Italianate, 1850-1900 – A two story rectangular building with a mild hip roof, a projecting frontispiece, and generous eaves with ornate cornice brackets was the basis of the style; often there are large sash windows, quoins, ornate detailing on the windows, belvederes and wraparound verandahs. Italianate commercial buildings often have cast iron cresting and elegant window surrounds.
Acton – 39 Willow Street – Knox Manse established 1889 – Italianate with two-and-a-half story tower-like bay, pediment above pillared porch, fretwork and verge board on gableAjax – 497 Kingston Road West, Historic Pickering Village – 1870 – purchased in 1882 by Dr. Field for his daughter. Dr. Field was a practicing physician in Pickering Village and later built his own home directly east of this property. In 1929, Emerson & Henrietta Bertrand purchased the home and raised Allan Irwin. The family gave up the homestead in 1934, only to have it reclaimed in 1977 by their grandson, B. B. Bertrand (son of Allan). The building is a 2½ story brick structure in Italianate architecture.Ancaster – 311 Wilson Street East – Italianate, belvedere, paired cornice bracketsAylmer – 375 Talbot Street West – Italianate, cornice brackets, two-story tower-like bays, balcony on second floorCaledonia – 201 Argyle Street – Italianate, hipped roof, dormer in attic, corner quoins, keystones and voussoirs, dichromatic brickwork, dentil molding under cornice, paired bracketsCheltenham – 14396 Creditview Road – Henry’s Hotel – circa 1887 – William Henry’s pre-1859 Inn was destroyed in the 1887 fire. He rebuilt, replacing the Inn with this two-story Georgian style frame building with hip roof and brick veneer. He named it ‘Henry’s Hotel’ operating it until his death in 1904. Thomas and Nathaniel Browne took it over as ‘Browne’s Hotel’. It was later a butcher shop with home above. In 1958 it was adapted to commercial/apartment use.Cobourg Book 3 – 110 Ontario Street – 1878 – “Illahee Lodge†– Italianate – built by John Jeffrey, hardware merchant – bay windows, front porch crowned with intricate wrought iron railingCollingwood – 199 Third Street – Built in the Italianate tradition for the Toner family, early coal and lumber merchants, this home has retained its elegance with minor alterations since 1882. The interior of the home features a circular staircase, marble fireplaces, plaster medallions and a built-in buffet. The exterior brick work laid in the common bond tradition is highlighted by protruding quoins and plinth in lighter contrasting brick. Decorative brick work adorns the original chimney as well as highlighting the window openings. Brick arch work and keystones decorate the window surrounds in a unique three-tiered stepped arch design. The main front facade contains unique, French doors with recessed mullion and molded panels. The home has a heavily bracketed low hip roof with an east side gable featuring a combination of corniced boxed brackets.Dundas Book 1 – King Street – Italianate architectureElora – 120 Mill Street East – Drew House – Italianate style – dormers in attic, single cornice brackets, wraparound verandah with bric-a-bracErin – 213 Main Street – Italianate – built A.D. 1891 – hipped roof, paired cornice brackets, iron cresting above bay window, dichromatic brickworkFergus – 150 Union Street – Robert Phillips, Druggist c. 1883 – Italianate, hipped roof, corner quoins, two-story tower-like bayFisherville Book – Selkirk – 15 Erie Street North – Italianate, hipped roof, cornice brackets, quoins, bandingFort Erie – 348 Ridge Road NorthGoderich – 65 Montreal Street – The “Garrow House†was built around 1850 and was the residence of James Thompson Garrow who later became Supreme Court Judge and local Judge of the Canadian Exchequer Court. It is in the Italianate style with unusual bracketing, a two-story veranda, large front windows and two end chimneys, a central Palladian window and decorative stone lintels and keystones.Grafton Bolton Book – Bolton – 31 Nancy Street – *George Smith House – circa 1877 – This Italianate style home was built by George Watson for Margaret and George Smith. The red and yellow bricks were locally made and its exterior architectural features and beautiful enclosed porches are original. Smith, a sign painter and letterer, sat on the first village Council and was noted for his very realistic interior faux-wood graining. Erie Smith Schaefer inherited the house in 1933, living here with her husband Alex of ‘Smith & Schaefer’ Hardware. This dichromatic brick house is in the Italianate style. The orientation of the ‘L’ plan with the enclosed verandah along the south is distinctive. The bracketed eaves, segmentally arched windows and low medium pitch hipped roof are all typical of the Italianate.Grimsby – 390 Main Street West – names for the house are Smith-Geddes House, Thornfield Hall, The Stone House – The two-and-a-half-story stone building was constructed between 1876 and 1878. The Smith-Geddes House was built on a flat area of land amidst orchards of peach and cherry trees. The rural location, close to Lake Ontario to the northeast and the Niagara escarpment to the southwest, creates a unique natural setting. This house is an important example of a high-Victorian country house in the Italianate architectural style rendered in a vernacular form. The stone house has a five-bay facade with a projecting frontispiece, containing the main entrance of wood paneled doors, a transom of colored glass and the etched initials of John Henry Smith. Paired round-headed windows above the center door and a smaller pair on the third floor are under a projecting gable, with a carved-wood verge board. The hip, patterned-slate roof has corniced edges of wood brackets, supporting the soffit. Four chimneys of quarry-faced stone, laid in random ashlar, project from each corner of the house and are decorated with pediment moldings along the stacks. The two flanking bays of the main facade have pairs of square-headed windows on the first floor and segmented arches on the second. The stone work is quarry-faced ashlar with projecting rusticated quoins and window surrounds. A projecting wing on the west side is capped with a gable. A wide bay window with a gable roof projects from the east side. The interior is laid out in a center-hall plan with an ornate wood staircase. The interior woodwork is walnut and oak, with carved mantels in both the east parlor and the dining room. The hallway and stairs are paneled in cherry. The wood windows have louvered shutters that fold into reveals matching the paneling of the windows and detailed baseboards are found throughout. The hall, east parlor and dining room have plaster moldings and plaster ceiling medallions. Elaborate cast-iron grills surround the radiators in each of the rooms. The original porch has been removed and a number of small additions have been made to the rear of the house, including a fire escape.Ingersoll Book 1 – 291-293 Oxford Street – This home was built around 1880 and illustrates the typical broad bracketed eaves of the Italianate style. Fred J. Stone was one of the earliest occupants of this yellow brick house. He joined Wm. Stones Sons Ltd. in 1907 as manager of the Ingersoll branch. The operation started as a hide and wool business but soon developed into a fertilizer plant, later expanding to make livestock feed concentrates. In the 1920s, it passed into the possession of W.A.C. Forman, a family relative. At this time the house was divided to accommodate two units. His father owned the “FAIR”, a store at 126 Thames St. South which sold dry goods and household furnishings and utensils. It has a hipped roof, paired cornice brackets, and corner quoins.Kingsville Book 1 – 86 Division Street South – 2-story brick house built in 1882 in the Italianate style, hipped roof, paired cornice brackets, dormer, cut field stone foundation, three large brick chimneysListowel – 185 Binning Street West – Italianate with two-and-a-half story tower-like bay, paired cornice brackets, balcony on second floor, cornice return on gable, built in 1872London – Italianate style with two-and-a-half story tower-like bay, pediment above verandahLucknow Book – Mitchell – Italianate, cornice brackets, fretwork, decorative pillars on porch and pediment, 2½ story tower-like bayNew Hamburg Book 1 – 145 Peel Street – Italianate with two-and-a-half story tower-like bay, wraparound verandah, decorative window voussoirs and keystones, single cornice bracketsNorth Bay – 374 Fraser Street – Angus Block – 1914 – This building is noted for its parapet at the roof line and for its highly distinctive white stone window surrounds consisting of stepped lintels, quoined jambs and flat sills. Other notable features include the toothed heading of the in-stepped brick facing and bracketed canopy over the third-floor paired openings. The date stone indicates that H.W. Angus, an early architect in North Bay, was responsible for its design and erection.Orangeville Book 1 – 11 Little York Street – Italianate – buff-colored brick banding and keystones and voussoirs, paired cornice bracketsOttawa Book 2 – 44-50 Sparks Street at corner of Elgin – Scottish Ontario Chambers – Italianate design – four-story brick building with a high ground floor, balanced facade, decorative multi-colored masonry, radiated voussoirs of multicolored brick, fenestration (the arrangement, design and proportioning of windows and doors), roof line with heavy bracketing and decorated cornicePetrolia – 416 Warren Avenue – Italianate, hipped roof, cornice brackets, bric-a-brac on verandahPort Colborne Book 1 – 322 King Street – Ingleside – It was built in 1867 for Charles H. Carter and occupied by the Carter family for 118 years, including Port Colborne’s first mayor, Dewitt Carter. The two-story structure has projecting eaves supported by paired cornice brackets and corner quoins in dichromatic brick characteristic of Italianate architecture. Its rectangular plan with projecting frontispiece and hipped roof indicate it is a version of a house plan popularized by the magazine “The Canada Farmer†in 1865. The grounds are surrounded by a locally produced cast iron fence.Shelburne Administration, Grace Tipling Hall, Police Station – corner of Main Street East and Victoria Street – Italianate style, paired cornice brackets, dichromatic brickwork, three-story tower with cap and cupolaSimcoe – 94 Norfolk Street – Italianate style with two-and-a-half story tower-like bay topped with a cupola with iron cresting on top; decorative voussoirs and keystonesWelland Book 1 – 221 Division Street – McCollum-Harcourt House – late 1870s – 2½ story stuccoed house, Italianate style – open verandah supported by wooden columns, double eave brackets, lacy verge board under central peak above a double semi-circular windowWest Flamborough – Concession 2 – cornice brackets, corner quoinsWindsor Book 3 – 3203 Peter Street – cornice brackets, decorative window hoods, ornate porch, dormerWoodstock Book 2 – 40 Wellington Street South – c. 1874 – Italianate – L shape, two-story, buff brick with decorative quoins, trunked hip roof, large verandah with pediment above steps, Doric columns are supported on wood pedestals and turned balusters
Second Empire, 1860-1880 – The mansard roof is the most noteworthy feature of this style and is evidence of the French origins. Projecting central towers and one or two-story bays can also be present.
Aylmer Book 1 – 445 Talbot Street West – mansard roof, iron cresting, window hoods on dormersBelleville Book 3 – 257 Bridge Street East, The Phillips-Burrows-Faulknor House – Glanmore National Historic Site – Harriet Phillips inherited this property from George Bleecker, her grandfather. Glanmore reflects the tastes of the well-to-do in late nineteenth century Canada. The grand house, built by local architect Thomas Hanley, was built in 1882-1883 for wealthy banker John Philpot Curran Phillips and his wife Harriet Ann Dougall, the daughter of Belleville’s Judge Benjamin Dougall. It is in the Second Empire style with mansard roof with elaborate cornices and brackets, dormer windows, iron cresting, a built-in gutter system, and multi-colored slate. The 9,000 square foot home cost $7,000 to build in 1883. The impressive suspended walnut staircase cost $62.50.Brockville – 181 King Street East – Gill House – 1878 additions of roof and wings – mansard roof, dormers, window hoods with keystones, iron cresting around rooftop balcony, central tower, bay windowsGoderich – 20 Wellington Street South – The “Strachan House†was built by Adam McVicar, builder of the lighthouse, in 1880. A schooner brought 40,000 bricks to Goderich to construct this mansion for Donald Strachan, a prominent businessman. The Second Empire house features a mansard roof of patterned slate, and a tower crowned with iron cresting, and intricately molded window headings.Guelph Book 1 – Second Empire style – mansard roof, trichromatic tile work, window hoods on dormers, cornice bracketsFisherville, Nanticoke, Selkirk Book – 27 Erie Street South, Selkirk – James Cooper built this house in 1870. In 1878 he sold it to George Hoover. The frame house has irregular massing and is in the Second Empire style. It has an over-sized horseshoe dormer with barge board and finial, elaborate window molds with pediments. The three-story tower has four dormers in the mansard roof. The Fess family purchased it in 1947.Cornwall – 36 Fourth Street West – St. Columban’s Rectory – Second Empire domestic architecture with mansard roof and detailing; window hood, trim on gable, bay window, cornice brackets; open railing on porch and wraparound verandahEden Mills Book – Grand Central Hotel, Hillsburgh – 1880s – originally it was a carriage works, transformed into a hotel, served as a bank since the early 1900s – Second Empire – mansard roof with dormers, corner quoins, paired cornice bracketsHamilton Book 1 – 163 Jackson Street West was built for pharmacist/entrepreneur Tristram Bickle c. 1850 – Second Empire style, mansard roof, dichromatic tile work; ionic capitals on pillars, cornice brackets, corner quoins. Bishop T.B. Fuller moved here in 1884. From 1892 to 1932, Southam newspapers owner William Southam lived here. In 1954, Ken Soble launched CHCH TV here.Hamilton Book 3 – Mansard-roofed three-story tower – Frederick William Fearman was the son of a shoemaker who emigrated from England in 1833 with his parents at the age of eight. He started his business with a store selling smoked and salted meats on Hughson Street between King and King William, moved to a MacNab Street North location near the farmers’ market, and eventually expanded to become W. Fearman Packing Company Limited, with a large factory at Rebecca Street and Ferguson Avenue on the Grand Trunk Railway line. The company slaughtered, hung, salted, smoked and canned pork, beef, veal and lamb for shipment around the world. Fearman built his mansion, “Ivey Lodgeâ€, at 90 Stinson Street in 1863. It is three-story, limestone block with a Mansard-roofed tower as its front entrance; it has bay and arched windows, dormers, verge board trim, and a green metal roof.Jarvis – 45 Talbot Street – Second Empire style – mansard roof, dormers in roof, single cornice brackets, cornice return on small gables on window dormersKingston Book 1 – 85 King Street East – 1877 – three story Victorian Second Empire style stone mansion – mansard roof, dormers, verandah, bay windowsKingston Book 5 – 116 Bagot Street – Second Empire, Mansard roof with dormers and window hoods, second floor balcony, bay windows, cornice brackets, dentil molding, pillared entranceKingsville Book 1 – 76 Main Street East – Annabelle’s Tea House and Restaurant – Built in 1859 – Second Empire style – dormers with window hoods in mansard roof, paired cornice brackets. Anna Belle Miriah Brien Evans was Susanne’s grandmother, for whom tea was an essential part of her day. Tea time for her grandma was an institution. At 4 o’clock on a regular basis, she would proceed to the kitchen as if reminded by an internal clock. Susanne would get the small china tea set and set the table by the window in the dining room. There, as the sunlight streamed in, they would sip tea, have a biscuit, or two, and talk about the day. These are childhood memories that Susanne cherishes. In her honor, she created a place for people to spend time together and perhaps create lovely memories of their own. Tea time has a way of making an ordinary day an occasion.Listowel – 469 Main Street West – Second Empire style, Mansard roof, dormers with window hoods, built of Wallace brick – was once on edge of town and operated as the Last Chance Hotel – last chance for a drink before leaving townMidland Book 1 – 213-219 King Street – Second Empire – mansard roof, dormers, dichromatic brickworkMorrisburg – 31 Lakeshore Drive – Second Empire style – projecting central tower, concave mansard roof, dormers; has eighteen stained glass windows, each with a different color schemeNiagara-on-the-Lake Book 1 – 6 Picton Street – The Prince of Wales Hotel established 1864 – Second Empire style, mansard roof, dormers, window hoods, dichromatic brickwork, cornice brackets, second floor balconyOrangeville Book 1 – 16-18 Wellington Street – King House c. 1888 – Second Empire style – large brick house, mansard roof, ornamental ironworkOrillia – #84 – E.J. McCrohan, Harness Maker c. 1880 – Second Empire style, mansard roof, iron cresting around roof, finials on dormers, second floor balcony, corner quoinsOttawa Book 1 – Wellington Street – Langevin Block – is an office building facing Parliament Hill. As the home of the Privy Council Office and Office of the Prime Minister, it is the working headquarters of the executive branch of the Canadian government. The building is named after a Father of Confederation and cabinet minister Hector Langevin. Built of sandstone from a New Brunswick quarry between 1884 and 1889 – Second Empire style – Mansard roof, dormers, grotesque sculptures (fantastic or mythical figures used for decorative purposes)Paris Book 3 – 87 Willow Street – Second Empire style – mansard roof, tall windows, dormersPerth – 26 Drummond Street West – Second Empire – mansard roof, dormers with window hoods, tower, voussoirs and keystones, turned veranda roof supports with decorative capitalsPort Perry – Corner of Water and Queen Streets – In 1840 Peter Perry purchased forty acres in downtown Port Perry and in 1844 he built a frame building which house a store, trading post, and a home for his agent, Chester Draper. Immediately after Perry’s death is 1851, the property was bought by Mason and Phillips who turned it into a hotel. Henry Charles purchased it in 1867. The present yellow building was built after the fire of 1884. The hotel had thirty rooms including a dining room and at the street level were two stores including a sample room where salesmen could display their wares. They named it the St. Charles Hotel after Henry Charles.Simcoe – 217 Colborne Street – Second Empire style – mansard roof, dichromatic tile workSt. Catharines Book 5 – 15 Welland Avenue – Second Empire – mansard roof with dormers with window hoods, three-story tower, pediment, cornice brackets, voussoirs and keystonesSt. Marys Book 1 – 236 Jones Street East – Ercildoune was originally built as a wedding gift to George Carter’s daughter Charlotte when she married Henry Lincoln Rice in 1880. The home is built in the Second Empire style, a very rare style of home in St. Marys.Stouffville Book 1 – Main Street – Second Empire style – mansard roof, dormers with window hoodsWaterdown – 299 Dundas Street – Second Empire style, mansard roof, dormers in roof, cornice brackets, two-story tower-like baysWingham – Town Hall A.D. 1890 – Mansard roof, dormers, cornice bracketsWoodstock Book 1 – 126 Graham Street – c. 1860 – Second Empire – symmetrical three-story white brick, mansard roof, dentils, decorative cornice with large brackets, two-story bay windows flank entrance, decorated cut stone lintels, rough faced stone lintels second floor, dormers have decorative wooden frames, large front door is flanked by transom and side lights, an open portico protects the entrance – now Park Place Retirement CentrePeterborough Book 1 – 359 Downie Street – Second Empire style, mansard roof, window hoods, 2 story bay windows
Queen Anne, 1885-1900 – This style is distinguished by an irregular outline featuring a combination of an offset tower, broad gables, projecting two-story bays, verandahs, multi-sloped roofs, and tall, decorative chimneys. A mixture of brick and wood is common. Windows often have one large single-paned bottom sash and small panes in the upper sash.
Amherstburg Book 1 – 199 Dalhousie Street – Bondy House Bed and Breakfast – Century old Victorian Queen Anne home, turret called “Widow’s Walk†for a great view, trichromatic sidingBrockville – 12 Victoria Avenue – tower, iron cresting; stone keystones and banding; verge board trim, finials; bay windows; veranda with Doric columnsGrafton and Bolton Book – 6012 King Road, Nobleton – Hambly House – c. 1884 – It was originally built of logs but was rebuilt after a fire at the corner of Highway 27 and King Road.Niagara Falls Book 1 – 5982 Culp Street – Francis Sherriff and Thomas Bright started the Niagara Falls Wine Company (Brights Wines) in Toronto in 1874. They moved to Niagara Falls in 1890 to be closer to their major source of grapes. This house was built for Francis Sherriff in 1894 for a cost of $4000.00. It is in the Queen Anne Revival style with an asymmetrical form, deep porch, and an irregular roof line which includes gables, dormers and a turret. The house exterior is brick with decorative cedar shingles on the turret and in the gables. The three-part window in the front gable is an adaptation of the Palladian style; the central section has a round headed window. The large wraparound porch has Tuscan style columns that rest on a brick base topped with a square stone cap.Tillsonburg – 38 Ridout Street West – Casa di Luca Restaurant – This two and a half story house was built in 1870 as the manse for the adjacent United Church. The front facade has gingerbread in the gable, small dentil trim under the eaves, and rough stone window surrounds; two-story turret with a cone-shaped roof.Cambridge – Galt Book 1 – 22 Lansdowne Road North – verge board trim on gable, dichromatic brickwork, cornice brackets on bay windowEden Mills Book – Eramosa – turretFort Erie Book – Ridgeway – 348 Ridge Road NorthHamilton Book 5 – 252 James Street South – turretKemptville – 220-222 Prescott Street – de Pencier House – 1897- brick – tower, turret, iron crestingKingston Book 1 – 95 King Street East – Hendry House – 1886 – high Victorian house in Queen Anne style – asymmetrical design, variety of roof heights and construction materials; terracotta (hard kiln-fired clay) panels; third floor sleeping porch, turret; dichromatic tile workNiagara on Lake Book 2 – 177 King Street – The Romance Collection Gallery featuring the exclusive works of Trisha Romance and Tanya Jean PetersonOakville – 43 Dunn Street – towers, bay windows, balcony on second floor, cornice brackets – Cecil Marlatt’s estateOttawa Book 2 – 252 Metcalfe Street – Queen Anne Revival – built by lumber baron John R. Booth 1906-1909 – elaborately shaped gables, ornate stone molding, intersecting ridges of the roofPenetanguishene – 83 Fox Street – 1885 – home of Charles Beck and Amelia Dalms who had nine children (6 boys, 3 girls) – fretwork, turret, dormer, second-floor balcony, string courses wrap around the house; unique shape of window in gablePetrolia – 411 Greenfield Street – Town of Petrolia Municipal Offices – rose windowsPort Colborne Book 1 – 326 Catharine Street – The Harvie House built in 1900, it is a typical Queen Anne Revival style home and has a wraparound verandah with offset circular tower, two types of siding and a pyramidal roof. The house takes its name from the Harvie family who owned it from 1911 to 1951.Sarnia Book 1 – 127 Christina Street South – Lawrence Family mansion – Mr. Lawrence was a lumberman – 1892Simcoe – 364 Colborne Street – old castle – four-story tower with iron cresting on top; iron cresting above ground floor bay window, elaborate cornice bracketsSt. Marys Book 1 – 163 Church Street South – turret, dentil molding, dichromatic tile work, wraparound verandahSt. Thomas – 1 Wellington Street, St. Thomas – built 1878 (McLachlin House) – turrets, scroll work, bracketing, dormersTown of Lincoln Book – 5600 King Street West, Beamsville – The property was a Crown Grant of 52 acres to a loyalist from New Jersey named William W. Kitchen around 1790. He married Alice Beam and they had nine children. William and Alice’s youngest son, Jacob married Jane Dennis. Their only son, William Dennis Kitchen married Margaret Henry and built the house in 1885 on the bench of the escarpment, just west of the Thirty Mile Creek. The house was built with red bricks. The turret has square and rounded cedar shingles, topped with a finial. There are two tall corbeled chimneys, and a hipped roof with a flat belvedere. The gables have carved fretwork brackets and barge board. The tall bay windows are topped with segmental arches and decorative keystones. The front porch has an overhead balcony, and like the side porches, features turned posts, balustrades, spandrels and brackets. From 1999 to 2009, the house was owned and restored by Norman and Sherry Beal, who transformed the property into an estate winery. In 2009 Wendy Midgley and her husband Chef Ross Midgley purchased the Kitchen House and the Coach House from the Beals.Waterdown – 289 Dundas StreetWaterford – 3½ story towerWelland Book 1 – 24 Burgar Street – The Glasgow-Fortner House – 1859 – now Rinderlins Dining RoomsWhitby Book 1 – 404 Dunlop Street West – c. 1888-89 – Queen Anne Revival style – asymmetrical design – built for George Ross – Mrs. Ross was president of Whitby Women’s Institute and founder of the Victorian Order of Nurses in Ontario County.Windsor Book 2 – 694 Victoria Avenue – Queen Anne Revival style with Romanesque influence, 1890-95; cone-capped turret, cyclopean stone detail (stone construction marked by the use of large irregular blocks without mortar), ornamental terracotta insetWingham – turret, fretwork, voussoirs, keystonesWoodstock Book 2 – 36 Wellington Street North – c. 1854 -Queen Anne – full two-story with attic, red brick, gable roof, two hip roofs with dormers, two-story bay window with gable roof, verge board with pendant posts and large brackets, porch and balcony have turned posts, spindles, lattice and bric-a-brac, string course is patterned brickwork, six-sided two-story tower with steep hip roof topped with finial, paired post support gable roof side porchSt. Catharines Book 4 – 1 Montebello Place – varied roof line, turret, wraparound veranda on two levels, Palladian windows in gables, dormers
Victoria’s most distinct neighborhood geographically is James Bay, a peninsula with Beacon Hill Park on the east, the Inner Harbour on the north, Outer Harbour on the west and Strait of Juan de Fuca on the south. Compared with other neighborhoods in Victoria, James Bay is relatively flat, but undulates gently. The soil is predominantly deep loam except for a few outcrops of bedrock on the shoreline. Its only prominent watercourse was Providence Pond (near the corner of Oswego Street and Superior Street), a swampy lake emptied by a stream that flowed into Major Bay (where Fisherman’s Wharf Park is now).
British Columbia stands at the edge of a continent. Facing the world’s largest ocean, it is a province in continual transformation. The landscape has a natural diversity. British Columbia has deserts, alpine meadows, and coastal rain forests. It is the most biologically diverse province in Canada. Change is the only constant in B.C.’s natural history: A rain forest where a glacier once stood, a grassland that used to be a jungle.
North Park is one of Victoria’s oldest residential neighborhoods, and maintains its historical character of a diverse mixed-use community, bounded by Bay, Blanshard, Cook, and Pandora Streets. This is Victoria’s second smallest neighborhood, after Harris Green, at one square kilometer or about eighteen blocks. It is primarily a residential community, grounded by businesses, recreational facilities, and religious landmarks.
