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Fake buildings/disguised uses


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#1 Holden West

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Posted 04 May 2013 - 07:29 AM

I'd like to create the definitive list of those mysterious structures that hide their true purpose, buildings that are disguised as something else.

Perhaps the most visible one is the microwave tower at Fort and Langley, disguised as a bell tower:


Flickr: All rights reserved by gergeosam


This kiosk on Belleville hides some sort of sewage vent, I believe:

http://goo.gl/maps/xohvp


This stinky box is also sewage related, although it's not really disguised as something else, it's just a decorated box:

http://goo.gl/maps/Y1dXU


Dylan points out the second floor car park behind the facade of this Oak Bay Avenue building:

http://www.facebook.....23&h=nAQFObzwn


What's with this building on Feltham in Saanich?

http://goo.gl/maps/MTkGk


(Thread inspired by this very cool article: http://www.messyness...ground-portals/)
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#2 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 04 May 2013 - 07:39 AM

What's with this building on Feltham in Saanich?

http://goo.gl/maps/MTkGk


When I was a kid it was a BC Tel building, sometimes even had service vehicles parked there overnight. It was marked back then.
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#3 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 04 May 2013 - 07:40 AM


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#4 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 04 May 2013 - 07:48 AM

I believe this is posing as a water reservoir, just east of the summit of Mt. Tolmie.



But apparently it's not one. It fooled me for the first 40 years of my life (great disguise!).

INFO, and pic of sign at real reservoir: http://www.flickr.co...s21/4014964052/

This most distinctive reservoir sits on Mount Tolmie. (Some people think the reservoir is the concrete slab on the very peak, but that's the old platform for a WWII radio building. The reservoir is further down, at the end of Cromwell Road.)



http://unknownvictor...p-to-drink.html


It might be a good idea to put a sign at that platform, saying what it is/was. Cool that it has such a smooth surface, used to be good for roller-skating (conversely, roller-skating up or down Mt. Tolmie was not fun/safe). Note that it has rails, not like the old Ogden Point breakwater.
<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><em><span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">"I don’t need a middle person in my pizza slice transaction" <strong>- zoomer, April 17, 2018</strong></span></em></span>

#5 Sparky

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Posted 04 May 2013 - 07:48 AM

This house on the corner of Lampson and Head street is a pumping station.

http://maps.google.c...2,232.3,,0,8.13

#6 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 04 May 2013 - 07:55 AM

^ no way, that's a great disguise! OK, I'm guessing the house was there first, and converted to a pump-house.
<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><em><span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">"I don’t need a middle person in my pizza slice transaction" <strong>- zoomer, April 17, 2018</strong></span></em></span>

#7 Linear Thinker

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Posted 04 May 2013 - 03:28 PM

I don't think its a pump station being at/near the crest of a hill.
Almost looks like a Telus logo on the door of the van of you zoom in a few times.

This house on the corner of Lampson and Head street is a pumping station.

http://maps.google.c...2,232.3,,0,8.13



#8 sdwright.vic

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Posted 04 May 2013 - 05:20 PM

^ I think you are correct. All I ever see their are Telus vehicles.
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#9 G-Man

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Posted 04 May 2013 - 08:23 PM

I believe this is posing as a water reservoir, just east of the summit of Mt. Tolmie.



But apparently it's not one. It fooled me for the first 40 years of my life (great disguise!).

INFO, and pic of sign at real reservoir: http://www.flickr.co...s21/4014964052/




http://unknownvictor...p-to-drink.html


It might be a good idea to put a sign at that platform, saying what it is/was. Cool that it has such a smooth surface, used to be good for roller-skating (conversely, roller-skating up or down Mt. Tolmie was not fun/safe). Note that it has rails, not like the old Ogden Point breakwater.


I think that your info is incorrect as I remember them building that "platform" and it is indeed a reservoir inside.

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#10 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 04 May 2013 - 08:45 PM

Ross Crockford:

The city’s oldest reservoir is on Smith’s Hill, now Summit Park, but the most distinctive of them sits on Mount Tolmie. (Some people think the reservoir is the concrete slab on the very peak, but that’s the old platform for a WWII radio building. The reservoir is further down, at the end of Cromwell Road.)


http://unknownvictor...p-to-drink.html
<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><em><span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">"I don’t need a middle person in my pizza slice transaction" <strong>- zoomer, April 17, 2018</strong></span></em></span>

#11 G-Man

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Posted 04 May 2013 - 09:01 PM

Perhaps I am mistaken. I remember a big seismic project there in the 1990's and you could see into the reservoir. Quite cool with lots of pillars etc... I really thought it was on top but perhaps I have misplaced my memories.

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#12 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 04 May 2013 - 09:06 PM

Perhaps I am mistaken. I remember a big seismic project there in the 1990's and you could see into the reservoir. Quite cool with lots of pillars etc... I really thought it was on top but perhaps I have misplaced my memories.


Ross Crockford:

A few years ago it had to be seismically upgraded, for fear that it would unleash a deadly wave on homes below if it cracked open. But why does it have a roof, when other reservoirs are open to the sky? Answer: because planners designed it at the height of the Cold War, and wanted to keep the water safe from nuclear fallout.


Kind of funny though, in 1994 they built ANOTHER platform up there for communication towers for the Games.
<p><span style="font-size:12px;"><em><span style="color:rgb(40,40,40);font-family:helvetica, arial, sans-serif;">"I don’t need a middle person in my pizza slice transaction" <strong>- zoomer, April 17, 2018</strong></span></em></span>

#13 Bingo

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Posted 04 May 2013 - 10:20 PM

The large reservoir on Cromwell was built in 1960, and the summit reservoir was built in 1967, so is not likely to have been part of the WWII National Defense installation. The additional reservoir was probably built to increase the water pressure in the area. I was up there a few months ago when there was some maintenance going on down one of the manholes. I assume it has a roof to keep people and geese from swimming in it.

"By 1891, Cedar Hill X Road and Mayfair Drive were in place and this site was being used as parkland. Development began in 1958 and Mayfair Drive was re-routed, parking lots developed and paths cleared. The reservoir was constructed in 1967."
http://www.saanich.ca/gorp/tolmie.html

"Some people think the reservoir is the concrete slab on the very peak, but that’s the old platform for a WWII radio building. The reservoir is further down, at the end of Cromwell Road.) Built in 1960"
http://unknownvictor....-to-drink.html

#14 Bingo

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Posted 05 May 2013 - 05:42 AM

Mt Tolmie Reservoir - Saanich Archives



Archives Number: 1980-015-057
Title: Mount Tolmie Reservoir
Date: 1967

http://www.saanich.c...l&localArea=All

#15 Jill

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Posted 05 May 2013 - 07:57 AM

When I was a kid it was a BC Tel building, sometimes even had service vehicles parked there overnight. It was marked back then.


Now it is a Telus building.

#16 aastra

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Posted 05 May 2013 - 08:20 AM

...the summit reservoir was built in 1967...

What's the body of water on that spot in these pictures from the 1940s?

http://vintageairpho...com/bo-47-1524/

http://vintageairpho...com/bo-47-1460/

Smith’s Hill Reservoir, completed in 1909, was built to increase the water pressure of the City’s water supply from Elk Lake. It’s 5.8 m (19 ft.) deep. The reservoir was no longer used after 1964 when the Sooke Lake Reservoir was completed. It now serves as an emergency water supply...

http://www.bcarchive...155/i_50511.txt

http://www.bcarchive..._81/f_06946.txt

Isn't there also a covered reservoir in Royal Oak/Broadmead somewhere or did I imagine that?


Edit: Sorry, I now understand that you were referring to the summit of Mt. Tolmie, not the Summit Park reservoir.

#17 Sparky

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Posted 05 May 2013 - 08:48 AM

^ There is a reservoir on the south end of Wesely on Claremont ridge.

#18 VicHockeyFan

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Posted 05 May 2013 - 08:56 AM

^ There is a reservoir on the south end of Wesely on Claremont ridge.


HERE: https://maps.google....h Columbia&z=19

It's common to have a reservoir at a high point, near the "end of the line". It helps with pressure or can even increase capacity, by allowing it to be filled at night, and drained in the day, so now you sort of have two inputs into the lines - one from Sooke Lake, one from the reservoir.
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#19 yodsaker

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Posted 05 May 2013 - 09:37 AM


When I came to OB I thought the Currie Rd pumping station was a house closed up while the owner was away for the winter. Fooled me!

#20 Sparky

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Posted 05 May 2013 - 10:51 AM

Now it is a Telus building.


Crap, the Sparkster was wrong, I can't believe it.

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