements of the hotel are its massive scale, stone and brick cladding, steeply pitched copper roofs, ornate gables and dormers, domed, polygon turrets, high-quality materials, and dramatic setting; its asymmetrical plan, with arcaded central loggia, and projecting pavilions accented by vertical strips of oriel windows; the presence of landscaped gardens around the hotel separate the building from the denser urban areas.One of Victoria’s most popular attractions is its historic Chinatown, once North America’s second-largest. In the late 1800s, Victoria’s Chinatown held the largest Chinese community in Canada. Many residents worked in BC’s gold fields and built the Canadian Pacific Railway.1205 Government Street – This six-story building at 1205 Government Street and 612 View Street was built in 1912 by architect A. Arthur Cox for the Union Bank of Canada, which operated its main Victoria branch on the main floor and rented out office space on the upper floors.569 Johnson Street581 Johnson Street – 1888 – The W.G. Cameron Building is a two-story brick commercial building located on the corner of an alley on the south side of the 500 block of Johnson Street. It is distinguishable by its decorative facade, intact cast-iron columns and wooden storefront, and a name plate bearing the name “W.G. Cameron” in its prominent cornice. The upper story has double-hung wooden-sash windows.571-577 Johnson Street – 1899 – It is a two story parged brick commercial building located on the south side of lower Johnson Street. Its segmented-arch upper-story windows are crowned by a corbelled cornice featuring a floral motif. Its upper-story fenestration pattern, with six two-over-two wood sash windows capped by inverted-U hoods, and its decorative cornice with floral medallions and decorative brickwork are character-defining elements.557-559 Johnson Street is a three-story Italianate brick commercial building. It was constructed in two stages in 1875 and 1886. It is a three-story Italianate brick commercial building situated on the south side of lower Johnson Street. It is the central building in a group of three structures which make up the Paper Box Arcade, a retail and residential complex in the Old Town district of downtown Victoria. Character-defining elements include the surviving original street-front facade with its upper-story fenestration, joinery, quoining, and decorative cornice; the composition of the storefront with two display windows flanking a recessed central doorway; and the pronounced stylistic differences between the second and third stories of the street front facade.550-554 Johnson Street – 1892 – The Strand Hotel is a three-story plus lower level, red-brick commercial building, distinguished by exuberant Victorian detailing and Romanesque Revival influences, and a projecting double-height central bay window. It is located mid-block on the north side of lower Johnson Street, within Market Square. Romanesque Revival influences include its round-headed windows united by rock-faced sandstone voussoirs; rock-faced sandstone lintels; and deeply-carved foliate sandstone capitals; additional exterior details include central double-height bay window clad in decorative sheet-metal with rectangular and round-headed windows; a broad, sheet-metal upper cornice incorporating a mansard roof profile; elaborate cast-iron roof cresting; red-brick roof line chimneys with corbelled caps; and round and square-sided cast-iron storefront columns stamped ‘Wilson Brothers, Victoria B.C.’ It is symmetrical with rectangular storefront openings; flat and round-headed openings on the front facade with double-hung 1-over-1 wooden sash windows.City Hall – 1890 – Second Empire architectural style1601 Douglas Street – 1912 – The Fairfield Block is a large, three story Commercial Style tan and cream-colored brick building prominently located on the northeast corner of Douglas and Cormorant Streets in the commercial core of downtown Victoria. This building is valued for its handsome Edwardian detailing, articulated by tan brickwork and cream-colored terracotta ornamentation, which reinforces the heritage character of the commercial streetscape of North Douglas Street. In partnership with nearby buildings of similar vintage such as the Hudson’s Bay Company Department Store (1914) and Hotel Douglas (1911), it is a good representation of the larger scale commercial buildings which transformed the City from a Victorian supply town to a modern Edwardian urban center. It has a prominent cornice, and grid-like fenestration pattern and paired double-hung wooden sash windows in the upper stories.1450 Douglas Street – Hotel Douglas is a five-story Edwardian Commercial Style brick building located on the southwest corner of Pandora and Douglas Streets in the commercial core of Victoria. Hotel Douglas (1911) is valued as an early Victoria hotel, representing the seasonal population of the city in the early twentieth century. Historically, this hotel has played a significant economic role in the urban commercial area, providing both short and long-term lodging for people attracted by Victoria’s tourist attractions, as well as for workers enroute to logging camps or fisheries. It is significant that this hotel continues to operate at its original function. The building is an excellent example of a modest hotel built in the period of economic prosperity prior to the First World War. The architecture is a solid representation of the Commercial Style, which was used extensively in western Canada in this time period and contributed to the ideal of the modern imperial city. the brick cladding, terracotta decorative elements, the grid-like fenestration pattern, and the substantial cornice with dental molding are some of its character-defining elements.508 Douglas Street – South Park School – Built 1893-94 with an annex added in 1914 – This is a two-story, symmetrical, brick, stone and wood building. The main roof is side gabled with two prominent front-gabled wings at either end, each with wide, very shallow bays. The rear of each wing is also gabled. Heavy wooden barge boards and gable screens accent the front gables. Corners of the wings and the bays have stone quoining. The central roof line is broken by a Dutch-gabled, through-the-roof wall dormer which sits on the balustraded flat roof of the first-floor entrance porch. There are three front entrances: the main central entrance has a small wooden porch clad in drop siding under a pedimented gable; the two doors at the extreme ends are separated from the central porch by pairs of windows; the end doors and windows have quoins, and are all segmentally arched with keystones. The basement has large segmentally-arched openings and rusticated masonry around all four sides. The entrance on the left side of the building has an open wooden porch with square, shaped posts with brackets, and plain and fretwork balusters. Two massive corbelled and ribbed chimneys rise from the front of the main slate roof; all the roofs have terracotta cresting and finials.924 Douglas Street – completed in 1890 – St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church is a landmark red-brick structure, located at the corner of Douglas and Broughton Streets in downtown Victoria. The Church is notable for its prominent corner tower, which is situated at a bend in Broughton Street. The church displays a number of distinctive features, including crow-stepped gables, a variety of projections and towers, corner tourelles, and a picturesque roof line. Three sets of double entry doors are set in round-arched openings. At the rear there is a curved two-story projecting bay.924 Douglas Street – The style of St. Andrew’s is the Scottish response to the Jacobethan Revival in nineteenth-century England, and was a popular style for Scottish country houses. Drawing on the characteristics of fortified medieval tower houses and castles in Scotland, the style employs such elements as battlements, tourelles, and conical roofs as a declaration of national identity. Polychrome red and black banding demonstrates an awareness of contemporary architectural trends in England. There are stained glass windows on the side and rear walls, including the large rose window.1314-1324 Broad Street – Duck’s Block is an excellent example of a large-scale Late Victorian commercial building. Constructed in 1892 for Simeon Duck, successful early local entrepreneur, MLA, and former Minister of Finance for British Columbia. This handsome Victorian building is a testament to the entrepreneurship of its original owner. Initially built as the home of Duck’s Carriage Works, and also used as retail outlets, entertainment venues, and early meeting rooms for the Knights of Pythias. This building is representative of the multi-functionality of Victoria’s commercial district in the late nineteenth century. Bold decoration and architectural solidity make Duck’s Block a dominant presence within Broad Street’s narrow streetscape. Bold Victorian detailing is seen in the arched windows on the uppermost story, the corbelled cornice detailing, and small triangular pediment above the cornice.The Maritime Museum of B.C. (MMBC) engages people with the maritime culture and history of the Pacific Northwest through rotating exhibits, educational and community-based programs, research services, and more. The Maritime Museum of British Columbia Society was registered in 1957 as a non-profit society. The Museum moved in 1963-64 to 28 Bastion Square in downtown Victoria. In 2015 the MMBC completed its relocation from its long-term home in Bastion Square to a Society Office in Nootka Court at 634 Humboldt St., with its collections being stored off-site in a climate-controlled facility. The Society Office houses exhibits that display artifacts from the collection, public research space, a gift shop, and staff offices.31 Bastion Square – The Board of Trade Building is a four-story office building located on the southern side of Bastion Square in the Old Town District. The building is a monument to the commitment of entrepreneurial order in the exuberant economy of late nineteenth century Victoria and British Columbia. Erected in 1892, it is a manifestation of the historic prominence and power of the British Columbia Board of Trade, which had administered local and provincial economic and commercial activities since its beginning as the Victoria Chamber of Commerce in 1863. The Board of Trade Building’s eclectic facade and imposing height contribute significantly to the heritage character of the Old Town District.31 Bastion Square – Designed by architect A. Maxwell Muir, the exterior decorative elements of this building illustrate the late nineteenth century tendency to portray grandeur and importance through the amalgamation of many styles of architecture such as High Victorian commercial design with decorative Romanesque elements, articulated by unique treatments of brick and stone work, and different fenestration patterns on each of the four stories; the symmetrical facade defined by bays and pilasters; the massive, rusticated sandstone base at the basement and first floor levels; the rounded archway entrance flanked by two Doric columns and stone carvings evocative of foliage; the unglazed terracotta used for decorative panels, low relief carving, and horizontal bands of floral ornament on the third floor and the fourth floor string course.501 Belleville Street – British Columbia Parliament or Legislative Buildings for the Colony of Vancouver Island were built in 1859 to the designs of German-born architect Herman Otto Tiedemann who created a series of five short brick and timber structures with low-pitched, bellcast roofs, reminiscent of Chinese pagodas, nicknamed the “Birdcagesâ€. The Parliament Buildings were built in two main stages, the first from 1893-98 and the second from 1911-16. The initial construction was a T-shaped building comprising the two arms of the facade and the legislative chamber in the stem to the rear. The later additions were an extension to the stem to house the Legislative Library, and two wings parallel to the stem. The style is an eclectic one that has been termed Late Victorian Free Style. The facade is laid out in what is called a Palladian tripartite plan of a central block joined to two outlying buildings by colonnades, a Renaissance motif. Typical of much of the detail on the buildings is the prominent entrance with its concentric receding round arches supported on small ornamental columns. This is characteristic of Romanesque Revival style, derived from early medieval Norman architecture. A whimsical feature is the comic faces incorporated into the grotesques on many upper-story ornamental columns. The foundation and steps were of Nelson Island granite, the roof of Jarvis Inlet slate, and the exterior of Haddington Island andesite, rendered to a natural rock finish; local Douglas fir timber was used extensively. Marble finished the interior walls, stairways and floors of the Legislature.Victoria Centennial Fountain – activated August 2, 1962 – British Columbia was formed from four British colonies and territories: The Crown Colony of Vancouver Island 1849; The Dependency of the Queen Charlotte Islands 1852; the Crown Colony of British Columbia 1858; the Stickeen Territory 1862.
