[Downtown Victoria] Crag X rock climbing gym | Under construction

Floor slab is now done.

Visit the Crag X site for new, pics etc. (Thanks Dimitrios)

There's a time lapse of the old building being demo'd, pics of construction including s shot of a brick archway that open into a space under the sidewalk

This is phenomenal! 

Wouldn't the arch just lead to a through-the-sidewalk loading area?  Like still exist in some parts of town?

Could be. Where do we have other examples of this?

is that right, hey? Cool.

Could be. Where do we have other examples of this?

This whole block has under-sidewalk storage.

https://www.google.c...HLLaNeQ0Vug!2e0

And I think on Yates there are steel doors.

Pretty sure the Fields store, now the dollar store on Douglas has or had steel doors on the sidewalk to a loading elevator.

In front of the Bulk barn on Yates also. ... Steel doors and have seen it open and in use.

In front of the Bulk barn on Yates also. ... Steel doors and have seen it open and in use.

Ah, that's right...

HERE >  >    https://www.google.c...25b3J3d0D4A!2e0

Ya, they open upwards and stand 90 degrees up when in use.  I think a chain protects you from walking in from the building side of the hole, as you load in from the street side.

The whole block of Broad St, opposite Pagliacci's . Basically all three sides of the Yarrow building.

Edited by Linear Thinker, 28 March 2015 - 01:33 PM.

The whole block of Broad St, opposite Pagliacci's . Basically all three sides of the Yarrow building.

I think those chutes go back to the day when they used to deliver coal for the furnace room.

Edited by amor de cosmos, 28 March 2015 - 02:31 PM.

I think those chutes go back to the day when they used to deliver coal for the furnace room.

does victoria need an underground tour?

There are more extended basements under the sidewalks of Victoria than perhaps many people realize. There are some around Market Square, for instance, that have no glass bricks or trapdoors to show for it. Likewise along Government St. nearby, and on Blanshard.

Are these storage areas still used?

More on the sidewalk prisms.

http://www.islandnet...pics/prisms.htm

Are these storage areas still used?

Some are. The one under the sidewalk on Wharf is used by the various businesses on the west side to store their garbage/recycling/composting.

does victoria need an underground tour?

I've taken that tour and its worth the time.

In Seattle, property owners are responsible for the sidewalks along their frontages.

Way back when, the early sewage system in the downtown was subject to backing up whenever the tide came in.

Soulution: makes the pipes higher.

On many streets the city built walls at the curbs on both sides of the road, and filled in between to make the road higher (in which the pipes were buried).

Because the owners had to build there own sidewalks, in some places the new road was over 10 feet higher than sidewalks.

On the tour they show you photos of people climbing up and down ladders to get from the old low sidewalk up to the street.

When the building owners finally built sidewalks to match the road, they preserved the space underneath to maintain access.

Hence there is more of a "network" of spaces to walk around in,

In Victoria, as mentioned, the space is there to load in and out of the basements.

Lots of hatches were just to load coal from the road into the basement for a furnace/boiler.

Victoria has a bylaw where if owners want to use the space, they are supposed to register and pay a recurring lease fee.

Basically opposite to the Seattle situation.

In the case of finding unknown under sidewalk spaces in Victoria, owners can either sign up to lease the space and be responsible to make whatever improvements are required, or the space is walled off at the property line, and sidewalk portion is filled in.

I know that in the space under the sidewalk on Broad St along the Yarrow building, there is an old cast iron piece of printing equipment in there that is too big to get out of the building in one piece now.