45 replies to this topic

[Bernard]

The location of the Northern Junk buildings require some sort of new buildings on the site to connect the heritage buildings to the surronding area. The changes that were allowed in the past have removed the old buildings connecting the area together.

The loss of the buildings on lower Johson isolated the Northern Junk buildings and then the construction of the Sally Ann building ensured a total break from all the heritage around. The Victoria Regency Hotel causes further problems.

The proposal from Reliance Properties for this site is nothing short of brilliant. It fixes decades worth of short sighted decisions and ensures that the sense of Old Town is extended and better connected.

I honestly can not understand what underlying motivations there are from anyone who opposes this project. Opposition to this project can not be coming from anyone interested in heritage preservation or in making Old Town a better reflection of our past.

Here is part of a photo from 1947 - you can see the buildings immediately next to the site that have been lost.

[G-Man]

I count at least 12 buildings from that pic (not counting the gas station) that have been torn down.

[Jon S]

This is welcome.......

http://www.timescolo...he-city-1.33245

[Jon S]

You should send your excellent Blog Post

http://victoriavisio...evelopment.html

to Mayor and Council:

The location of the Northern Junk buildings require some sort of new buildings on the site to connect the heritage buildings to the surronding area. The changes that were allowed in the past have removed the old buildings connecting the area together.

The loss of the buildings on lower Johson isolated the Northern Junk buildings and then the construction of the Sally Ann building ensured a total break from all the heritage around. The Victoria Regency Hotel causes further problems.

The proposal from Reliance Properties for this site is nothing short of brilliant. It fixes decades worth of short sighted decisions and ensures that the sense of Old Town is extended and better connected.

I honestly can not understand what underlying motivations there are from anyone who opposes this project. Opposition to this project can not be coming from anyone interested in heritage preservation or in making Old Town a better reflection of our past.

Here is part of a photo from 1947 - you can see the buildings immediately next to the site that have been lost.

[Jon S]

The best of the season to all our VV Friends.

[jdsony]

My thoughts are "Preserve everything you can but when not possible don't limit new developments to cheap clones of the past".

I love the designs of old buildings but much of what makes them unique is the details often overlooked due to cost. Victoria has lost a lot of buildings/houses that had great heritage value, when I say that I mean the architect, design, and original owner were very important in the community at the time. Other buildings that are just "Old" have had no trouble surviving 100+ years. There are many reasons for that to happen though, sometimes it comes down to the current owner, poor maintenance over time making it too costly, location is more valuable for other projects.

Much of the time it's hard to argue that the preservation is more valuable than the proposed project. It would be silly for me to say that a heritage mansion is more valuable than a hospital but you could also argue that more green space/parks could result in less need for hospitals. Sometimes I find myself needing hospital care when my retina's are burned by bland architecture.

I'm also a strong supporter of nature and building to fit the natural environment rather than significantly modifying the environment to fit the building. Sadly around here (Langford mostly) the latter is far more the case which makes me frown at most development all together. The land is over-engineered so the houses/buildings can be under-engineered.

As for the Northern Junk proposal I don't really think there could be a better plan. I could nitpick the "safe" design of the newer buildings but the integration is perfect for the older buildings. Like others have said there is really little value in the older buildings other than the age, and they are too small to be that useful on their own.