819 replies to this topic

[Mike K.]

90's make sense then. 

 

Corner office, aastra?

[G-Man]

I am going to go with 1994 to go with the Commonwealth Games. 

[aastra]

Some excerpts from old Daily Colonist articles, with a focus on the Permanent Loan/Bank of Toronto building:

 

 

Daily Colonist
May 26, 1963

 

Those were great days in Victoria in 1913

Boom Year

by James K. Nesbitt

 

This time 50 years ago Victoria was going through a great boom in building, much as today it is sprouting out all over.

 

Old houses were coming down and new ones going up. The apartment craze had hit the city. Park Mansions had just been completed on Cook Street, facing Beacon Hill Park. It was the last word in baronial elegance. Today it is Hampton Court.

 

The BC Permanent Loan Building was causing a stir, as it rose 10 storeys into the sky. It remained Victoria's tallest building until the high-rise fever struck a few years back. Today that structure is the Bank of Toronto Building at the corner of Douglas and Johnson.

 

The early summer of 1913 was an exciting time in Victoria. Real estate was changing hands at fabulous prices. The Central Building changed hands for nearly $1,000,000. Senator William J. Macdonald sold his 27-acre Armadale estate in James Bay for $1,000,000. The Balmoral Hotel went for $500,000.

 

The Stobart-Pease Building went up on Yates Street and next door the Dominion Hotel built a new wing, and ordered a fine, new horse-drawn bus to meet the boats and trains.

 

New ocean liners were being greeted here on their maiden voyages. Something that has gone from the Victoria of today is the intense excitement of the waterfront. In those days half a century ago crowds lined the beaches and rocks every time a new liner made port.

 

...the Canadian-Australasian liner Niagara arrived on her maiden voyage from Australia and New Zealand.

 

The Colonist noted this event: "Unparalleled in the history of this port was the magnificent reception tendered the steamship Niagara by the citizens of Victoria. Thousands lined the waterfront in dense masses.

 

In Victoria new buildings were popping up everywhere. Luney Brothers was given a $300,000 contract to build the Provincial Normal School at Mount Tolmie, then so far out that most people said it was foolish for young people to have to go way back of beyond for their teacher training.

 

There were new subdivisions springing up all over the place -- Cadboro Lawn and Ocean View at Cadboro Bay, Burnside Park, View Royal, Craigdarroch, where lots were $5,000 each.
 

 

So would the Stobart-Pease Building be the old Standard Furniture building? Yes, as per the sign on the top side of this pic...

 

 

Daily Colonist
December 21, 1961

I meant to jump, gloomy cabbie told detectives

It's "absurd" to think a person has to be in mid-air, hurtling toward the pavement, before police can lay a charge of attempted suicide, Magistrate William Ostler said yesterday.

Rigby was sitting in the dark, his legs straddling the sill of the open window. Mr. Gicas left and later returned with two detectives.

Rigby was coming back down the stairs when he and the two detectives returned.

Det. Blackstock said that, when Rigby met them about the ninth floor, Rigby said:

"I'm not prowling. I intended to jump."

"I was getting more depressed and just wanted to get away from everybody."

He went into the bank building... climbed to the ninth floor, and because he was feeling hot and dizzy, opened a window and sat on the ledge.

 

 

 

Daily Colonist
April 23, 1961

Thinking Aloud

Next year's Seattle "Century 21" international exposition, in harmony with its slogan, is geared to the space age, which by 2000 A.D. should be in full flight.

Its chief symbolic structure will be a Space Needle 600 feet high; that is, roughly six times as tall as the Bank of Toronto building on Douglas Street.

 

The Space Needle may thus do for Seattle what the Eiffel Tower has done for Paris: become a great civic asset.

***

Next year Victoria will have its own exposition in the form of centenary celebrations. These won't match the Seattle fair but they mean more to the local scene...

There seems to be a tendency to regard Victoria's 100th birthday as merely an adjunct to the Seattle fair. Local tourist promoters not unnaturally look forward to cashing in on "Century 21"; it would be strange if a goodly number of the millions expected to be drawn to Seattle did not find their way over here, centenary or no centenary. But too much emphasis seems to be on Seattle and not enough on Victoria. A centenary comes but once in 100 years, after all, and this birthday will be our own. It should get top billing and not be downgraded.

 

In 1968, they're proud to have offices in the Bank of Toronto building:

 

 

Daily Colonist
July 14, 1968

(advertisement)

Crown Realty starts at the Top in Victoria Real Estate

Crown Realty offers YOU top service
Crown offers full Multiple Listing Service, assuring you of top coverage whether buying or selling.

Crown Realty offers YOU top facilities
The entire ninth floor of Victoria's tallest block, the Bank of Toronto building, Douglas at Johnson, is occupied by Crown Realty offices.

 

But just a year later, in 1969, the Bank of Toronto building is coming down:

 

 

Daily Colonist
March 29, 1969

(advertisement)

 

The firm of Clark & Pattison came into being some 16 years ago as painting contractors...

...they now employ 25 or more, and the business embraces in addition to painting contracts, steel scaffold rentals and sales...

The original premises at 760 Princess came under the Urban Renewal and Rose Street Extension plan and this year the new building was completed on Bay Street across from the Armory.

The new Color Centre, with its colorful rotating sign, is a focal point of attention on Rose Street at Bay, with ample parking on the large blacktop frontage.

See our scaffolding in use at the demolition of the Bank of Toronto Building.

 

And in 1970, Victorians are proud of the shorter/blander TD Bank building that replaced the Bank of Toronto building. Some fake news in this one:

 

 

Daily Colonist
September 19, 1970

The Toronto-Dominion Bank, with the help of Premier W.A.C. Bennett, opened its $1,500,000 new branch and office building in the heart of downtown Victoria Friday.

Bennett, before he cut the ceremonial ribbon, hailed the six-storey concrete-and-glass building as a notable step in the rehabilitation of the downtown area.

The new building replaced the one erected by the old Bank of Toronto in 1929* just before the big depression, and which, for many years, had held the distinction of being the tallest office building in Victoria.
 

 

*the building itself dated from 1913-1914, not 1929. I assume they meant to say the building was acquired -- not erected -- by the Bank of Toronto in 1929.

Edited by aastra, 22 November 2018 - 12:08 PM.

[Bingo]

Too bad about the hanging...

 

See our scaffolding in use

 

 

It seems this thread has some production problems in getting the more recent news to the doorstep.

[Nparker]

 

...Something that has gone from the Victoria of today is the intense excitement of the waterfront. In those days half a century ago crowds lined the beaches and rocks every time a new liner made port...

To be fair, today vast parking lots greet the ocean liners that make port in Victoria.

[aastra]

FYI, this pic of the Permanent Loan/Bank of Toronto building being demolished is dated October, 1969, but look at the snow...

 

Maybe not dated accurately? This sad pic of the half-demolished building is also dated 1969...

Edited by aastra, 29 October 2018 - 09:27 PM.

[aastra]

 

I am going to go with 1994 to go with the Commonwealth Games.

 

You'd think, right? There was a similar round of that familiar "Victoria has shed its old image" stuff after 1994. But nope, it was 1990. Victoria seems to shed its old image every five years or so.

[Bernard]

FYI, this pic of the Permanent Loan/Bank of Toronto building being demolished is dated October, 1969, but look at the snow...

 

Maybe not dated accurately? This sad pic of the half-demolished building is also dated 1969...

i love the pics and I really wonder what the benefit was of replacing that building with what is there now?    It was ten stories and the current building is only six stories tall.   Anyone know the history of the project?

[Nparker]

...I really wonder what the benefit was of replacing that building [Bank of Toronto Building] with what is there now?  It was ten stories and the current building is only six stories tall.   Anyone know the history of the project?

I would imagine at 10 stories, the fear was that Victoria was starting to look too much like Vancouver. Next to blocking the views of the Sooke Hills this is the greatest crime that can be committed in the CRD.

[Bernard]

I would imagine at 10 stories, the fear was that Victoria was starting to look too much like Vancouver. Next to blocking the views of the Sooke Hills this is the greatest crime that can be committed in the CRD.

And as there were fears of this, why would someone buy this building and tear it down and reduce the sq footage?

[aastra]

Didn't somebody on this board make the case that the Permanent Loan Building and the Campbell Building were replaced because of their narrow floorplates? Both buildings seem to have been designed with the potential (expectation?) for future expansion. But the commercial boom ended and they remained in their original forms for several decades. If Victoria had experienced another commercial boom maybe they would have been mated to modern additions on their blank sides? That's what I wish had happened. But then again, they probably would have remodeled the original architecture in the process, and thus the old buildings would still be lost.

[Nparker]

The Permanent Loan Building and the Campbell Building were such beautiful examples of high-rise architecture for their era. Imagine what they might have inspired if they had remained 'til now. 

I love the urban vibe this corner used to have.

 

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[Nparker]

No setbacks!

[mbjj]

I remember visiting the pet shop there when I was a kid. Specht's wasn't it?

[Mike K.]

Best pet shop ever!

[aastra]

More housing crisis stuff from the memory hole. Every supposedly unprecedented crisis today has happened pretty much word-for-word multiple times in the past. I'm putting the following article first because it shows how those hundreds of no-frills lowrise woodframe apartment blocks that cover the city today and that account for the vast majority of the rental apartments for real people in the year 2018... were all about destructive gentrification and community upheaval when they were brand new. Lesson #1: You can't build brand new crappy apartments. What you can do is build a lot of decent new apartments, and then allow them to age. It doesn't happen in two or three years. It takes 30 or 40 years, at least. So don't drag your feet re: new construction.

 

Seriously, 1,200 new units in the Victoria city of the late 1960s. That would still be a big number today.

 

*****

 

Daily Colonist

September 7, 1969

"There's No Place to Go in City"
Rent increases, apathy, shortage of housing hit pensioners, Indians, people with children

"Landlords are becoming extortionists, helped by the housing crisis, the tearing down of older houses..."

The bitter comment came Saturday from a 70-year-old pensioner who can either leave his housekeeping room or pay a $5 a month rent increase.

"Please don't use my name, or I shall get an eviction notice, and there's just no place to go in the city," he added.

The pensioner was just one more victim of a housing crisis which hit Victoria about three years ago, and is still awaiting a solution.

According to Victoria's assistant city manager... there's a need for about 1,200 housing units in Victoria, and today's bleak picture is unlikely to change at least during the next two years.

Emergency shelter for families at the old Protestant Orphanage -- now the Bishop Cridge Centre for the Family -- has been filled ever since it opened early this year.

Other families, unable to pay high rents or unacceptable to landlords because they have children or pets, are doubling up in substandard accommodation.

Meanwhile, rent for apartments, duplexes, houses and housekeeping rooms is being increased two or three times a year, while older houses are being torn down to make way for expensive apartment blocks.

"I don't quite know who they're going to put into the new apartment blocks," said Susan Talbot of the Community Action Group, who handles four or five emergency appeals for housing every week.

"The pensioners can't afford to go in, and people with children wouldn't be allowed, even if they could pay the rent."

The destruction of older houses that have been used as suites for families and housekeeping rooms for pensioners distresses both the elderly and those who work in housing.

"There just aren't enough houses now, and these people who are moved out to make way for apartments have no place to go," said Mrs. Talbot.

Mr. Hooson agreed.

"We moved 127 people out to build 184 units at Rose-Blanchard," he said. "That's not even going to make a dent in the 1,200 places we need here."

It is hoped that the first of the units in the urban renewal area will be ready before the end of the year.

Dorothy Livingston of the Indian Arts and Welfare Society said she knew of one family of eight which had moved four times in the search for decent housing after being moved out of the Rose-Blanchard area.

"So many places that are for rent are only temporary because they are to be pulled down for apartments," she said.

Silver Threads director Catherine Horne also complained about spiralling rents, temporary housing, and tenement-like conditions.

"The plaster has been off the walls, linoleum torn, and not a lick of paint on the places. The landlord will say openly that he has no intention of doing anything, and he doesn't care if he rents or not."

"A city lot will sell for $7,000 to $8,000, so it really doesn't matter too much to him," she said.
 

Edited by aastra, 13 November 2018 - 07:40 PM.

[tjv]

I am curious with the current housing crisis how many units does Victoria need?  anyone know?  Mike already reported the rental vacancy rate is expected to rise in the short term

[Mike K.]

A healthy vacancy rate is 3-5%. In order to achieve that we’ll need to see the current level of development sustained until 2030.

By 2020 we’ll have reached 1.8% and that’s with a red-hot construction scene since 2012 and population growth slowing through 2021 (compared to 2011-2016).

One of the things we don’t talk about when discussing vacancy rates is how demand for units will change once inventory increases. You’ll have people (mostly young) driven to remain home with mom and dad due to the tight market adding to the demand side.

So once rates rise demand from those renters will re-materialize and absorb a lot of inventory, keeping rental rates steady and the market struggling to maintain a vacancy rate above 3%.

[aastra]

Daily Colonist
June 19, 1962

Tourists Turned Away by Ignorant Officials

A Victoria woman was more than a little put out during a visit to Seattle last week when she observed some of our representatives doing less than their part in promoting Vancouver Island.

At the CPR dock in Seattle she overheard U.S. tourists asking about getting to Victoria.

"Well, we're full up." replied a Princess Marguerite official.

"Is there any other way to get to Victoria?"

"Yes," replied the official. "But only by driving north to Vancouver, crossing on the CPR ferry to Nanaimo, and driving 80 miles to Victoria."

"What about Port Angeles, Anacortes and Tsawwassen?" piped up the indignant Victorian.

The official ignored her. He turned to someone else who was asking about accommodation in Victoria.

"Sorry," said the official. "We're full up with reservations for the whole summer."

The Victoria resident says she heard that about 300 U.S. visitors are lost daily this way.

[aastra]

Daily Colonist
March 10, 1946

Housing Delays

Under the caption of "What's holding up housing," The Financial Post last week summarized present conditions across Canada as disappointing, and without the results that this nation had looked for.

"Looked at from any angle, Government attempts so far to solve the housing crisis have fallen tragically short of the mark..."

"Today we have scores of thousands of families cooped up in overcrowded living quarters and the situation is getting more desperate every week...

**********

Daily Colonist
October 15, 1967

Housing Crisis Stymies B.C.

Trade Minister Loffmark appearing on television recently, made some viewers angry when he called public housing projects "ghettoes." He claims they relegate a growing number of Canadians to the status of perpetual renters and make the government a landlord, both bad.

Attorny General Bonner... made it clear that public housing is viewed with considerable official disfavor here.

...in the end it is Ottawa -- not B.C. -- which holds the key to the housing crisis.

According to Loffmark, the question is really the basic one of whether Canadians shall continue to own their own homes or whether we become a nation of tenants.

...the prospects of the average working man owning his own home today are so remote as to be practically out of sight.

Premier Bennett has a mystical believe that a citizen who owns his house is a better citizen than one who rents. Loffmark supports this view, putting homeowners in the class of the "best and happiest citizens," and adds public housing in other countries proves this, presumably by fostering unhappy citizens.

B.C. spokesmen obviously see a diminishing role for the single family dwelling in Victoria and Vancouver. They would like to encourage more self-owned apartments and row houses, and last session passed a Strata Titles Act which permits this.

**********

 

Daily Colonist
December 6, 1967

City, Candidates Looking for Votes

...for the first time, there will be multiple polling stations in Victoria. In addition to the Victoria Ballroom on Government Street, where voting has been held for years, there will be stations at James Bay school, Goodwill Enterprises at 220 Bay Street, Sir James Douglas school, and Oaklands school.

(one candidate's statment below)

"Victoria needs a convention centre, but it should be built privately, so that the city's tax base is broadened. If a centre is built with public funds, it will only add to the tax burder. I believe that we must also face our housing crisis realistically. The present city program of urban renewal and slum clearance is not progressing quickly enough."

 

!!!!!!!!!!

**********

Daily Colonist
December 12, 1967

B.C. Starts Blitz on Homes Crisis

Establishment of a central housing authority, involving all three levels of government, to attack the acute housing crisis in BC was announced Monday by the provincial government.

**********

Daily Colonist
March 6, 1968

Victorians Tackle Homes Crisis

The Community Welfare Council has announced plans for a meeting of organizations interested in solutions to Victoria's housing crisis.

The council will meet Friday to draw up an agenda...

**********

Daily Colonist
August 31, 1968

Rent Controls Suggested to Solve Housing Crisis

Governments may be forced into rent control until the housing crisis is solved, Saaanich Ald. Edith Gunning suggested Friday.

Big Problem
"I don't know what to do until there are enough houses available, except to go into rent control."

Older Homes
"Saanich has tried to do something by buying older houses to rent to low-income families, but that seems to be falling through because there are no suitable houses on the market."

"There are so many factors beyond our control -- high land prices, and high interest costs are the main ones. I've never been in favor of rent controls, but you wonder what else can be done to keep rents at a reasonable level."

Mrs. Gunning said the crisis has reached such proportions that all reasonable solutions will have to be considered.

**********

Daily Colonist
January 7, 1969

Pump-Priming Fund Urged for City Housing

- Saanich sets up council committee to tackle housing crises; Oak Bay's future tied to townhouses and garden courts

Mayor Hugh Stephen proposed Monday that Victoria set up a $150,000 pump-priming fund that could result in construction of $3,000,000 worth of low-rental housing in the city.

Among the mayor's proposals for this year were:

- a new zoning concept for downtown development
- finishing the enclosure of Bowker Creek inside Victoria's boundaries
- construction of a new wading pool in Beacon Hill Park
- etc.

He deplored its (the provincial government's) refusal "to make even a token start" on the new Patricia Bay Highway. One result has been that the city's new north-south artery, Rose Street, "ends in nothing at our boundaries, whence all the traffic funnels back again on to an already overcrowded Douglas Street."

The mayor said he spent more time working on sewage disposal problems than any other subject during last year, but, despite increased regional cooperation, the issue was still at an impasse.

**********

Daily Colonist
April 2, 1969

Rigid Bylaws Blamed for House Shortage

A Victoria architect-planner - D.M. Cowin - Tuesday blamed the housing crisis on municipalities because of their rigid bylaws and told Saanich housing committee that its municipality was one of the worst offenders.

The committee later was less than enthusiastic about Mr. Cowin's proposal for helping to ease the housing crisis in Saanich by the construction of at least 20 patio dwelling units.

He said Transport Minister Paul Hellyer's housing report stressed the need for freedom of choice but a home-seeker has only two options - "a single-family residence at a cost he can't afford or a filing cabinet unsuitable for family living."

He said it was time to base calculations on people instead of on buildings and to set performance standards determining the number of persons per acre, the minimum open areas per person, the distance between opposite windows and the capacities of streets and services.

The patio housing proposal calls for the use of "industrialized" (prefabricated) houses which would be assembled on the building site at a saving of from 12/5 to 15 per cent of conventional costs.

**********

Daily Colonist
September 14, 1969

Efforts for Two Years May Ease House Crisis

Efforts are being made by both government and private agencies to solve Victoria's housing crisis, and the worst problems could be over in about two years time, says Victoria assistant city manager William Hooson.

...the first limited-dividend building in Victoria will be a 20-storey apartment at Fort and Quadra, intended mainly for pensioners.

**********

Daily Colonist
September 14, 1969

Squeeze Is On
High Density Inevitable

The housing squeeze tightened up another notch Monday, when the federal government's Central Mortgage and Housing Corporation interest rates go up to 9.5 per cent.

The day of the single-family home, so long considered the natural aspiration of everyone, may be just about over in Canada, said Mr. Jackson (Philip G. Jackson, president of Victoria Real Estate Board).

Condominium housing -- in effect, row housing or apartments put up for shared ownership rather than for rent -- may be the only way for the average man to own his own four walls in the future...

But in Canada condominium housing is a relatively new idea and lending institutions are not used to it.

Edited by aastra, 13 November 2018 - 07:38 PM.