722 replies to this topic

[aastra]

We talked about this block of Government Street in another thread re: the history of its demolitions and renovations. One thing is for sure: Victoria's old town is like a living museum, it's been so well preserved*.

 

*methinks Victoria's old town would be an even better example of preservation if some of those fine old buildings were actually still there

 

pic from https://search-bcarc...lbcmuseum.bc.ca

 

pic from https://search-bcarc...lbcmuseum.bc.ca

 

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pic from https://search-bcarc...lbcmuseum.bc.ca

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Edited by aastra, 26 June 2023 - 11:05 AM.

[Rob Randall]

You can see the Dixi H. Ross store in that second photo. The store that sold Aunt Jemima pancake mix in 1897. That's the building we figure is where the former Gap store building is today.

[aastra]

Speaking of buildings lost to fires, Government Street between View and Fort in better days:

 

 

pic from https://search-bcarc...lbcmuseum.bc.ca

 

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Looking west through the ruins from Broad Street toward Government Street:

 

pic from https://search-bcarc...lbcmuseum.bc.ca

 

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Looking northeast over the ruins toward the now long gone Driard Hotel and the now long gone Colonist Building (with the now long gone Wilson Hotel in the background):

 

pic from https://search-bcarc...lbcmuseum.bc.ca

Edited by aastra, 06 October 2021 - 07:43 PM.

[aastra]

Government at Broughton (also check it out in this old tourist film at around 1:46):

 

 

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pic from https://search-bcarc...lbcmuseum.bc.ca

Edited by aastra, 21 December 2020 - 01:10 PM.

[Hotel Mike]

There is a poor old soul begging for money on the street. Some things don't change.

[Nparker]

The CoV would never allow a sign that read 'BC LAND INVESTMENT AGENCY" today, since no one should be allowed to own land.

[Rob Randall]

That photo was taken the week of May 4, 1947 by the Norman Rockwell Post cover at the bottom of the newsstand.

 

https://www.saturday...ues/1947-05-03/

[aastra]

"Bunkhouse Bill":

 

 

Daily Colonist
July 7, 1954

All Aboard

Bunkhouse Bill has always been a silent man. He stands outside a Government Street newsstand, day after day, reading a copy of Robert E. Swanson's "Bunkhouse Ballads." But he never says a word -- which is not surprising, since old Bill is made of wood. A saw-filer in a logging camp whittled him out of a chunk of cedar.

Tourists like to stop and read over his shoulder, or take one another's pictures with an arm around old Bill.

Lately they have been greeted by a hoarse voice rumbling from the wooden logger's insides. Their surprise is comical to see.

The fact is that Bill has been wired for sound. Proprietor Bob Holker looks in a mirror to see people approaching Bill, and speaks into a microphone behind the counter.

 

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Daily Colonist
July 7, 1955

Seen in Passing

Tom Matthews, partner in the Palace News Stand with brother Ted, lamenting the passing of the wooden Indian (But he stuck a cigar in the mouth of Bunkhouse Bill, the figure that adorns his frontage, and observed: "He serves the same purpose." Tom and Ted have been at their 920 Government street spot for 15 years.

[Hotel Mike]

Thanks for that aastra.

[aastra]

 

Merchants Bank (1907, 1945)

When Francis Mawson Rattenbury submitted his plans for the "Merchants Bank" in May, 1907, it was Victoria's most expensive building in proportion to its size...
 

A Moderne Classical addition to the north elevation was designed by the Vancouver firm of C.J. Thompson in 1945 for the Bank of Montreal... (aastra says: and a fine old building on Yates was wiped out to make way for that plain 1945 addition)

(from "Exploring Victoria's Architecture" by Martin Segger and Douglas Franklin)

 

pic from https://search-bcarc...street-victoria

 

 

*****

Edited by aastra, 06 October 2021 - 07:51 PM.

[aastra]

^One of the very first attempts to tidy up the supposed visual chaos of the old downtown by inserting a measure of un-engaging plainness?

 

The following is from the narration of the film "A Townscape Eradicated Rediscovered":

 

 

...the chaos of advertising signs, the dreariness of endless blacktop.

There was congestion, confusion, ugliness.

 

Standards of appearance... to bring order out of visual chaos...

[aastra]

 

^One of the very first attempts to tidy up the supposed visual chaos of the old downtown by inserting a measure of un-engaging plainness?

 

Actually, no. This is not right. Methinks this addition to the 1907 building was just another installment re: the severe modern banking architecture that was replacing older stuff along Yates (1922 Bank of Nova Scotia across Yates to the north; 1938 Dominion Bank across Douglas to the west; 1947 Imperial Bank still to come a couple of blocks west on Yates).

[Rob Randall]

It was the era of the streamline, simplified lines, Frank Lloyd-Wright's Guggenheim -- a building with bay windows and gingerbread was as outdated as a car with gas-lantern headlights and a hand crank.

 

And that so called cluttered architecture was unfairly linked with urban problems of crime and poverty.

Edited by Rob Randall, 02 November 2020 - 09:55 AM.

[Rob Randall]

All that mid-century banking architecture was a mix of Art Moderne and Neoclassicism. At its best you got some cool Deco designs. At its worst it's Albert Speer territory. 

[aastra]

Yeah, I'm sure it was ultimately the same overall notions at work for a few decades there, but with specific reference to the banks they seemed to be ahead of the game. Or maybe even driving it. Who knows.

[aastra]

Nothing great is long gone in this pic, except for maybe a nice tree:

 

pic from https://archives.vic...et-looking-east

Edited by aastra, 05 November 2020 - 09:21 PM.

[Victoria Watcher]

^ i don't really ever recall seeing christ church way up there - from that view.  that ivy-covered building is still there.

Edited by Victoria Watcher, 06 November 2020 - 05:30 AM.

[aastra]

 

 

^ i don't really ever recall seeing christ church way up there

 

Not surprising. Considering the average age of the forumers on this board, I think most would be lucky to see vague light and shadow.

[aastra]

Victoria has so many examples of fine old buildings that were lost, but here's a great example of a fine old building that was eventually saved:

 

 

pic from https://archives.vic...ouse-restaurant

[aastra]

Gonzales Beach in the 1930s:

 

 

pic from https://archives.vic...ales-foul-beach