Victoria Online Sightseeing Tours

18/02/2024

16/02/2024

🏠Pembroke 1211, located on the homelands of the Songhees and Esquimalt people, also known as Victoria's Fernwood neighbourhood, was built in 1890 by John N. Anderson for himself and Mary Anderson.

John and Mary Anderson emigrated to Canada from Scotland and came to Victoria in 1889. John, a bricklayer, built this house making history with the rarest dormers in Victoria: three five-sided Scottish dormers on the front and sides of the roof!

In its 134 years, it has been the home for many other interesting people including a school teacher, a Major in the Canadian Infantry, an antiques dealer, a marine engineer, a seamstress, and more!

🎨1211 Pembroke recently received a 2023 VHF House Grant for work on their gutters. The Victoria Heritage Foundation provides financial assistance through our yearly House Grants Program, funded by the City of Victoria. You can learn more about the program by visiting our website!

📸 Images:
1211 Pembroke Gutters (after), 2023

16/02/2024

09/01/2024

30/12/2023

Traffic Alert | Planned Demonstration

Traffic disruptions are expected again in the downtown core on Saturday, December 30 from approximately 2-3 p.m. due to a planned demonstration. The demonstration is expected to follow the pictured route. Please plan ahead and avoid the area during that time.

19/12/2023

Empress Hotel, Victoria, B.C. 1920s. Also depicted in this lithographed post card, are the Belmont Building (built un 1912) on Humboldt St. and the Cenotaph. (Published by West Coast Novelty Co., Vancouver)

Bill Kellett Collection

15/12/2023

The former Birks jewelry store on Government Street at Fort Street is becoming a restaurant, according to permitting information via the City of Victoria.

What do you think the concept will be? 🤔 Will it be called Happy Hour, maybe? Get it?

01/11/2023

and we're travelling to Victoria. The Bests lived in their charming James Bay home for 10 years before they learned about a gruesome murder that happened there in 1956. Story: https://evelazarus.com/murder-in-james-bay-2/ from my book Sensational Victoria: http://evelazarus.com/books/sensational-victoria/
Eve Lazarus photo, 2012

16/10/2023

Saanich Heritage Foundation is looking for new Board Members!!

This Foundation is a registered non-profit society that promotes the preservation, maintenance and restoration of buildings, structures and land located in the Municipality of Saanich which have been designated as Municipal Heritage Sites by the Municipal Council. The terms of reference can be found at Saanich.ca/committees. For more information, please contact the Saanich Heritage Foundation President
via email at [email protected]

17/09/2023

The 60-inch searchlight mounted in this emplacement was one of two installed at Fort Rodd Hill in 1940. Two similar searchlights were positioned on the opposite shore.

Together, all four lit up the harbour mouth with wide, dispersed beams of lights, allowing quick-firing guns to sight on torpedo boats. 🔦🛥

12/09/2023

🔹Yates Street bike shelter removed by City of Victoria🔹

A Yates Street placemaking investment dating to the late-2010s has joined downtown Victoria’s ping pong table in a street-side disappearing act.

The bike shelter on Yates at Douglas streets has been removed by the City due to a lack of use. The shelter was installed circa-2018 as part of a beautification effort, that also made provisions for a food truck stand kitty-corner at the same intersection. The stand was eventually done away with, but remnants can still be seen today as little tables adorned with bird cutouts. The City says the bike shelter could reappear in another location.

Last month, Victoria’s ping pong table disappeared from its years-long perch on Humboldt Street at Douglas Street and resurfaced near the mayor’s office at Centennial Square.

Did you ever use the Yates Street bike shelter? Let us know in the comments below.

18/08/2023

🏡 1459 Vining St., located on the homelands of the Songhees and Esquimalt people, also known as Victoria's Fernwood neighbourhood, was build in 1901 for Thomas and Jessie E. Donovan.

🧱 Thomas Donovan, a bricklayer, purchased the land in 1895 and was living in the home by 1897, however it was not completed for another four years. Thomas worked as a contractor and foreman on many City of Victoria projects, including the Inner Harbour Causeway across the James Bay mudflats in 1903-05, Smith's Hill Reservoir in 1908-09, cement sidewalks and many streets. Jessie, his wife, lived in the house after Thomas' death in 1913, with their seven children.

👨‍👩‍👧‍👧 Other occupants have included a druggist, dental mechanic, a managing editor of the Victoria Daily Colonist, a miner, and a grocery delivery man, among many others. The home was duplexed at some point, to then be turned back into a single-family dwelling by John Kenneth Patrick and his wife Elizabeth "Bette" Bone. Bette continues to live in the home, where she has lived for 48 years.

📚 You can learn more about the social and architectural history of 1459 Vining St. here: https://victoriaheritagefoundation.ca/HReg/Fernwood/Vining1459.html.

🛠️ 1459 Vining has received a 2023 House Grant through our House Grants Program for the repointing of their chimneys. The Victoria Heritage Foundation provides financial assistance through our yearly House Grants Program, funded by the City of Victoria. You can learn more about the program by visiting the House Grants portion of our website linked below.

💻 https://victoriaheritagefoundation.ca/HouseGrants/housegrants.html

📸 Image: 1459 Vining, date unknown, courtesy of the Hallmark Society.