722 replies to this topic

[Mike K.]

That’s a beautiful photo.

[aastra]

Less is more, except in those instances where less is much less:

 

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

 

--

 

[Vin]

The city should build back to its former glory, with old photos as references.

Edited by Vin, 18 February 2021 - 12:59 PM.

[Nparker]

The city should build back to its former glory, with old photos as references.

You mean turn itself into some sort of Disney-esque museum of its own past?    Have we learned nothing from the Bay Centre?

[rmpeers]

The city should build back to its former glory, with old photos as references.

I remember there used to be a big park between Cook and Douglas, had a petting zoo, peacocks, really nice. I've got some photos they could use to help rebuild that place.

[Vin]

You mean turn itself into some sort of Disney-esque museum of its own past?    Have we learned nothing from the Bay Centre?

Not at all. Victoria's Old Town is a living heritage area. You should know the difference between that and an amusement park that you are referring to, which despite it all is still able to attract millions to visit every year (pre-pandemic of course).

 

What's wrong with the Bay Centre? It currently looks way nicer than if it's just a block of blank walls, like many shopping centres around the world.

Edited by Vin, 07 April 2021 - 12:31 PM.

[Vin]

I remember there used to be a big park between Cook and Douglas, had a petting zoo, peacocks, really nice. I've got some photos they could use to help rebuild that place.

I suppose they would feel its redundancy with Beacon Hill park just around the corner. But yeah, anything of good heritage value should not only be preserved, but rebuilt and enhanced, especially for those that were lost to some ugly or valueless replacements.

[Nparker]

...What's wrong with the Bay Centre? It currently looks way nicer than if it's just a block of blank walls, like many shopping centres around the world.

If you can't see what's wrong with the Bay Centre, from an historical architectural perspective, then there's nothing more I can say.

[aastra]

Here's a super high-resolution picture of old Cormorant Street from the Vancouver archives. Just imagine if Centennial Square had been envisioned as more of an intimate pedestrian-only street rather than a blockbusting modern civic square.

 

Link:

https://searcharchiv...fire-department

 

If you zoom in you can see the long lost building on the southwest corner of Government and Pandora (not to be confused with the long lost building(s) on the southeast corner of Government and Pandora, and also not to be confused with the long lost building at the junction of Cormorant & Pandora, the north side of which you can see beside the Victorian streetlamp in this pic):

 

 

 

[Nparker]

Nice hat.

[G-Man]

Looks like me.

[Spy Black]

In an article on todays CBC website, there's a story of a woman who worked in a WW2 listening post here in Victoria. She says the building was in the middle of a plum orchard.

 

https://www.cbc.ca/n...japan-1.6239427

 

In my distant memory of childhood in Gordon Head, I seem to recall buildings that looked like this up at UVIC, on the northwestern reaches of the property.

Am I out to lunch?

Does anybody know for sure where this listening post building was located?

Attached Images

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Edited by Spy Black, 07 November 2021 - 10:53 AM.

[marks_28]

Not sure if it’s the exact same building, but I know there is a building right next to Wallace Field (called the Y Hut) that was once used as a listening post.

[Spy Black]

Not the same building, but has me wondering if I’m getting this building confused with the Y Hut?
There were lots of orchards in Gordon Head, and the UVIC area had a fair bit of military infrastructure during the war years.
It would be cool to know exactly where the woman in this story worked, thus where this “hidden” listening post was actually located.

[Spy Black]

Ross Crockford re-posted this question to Facebook.
Sinclair and Finnerty seems to be the location … near the wartime huts at today’s UVIC.
The “Y” Hut definitely would have been part of this set up. I vaguely recall antenna mounting concrete slabs in the area when riding bikes all over the then “new” and quite small UVIC with my cousins.

This FaceBook post seems to confirm the above.

https://www.facebook...164063248230333

 

(I find this all quite interesting, as the more I think about it, the more I recall the many wartime huts around UVIC that I saw as a kid. There's still a few of those buildings left around UVIC, some (but not all) buildings with the surname "hut" on a UVIC map could date from WW2).

Edited by Spy Black, 07 November 2021 - 04:03 PM.

[Vin]

Interesting! There must be lots of listening posts all along the coast back in the 40s. 

 

The only one I know (and visited) is this one here:

https://www.google.c...!7i13312!8i6656

[Spy Black]

Interesting! There must be lots of listening posts all along the coast back in the 40s. 

 

The only one I know (and visited) is this one here:

I believe that's the main control room for all the batteries that are located in and around the Southern tip of Vancouver Island.

It's in that room that triangulation to an enemy ship would be determined, and then whichever gun(s) could make the shot would be sent the coordinates for targeting purposes from within the room behind that door.

 

Of possible interest would be that one of the most extensive WW2 listening posts was here:

https://www.google.c...m/data=!3m1!1e3

(Venturing around this (original) arch top hanger during WW2 would likely have got you shot!)

 

And of course we still tend to listen in on folks, as well as communicate with Canadian Navy ships around the world - and we tend to fulfil that task here:

https://www.google.c...m/data=!3m1!1e3

[AllseeingEye]

I believe that's the main control room for all the batteries that are located in and around the Southern tip of Vancouver Island.

It's in that room that triangulation to an enemy ship would be determined, and then whichever gun(s) could make the shot would be sent the coordinates for targeting purposes from within the room behind that door.

 

Of possible interest would be that one of the most extensive WW2 listening posts was here:

https://www.google.c...m/data=!3m1!1e3

(Venturing around this (original) arch top hanger during WW2 would likely have got you shot!)

 

And of course we still tend to listen in on folks, as well as communicate with Canadian Navy ships around the world - and we tend to fulfil that task here:

https://www.google.c...m/data=!3m1!1e3

 

Oh, we do that for sure, and much more. And not just from that location. As you probably know Canada punches far, far above its perceived weight in terms of its military and intelligence intercept capability, et al.

 

Canada to no one's surprise in general does a comparatively poor job of funding its front line military and other 'visible' forces but one area that it does support - quietly - is signals intelligence. The CSE is at the forefront of such global orgs and as such is hugely respected within the Five Eyes alliance. And those large SGT's at Signal Hill at CFB Esquimalt are't there to tune in Netflix, they are part of a much more comprehensive CF military communication system with facilities here, in Ottawa and Nova Scotia. Among other things that network can scan and listen in on marine and other traffic across a vast area of the Eastern/North Pacific.

[Matt R.]

One of the towns we stayed in in NS, Ardoise, is right near those massive antennas, we drove past them multiple times, it’s quite an impressive installation.

[AllseeingEye]

/\ Know it well the town is near Hants - West Hants counties where our extended family lives