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.
1002 Wharf Street 1874 – The Malahat Building/Old Victoria Custom House was designated a national historic site in 1987 because: it is closely associated with Victoria when the city was the preeminent commercial center on Canada’s Pacific Coast; and it is a rare surviving example of a 19th-century Second Empire style federal building. As the customs house for Victoria from 1875 to 1899, the Malahat Building served the city’s import and export trade during a time when Victoria was the busiest center on the West coast. Mining licenses for the Klondike gold rush were administered here. Key elements which relate to the heritage value of the Malahat Building include its simple, centralized, block plan on a high basement; its three-story elevation, with a roof-top viewing deck; its three-bay facade with central entry; its Second Empire style, evident in the mansard roof, classicized decorative treatment, and hooded dormers; its restrained detailing, including a bracketed wood cornice, stone corner quoins, string courses, and cut-stone window and door trim with keystones; its solid brick construction on a stone basement; its broad view of the harbor.1107-1125 Wharf Street – The Rithet Building is a three-story brick commercial building located on the east side of Wharf Street, facing the Inner Harbour. Built in four stages between 1861 and 1889, the Rithet Building embodies the early evolution of the city, and illustrates how new technology supported the growth of Victoria from fur-trading post to thriving commercial center. Its most notable feature is the decorative cast iron columns at street level, and pedimented window hoods on the second story. The columns were made in San Francisco on the earliest portion of this building, and this reflects the burgeoning trade links with the United States along the west coast of North America. The caduceus symbol located above each cast iron column on the storefront is another notable feature.601 Toronto Street – William and Margaret Garnham built 601, 603 and 609 Toronto Street in 1891-92 as revenue property. This is a one-story, cross-gabled Queen Anne cottage with a hipped roof on the rear behind the two side-gabled box bays. There are sandwich brackets in the eaves around the house, under the flat roof of the angled bay under the front gable, and in the frieze of the front porch. The porch has a flat-topped, hipped roof and two chamfered, bracketed square posts. The round-arched barge boards in the gables, connected by gable posts with drop finials, have triangular appliques with circular cut outs. The porch roof and the three gables have fish-scale shingles, the house is clad in drop siding.609 Toronto Street Mansard House built 1891 – This house is a modest example of the Second Empire-style, distinguished by its mansard roof. There are three round-arched dormers in the mansard, two on the front and one towards the rear on the right side of the house. The mansard is shingled with a contrasting-colored band of fish scale shingles. There is a small iron balustrade on the flat-topped, hip-roofed, box bay window on the front facade. The front porch to the left side was enclosed in the 1970s. The roof of the bay and the porch also have fish scale shingles. The house was raised in 1932 to accommodate the full garage below; instead of the garage, there is now a basement-level suite. The mansard roof is now unique in James Bay, and one of only about four such residences in Victoria. Margaret Priscilla (Reed, b. Quebec City 1840-1918) and William Garnham (b. Suffolk, England 1830-1908) bought this piece of Beckley Farm in 1890. William and second wife, Margaret, came to BC in the mid-1890s, and farmed in the Colquitz area of Saanich.627-629 Toronto Street613 Avalon Street 1890 Rose Thorp is a 1½-story Queen Anne Cottage with a widow’s walk on its steeply hipped roof. It has a fretwork panel in the pedimented gabled dormer on the front; there are shingled, gabled dormers on the other three sides. A cutaway angled bay on the left front is crowned by a pedimented gable. Fish scale and diamond shingles in the gable frame a Moorish-arched, 22-paned window with pilastered casings. A box bay on the left side has a shallow hipped roof sitting on the main roof. A bracketed frieze below the eaves surrounds the house. Queen Anne stained glass borders many upper panes of the double-hung windows; the lower sashes are single-paned, the upper sashes have horns. The shallow, bell-cast, hip-roofed Eastlake entry porch on the right front has turned posts, ornate carved arches, and an unusual balustrade. The house is clad in drop siding and has two corbelled brick chimneys.619 Avalon Street 1891 – This is a two-story, hip-roofed, cubical Italianate house with a two-story angled bay window on the right front and a one-story entry porch on the left with chamfered square supports and a decked hipped roof. There is a more recent one-story square bay window with a hipped roof on the right side, and a small gabled wing at the rear. It has closed eaves with a frieze board on the sides and vertical and diagonal board panels in front, and elaborate carved brackets all around. Most windows are one-over-one sashes with horns. It is clad in drop siding. The quietly imposing home conveys the material success of Frederick Jackson, co-owner of a drugstore, and his stature in the community as a celebrated athlete in baseball and rowing.624 Avalon Street 1904 – This Edwardian Vernacular Arts & Crafts house was designed by Samuel Maclure. It is a characteristic 1½ story, steeply-pitched front-gabled house with a symmetrical upper story over an asymmetrical main floor. The front gable is separated from the main floor by a denticulated belt course. The main floor consists of a cutaway angled bay to the right of a recessed entry porch. The porch has three square chamfered posts and a closed balustrade. The house has a gabled full-height wing on the right side with a cutaway angled bay on the main floor; on the left side is a through-the-roof wall dormer with offset windows. Most of the windows on the house are six-over-one double-hung sashes with horns. The gables are shingled and the main floor is clad in beveled siding. There are two corbelled brick chimneys. Maclure designed this house to have only one finial in the front gable.634 Avalon Street 1890 Old Park Cottage was originally a one-story, hip-roofed Queen Anne Cottage; a large hip-roofed dormer was added on the left side in the 1980s. The house has a hip-roofed, angled, cutaway bay on the right front, and an original angled bay under the new dormer on the left side. The front door with stained-glass lights and transom window is sheltered by a small gable on brackets with a round-headed arch; the gable sits on the hip-roofed porch. The frieze is unusual in being coved and having a decorative metal trim along its lower border around the house. The house has one-over-one, double-hung windows, is clad in drop siding, and has a corbelled brick chimney. This house was built by carpenter/joiner John Nichols.146 Clarence Street 1883, 1896 – This two-story Italianate house has a low-pitched, multi-hipped roof which culminates in a square flat roof. Its wide eaves supported by sandwich brackets surround the house. The cornice and frieze are metal, as is the flared pent roof between the upper and lower angled bays on the front left wing of the house. Using metal instead of decorative wooden shingles on an 1880s Italianate is unusual. There is an angled bay towards the rear of the main floor on the left side. To the right of the front wing is a wide entry porch with bracketed, turned posts and a pilaster, under a shallow hipped roof. The right side of the porch formed the original extent of the house. The two-story 1896 addition to the right of the porch has wide, shallow, square bays on the main floor of the front and the right side of the house. There is a chunky, cantilevered second floor bay on the rear. The three main floor bays all have hipped roofs.132 South Turner Street 1890 This house is unique in a streetscape of largely intact turn-of-the-century homes running though James Bay, a peninsula on the southern edge of downtown Victoria. This one-and-a-half-story wood frame house is particularly notable for its ornate Queen Anne elements. The character-defining elements include: complex roof lines, with steep pitch and side-facing gables; steep front-facing gabled dormer containing balcony with turned supports matching verandah below; decorative verge-board ends with segmental arch, and gable top filled with curved extension of barge boards and half-timbering; Palladian window with rectangular central panel on front dormer balcony, with two sash windows; full-width front verandah wrapping around one side, with slim, turned supports; decorative brackets with triangular cut outs on porch columns, echoing applied blocks on top window and barge boards; large octagonal bay on south side, within verandah; tiny shed roof with fish-scale shingles over north window; corbelled brick chimneys with chamfered corners and stepped bases; drop siding, and decorative shingles; front garden and fence.570-572 Niagara Street 1908 – This is a two-story, bell cast-hip-roofed Edwardian Arts & Crafts house with widely spaced modillions in the eaves. The symmetrical upper front facade has a shallow, bracketed box bay with four double-hung windows; the lower is asymmetrical with a hip-roofed, cantilevered, angled bay on the left and side-facing steps leading to an inset open porch on the right with three chamfered square posts. The solid stepped balustrade of the stairs and the porch balustrade are covered in double-beveled siding. There are shallow box bays above cantilevered angled bay windows on each side of the house. The windows are all six-over-one with two diamond panes in the center of each upper sash; the muntins are wooden. The claddings are shingle on the upper floor and basement, with double-beveled siding on the main floor. There are two corbelled brick chimneys. The house is now duplexed.649 Superior Street Robert Porter House Bed and Breakfast – 1897 – This symmetrical, 1½-story, gable-on-hip-roofed house has bell cast, hip-roofed extensions on either side towards the rear. The gables have turned finials. On either side of the centrally-located open porch are wide, shallow box bays, each with a bell cast, hipped roof. The shallow-hip-roofed porch has three chamfered square posts on each corner which are connected by heavy brackets supporting wide, flat arches below the frieze. The front gable has half-timbering on cedar shingles, the body of the house and the porch balustrade are clad in drop siding, the stair balustrade has vertical V-joint Tongue and Groove.626 Blanshard Street 1876 – The Church of Our Lord is a Carpenter Gothic style wooden church with a separate annex called the Cridge Memorial Hall, located on the corner of Humbolt and Blanshard Streets. It is the oldest church in Victoria. Designed by architect John Teague, its simplistic vertical lines, steep gable roof, and board-and-batten siding distinguish it from the elaborate masonry churches nearby. The wood form of the Carpenter Gothic style is an excellent example of the adaptation of the classic Gothic style to suit local building materials. The Carpenter Gothic style elements which act as distinguishing features include the board-and-batten siding, vertical buttress piers, bell tower, rose window, and steep gable roof.1600-1602 Quadra Street built 1913 – This symmetrical, three-story, Classical Revival brick and concrete block edifice is dominated by its portico which is comprised of a modillioned, denticulated pediment above four cast concrete Ionic columns. The whole structure is raised a full story off the ground, and accessed by concrete block side-facing staircases on either side of a balustraded terrace. Three upper-floor, round-arched windows in the portico sit over pedimented entrances on the terrace. Slightly recessed, heavy corner blocks on either side of the portico continue around both sides of the building. All the windows on the upper floor are matching round-arched windows.1611 Quadra Street 1912 – This brick and stone church is a fine example of the Gothic Revival. Its picturesque asymmetry, steep copper spire, and window surrounds are details reminiscent of British architects of the Victorian era. It has a steeply-pitched, cross-gabled roof with parapeted gables; paired buttresses topped with tiers of stepped stone lead up to the front parapeted gable which sits high off the roof line. A small, five-sided bay with a conical roof is centrally located on the main gable below its windows. The eye is drawn to the slim, octagonal spire by tiers of paired, stepped, brick and stone buttresses on the square bell tower. The tower has two rows of large dentils above the vents for the bells. There are a multitude of Perpendicular Gothic arched windows with stone, quoined casings around the building. The southwest entrance has a steeply gabled roof; the north and south aisles have deep, shallower-pitched, shed roofs.612 David Street 1885, 1891 – This picturesque brick church sits on the prominent intersection of Gorge Rd and David St. The style is varied with both Gothic and Romanesque elements, reflecting the two stages of design and construction. The gable to the right of the square tower is the original 1885 building, with its date stone in the gable above three Gothic windows which echo the lower ones. The main roof on the later 1891 building has an octagonal lantern with a row of arched windows to light the interior. The square tower has a denticulated cornice and elaborate parapet with an obelisk at each corner. The main entrance on Gorge Road, with its triple arches in heavily rusticated sandstone, is Romanesque; a low curved tower with conical roof is located to the left and a higher square tower to the right. There are many arched windows, often in groups of three, some two stories high. The gables of the main facade have geometric decoration in the upper areas.Hatley Castle is on the grounds of Hatley Park and Royal Roads University in Victoria, Vancouver Island, British Columbia at 2005 Sooke Road. James Dunsmuir commissioned Samuel Maclure, a Victorian architect, to design the Hatley House Castle, and Messrs. Brett and Hall, landscape artists of Boston, Massachusetts, to plan the gardens and surroundings. Local stone, trimmed by Valdez and Saturna Island sandstone was used in the building’s construction. Its impressive exterior is matched only by the lavishness of the interior appointments; oak and rosewood paneled rooms, baronial fireplace, teak floors, and specially made lighting fixtures. The building is 200 feet long and 86 feet wide; the turret is 82 feet high. The wall surrounding the estate was also built of local stone and cost over $75,000; the Conservatory, costing a like amount, was at one time filled with white orchids imported from India; a large banana tree grew in the center under the dome. The rooms of the house were filled with flowers from the Conservatory throughout the year. Ten kilometers of road interlaced the estate, and a hundred men were employed in the gardens. There were a number of other buildings on the estate to provide for the needs of the large household, but many of these have now been demolished. The Castle was completed in 1908, and the Dunsmuir family took up residence in that year.St. Ann’s Academy is a testament to the dedication of the Sisters of St. Ann who were integral to the beginnings of education and healthcare in British Columbia. Built between 1871 and 1910, as a school and convent. Now a national historic site owned by the Ministry Citizens’ Services, St. Ann’s remains one of Victoria’s premier landmarks surrounded by heritage gardens and greenspace to provide an oasis in the center of the Capital city. Once Victoria’s first Roman Catholic Cathedral, it was built in 1858 and moved and added to the school in 1886. Like the many rural French-Canadian churches, it is modeled after, it has ornate altar and ceiling carvings, gold-leaf detailing, original oil paintings, stained glass windows and a 1913 Casavant pipe organ. The resplendent Novitiate garden at the side entrance to the Chapel has a geometric herb bed, perennials and a recreated 1925 summerhouse. The 1910 formal garden at the north-west corner of the property contains rare trees and the remains of a unique fountain. The Public Works Department of the BC government purchased the building from the Sisters of St. Ann in 1974. A portion of the building (the Interpretive Centre) was restored to a 1920’s appearance while the majority of the building was converted into modern office space. The Ministry of Advanced Education leases the office space while the Ministry of Technology, Innovation and Citizens’ Services operates the Interpretive Center, celebrating the history of this important landmark. The restored 1910 auditorium has also been restored and, along with 6 acres of grounds, is also available for public use.867 Humboldt Street – 1893 – Humboldt House is one of Victoria’s Historic Inns, has themed rooms — from “Edward’s Roomâ€, to the “Gazebo Roomâ€, and the “Oriental Roomâ€. Antique furnishings, wood-burning fireplaces, framed jade art pieces, and wooden shutters set a very Victorian tone while the Jacuzzi tub, king sized bed and free Wi-Fi provide some modern elements.
