Government House (British Columbia)
Government House of British Columbia is the official residence of the Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia, as well as that in Victoria of the Canadian monarch, has casually been described as "the Ceremonial Home of all British Columbians." It stands in the provincial capital on a 14.6 hectares estate at 1401 Rockland Avenue. The first building in the area used as a governor's residence was Cary Castle, built in 1860 by George Hunter Cary and purchased five years by the British Crown for use as a seat for the Governor of Vancouver Island, Arthur Kennedy being the first occupant. Following the 1866 merger of the colonies of British Columbia and Vancouver Island, the mainland colony's Government House in New Westminster was abandoned to other uses and Cary Castle became the official residence of the new united colony's Governor and, from 1871 onwards, that of the provincial Lieutenant Governor; the mansion and its contents were destroyed by fire in May 1899, with a replacement built to designs by Francis Rattenbury and Samuel Maclure.
Completed in 1903, this house was used for the first time by the reigning monarch of Canada when King George VI, accompanied by his wife, Queen Elizabeth, arrived in 1939 as part of his cross-Canada tour that year. However, that incarnation of Government House burnt down when it caught fire on 15 April 1957; the new home was furnished with pieces bought in the United Kingdom by Lieutenant Governor Frank Mackenzie Ross and donated to the Crown following his departure from office, as well as other items donated by various British Columbians. By 2002, through the efforts of Lieutenant Governor Iona Campagnolo, Government House and its surrounding gardens were designated as a National Historic Site of Canada and the acknowledging plaque was unveiled by Campagnolo on 2 October of that year. Government House is where members of the Canadian Royal Family and visiting foreign dignitaries are greeted and stay while in Victoria, it is where numerous royal and viceroyal events take place, such as the bestowing of provincial awards or inductions into the Order of British Columbia, as well as luncheons, dinners and speaking engagements.
Among many public receptions and garden parties held annually, the lieutenant governor's New Years Day levée remains a popular and well-attended highlight of the holiday season in Victoria. It is at the royal residence that the lieutenant governor will drop the writs of election, swear-in new members of the Executive Council, hold audience with her premier; the property is owned by the Queen in Right of British Columbia. The management of the residence is, overseen by the British Columbia Government House Foundation, a charitable, non-profit organisation, in 1987 established by Lieutenant Governor Robert Gordon Rogers, along with his Council at the time; the foundation is mandated to oversee the maintenance of Government House's property and all the structures on it. Besides the four honorary trustees—the lieutenant governor, the viceregal consort, the Chief Justice of British Columbia, the Private Secretary to the Lieutenant Governor—the foundation has trustees elected for three-year terms from artistic, horticultural and legal segments of provincial society.
The present Government House is a T-shaped, four level building of steel frame construction clad in a Modern Tudor revival envelope. The walls are of rusticated blue and pink British Columbia granite with Haddington Island stone trim, the roof, two storeys high in itself, has steeply pitched, chalet-style gables and numerous dormer windows. A rendition of the Royal Arms of British Columbia is visible in the gable above the Ballroom's south facing bow window, which commands a view over Ross Bay and the lower part of the Fairfield neighbourhood, across the Strait of Juan de Fuca, to the Olympic Mountains in Washington state; the main entrance is in the centre of the north facade, beneath the original Tudor Revival porte cochère of the previous Government House, inspired by Rattenbury's own Hatley Castle. Behind this is the main entrance hall, the walls lined with oak panelling hung with painted portraits of former Lieutenant Governors of British Columbia, some of the chatelaines of Government House, large portraits of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
Rising to the second floor is a large staircase along which are renderings of the escutcheons of various members of the Royal Family and Governors General of Canada who have resided at Government House. The room is capped by a cathedral ceiling and the three storey high north wall is dominated by the Rogers Window, a stained glass creation commissioned by viceregal consort Jane Rogers to commemorate British Columbia's heritage as a parliamentary democracy and constitutional monarchy, the contribution of viceroys and their spouses since the foundation of the Colo
The Empress (hotel)
The Fairmont Empress and referred to as The Empress, is one of the oldest hotels in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. Located on 721 Government Street, it is situated in Downtown Victoria, facing the city's Inner Harbour; the hotel was designed by Francis Rattenbury, was built by Canadian Pacific Hotels, a division of the Canadian Pacific Railway company. The hotel is presently managed by Fairmont Hotels and Resorts. Opened on 25 January 1908, the Châteauesque-styled building is considered one of Canada's grand railway hotels. Since its opening, the hotel has undergone two expansions, the first from 1910 to 1912, a second expansion in 1928; the building was designated as a National Historic Site of Canada on January 1981. The Fairmont Empress sits at 721 Government Street, at the southern end of Downtown Victoria, the central business district for Victoria, British Columbia; the hotel property is bounded by Humboldt Street to the north, Belleville Street to the south, Government Street to the west.
To the east of the hotel is the Victoria Conference Centre, a conference centre connected to the hotel via the conservatory in 1989. The hotel provides catering for the conference centre; the conference centre and hotel are bounded by Douglas Street on the east. Located at the southern end of Downtown Victoria on Government Street, the hotel is situated close to the British Columbia Parliament Buildings; the hotel is situated to the city's Inner Harbour, a major tourist attraction located west of the hotel, across Government Street. Other major attractions located adjacent to the hotel include the Maritime Museum of British Columbia and the Victoria Bug Zoo, both located north of the hotel, across Humboldt Street; the hotel building was designated as a National Historic Site of Canada by Parks Canada. The hotel was designated a National Historic Site on 15 January 1981 for its contribution to the development of the Chateauesque style of architecture. Shortly after acquiring the property, Canadian Pacific Hotels, a division of Canadian Pacific Railway, announced its plan to construct a new hotel, similar to the company's other Chateauesque grand railway hotels.
Designed by Francis Rattenbury, the hotel was built from 1904 to 1908. Rattenbury's initial plans featured a seven-story hotel similar to the Chateau Frontenac in Quebec City. Incorporating elements of French Renaissance architecture, his designs featured an enormous entrance hall, a glass-roofed palm garden decorated in a Chinese motif. After months of delays, Rattenbury was relieved as the building's architect on 5 December 1907, with design responsibilities falling to William Sutherland Maxwell, the chief architect for Canadian Pacific Railway. Like most Chateauesque hotels, the Empress incorporates stone and brick cladding, steep pitched copper roofs, ornate neo-Gothic dormers and gables, polygonal turrets. However, the design of the hotel deviates from earlier Chateauesque hotels owned by the company, incorporating elements from contemporary architectural styles into its design; the hotel's porch featured elements of Tudor architecture, the main roof of the hotel was designed in a Second Empire style with a flat top and iron railings.
The building features an asymmetrical floor plan, with an interior featuring arcaded central loggia, projecting pavilions accented by oriel windows. The Empress was enlarged twice since it opened, with William Sutherland Maxwell designing the building's first expansion, from 1910 to 1912; the building's second expansion was completed in 1928. Much of the building's exterior brick was covered in an overgrowth of ivy, until renovations from 2014 to 2017 saw the bricks repointed and the ivy removed; the removal of the plants was done in order to prevent damage to the bricks, as well as preventing animals from living within the overgrowth. The Empress includes 464 guest suites spread throughout the hotel building. A number of rooms at The Empress are used by restaurants and other food-based services. Restaurants located within the restaurant include the Lobby Lounge, Q at the Empress Restaurant, the Q Bar; the restaurants were all redesigned in 2017 by the Puccini Group, a San Francisco-based interior design firm.
The restaurants features a purple, hardwood floor, textured-fabric chandeliers. The hotel's afternoon tea service is held at the Lobby Lounge; the Willow Stream Spa is a spa facility located within the hotel. It includes a Finnish sauna, steam inhalation room, mineral pool; the hotel operates a fitness centre with an indoor pools, a hot tub. The Chateauesque was designed by Francis Rattenbury for Canadian Pacific Hotels as a terminus hotel for Canadian Pacific's steamship line, whose main terminal was just a block away; the hotel was to serve business people and visitors to Victoria, but as Canadian Pacific ceased its passenger services to the city, the hotel was remarketed as a resort to tourists. Victoria emerged as a tourist destination beginning in the mid-to-late 1920s; the hotel was built between 1908, opening for service in that year. Additional wings were added between 1909 and 1914, in 1928. In 1919, Prince of Wales attended a gala at the hotel's Crystal Ballroom. In the 1930s, Shirley Temple arrived accompanied by her parents amid rumours that she had fled from California because of kidnapping threats, a story borne from the presence of two huge bodyguards who took the room opposite hers and always left their door open.
On May 30, 1939, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth attended a luncheon at the Empress during their 1939 royal tour of Canada. For many years the hotel did not have a sign above the front entrance. In 1965, debate to tear down The Empress to make room for a more modern, functional high-rise hotel surfaced. One local newspaper warned that
Congregation Emanu-El (Victoria, British Columbia)
Congregation Emanu-El is a synagogue in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada. It is the oldest surviving synagogue on Vancouver Island, it can boast of being the oldest synagogue building on the west coast of North America. Founded by 1859 when the cemetery is known to have been dedicated, in 1863 the congregation built the synagogue, still in use, it is affiliated with the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. The building is a National Historic Site of Canada, has been designated as a heritage property under the provincial Local Government Act. Designed by John Wright, the synagogue, located on Blanshard Street at Pandora Avenue beside a twentieth century community building, was built in 1863, during the Victoria building boom caused by the discovery of gold on the mainland nearby in 1858; the first Jews to settle on Vancouver Island came from the United States during the Fraser Canyon Gold Rush. The synagogue is said to have been the first building in town to have its cornerstone laid by the organized Victoria chapter of the Freemasons.
A second cornerstone was laid on the same day by a member of the congregation's Building Committee. A time capsule was ceremoniously buried, it included not only the congregation's constitution, a list of donors tho the building fund, some coins, a copy of the local newspaper, the British Colonist, still publishing today as the Victoria Times-Colonist, but the full membership lists of the Germania Sing Verein and French Benevolent Society of Victoria. The dedication was marked by a procession of benevolent societies of what appears to have been every religion and ethnicity resident in the young city; the marchers in the procession are known to have included not only the Hebrew Benevolent Society, but the French Benevolent Society, the St. Andrew's Society, the Germania Sing Verein, the Fraternity of Ancient and Accepted Masons; the band from HMS Topaze, a 24-gun, Liffey class, Royal Navy frigate, played. The congregation's cemetery on Cedar Hill Road in Cedar Hill, dedicated in 1859; the building is in Romanesque Revival style.
The facade of the two-story, brick building features a rose a corbelled gable. The ceiling of the interior is domed. In the sanctuary, which fills most of the building, seating for men surrounds the bimah, a Torah ark protrudes on the east wall; the sanctuary's second floor consists of a U-shaped gallery for women. The building was renovated in the 1980s. Morris Moss Oldest synagogues in Canada History of the Jews in Canada Oldest synagogues in the United States Jews and Judaism in Vancouver List of historic places in Victoria, British Columbia Official website
Dominion Astrophysical Observatory
The Dominion Astrophysical Observatory, located on Observatory Hill, in Saanich, British Columbia, was completed in 1918 by the Canadian government. The Dominion Architect responsible for the building was Edgar Lewis Horwood; the main instrument is the 72 inch aperture Plaskett telescope and designed by John S. Plaskett in 1910 with the support of the International Union for Cooperation in Solar Research, it was planned to be the largest telescope in the world but delays meant it was completed and saw "first light" on May 6, 1918, 6 months after the 100-inch Hooker telescope at Mount Wilson Observatory. The observatory has been designated a National Historic Site of Canada as it is a world-renowned facility where many discoveries about the nature of the Milky Way were made, it was one of the world’s main astrophysical research centres until the 1960s; the Centre of the Universe was the public interpretive centre for the observatory, open to the public between May and September. The centre featured interactive exhibits about astronomy, the work of the observatory and its parent organization, the NRC Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics.
There were tours of the telescope and programs in the planetarium and video theatre. The Centre was closed by the Federal Government in August 2013, claiming financial reasons as the cost; the Friends of the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory Society was formed in 2015 with a goal of reinstating the programs terminated when the Centre of the Universe was closed. In May 2016, the FDAO signed a License to Occupy for the Centre of the Universe with the National Research Council; the Royal Astronomical Society of Canada, Victoria Centre, which has a long association with the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory and public outreach dating back to 1914, holds free public "Star Parties" at the DAO on select summer Saturday evenings. These events include solar and nighttime viewing with RASC and DAO telescopes, presentations and displays; the building that houses the telescope was built by McAlpine-Robertson Company of Vancouver for a price of $75,000. Both the building and dome, made by Warner and Swasey Co, are double walled.
The glass mirror, 73 inches in diameter and 12 inches thick, weighs 4340 lb. and was made by the Saint-Gobain company in their Charleroi glass works in Antwerp and shipped only a week before the start of World War I. It was ground in the United States at the John A. Brashear company in Pittsburgh; the mirror had to be reground twice, once due to a mysterious scratch and the second time due to a flaw in the grinding. This added 2 years to the completion time of the telescope, pushing the date back to 1918; the completed mirror was hauled up Little Saanich Mountain by wagon. Following completion, Plaskett remained the head of the observatory until 1935. A spectrograph is fitted to the Cassegrain focus and an imaging CCD is attached to the Newtonian focus. In 1962, a 48" optical telescope was added to the observatory; the telescope, ordered in 1957, was made by Grubb Parsons of England. Its Coude focus is used with a room sized spectrograph. In 1995, the observatory was made the headquarters of the NRC Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics, which operates several Canadian telescopes, both optical and radio.
The NRC collaborates with international partners such as the Canada-France-Hawaii Telescope. The telescopes are open for visitors year round. An interpretive centre called the Centre of the Universe was opened in 2002 but closed in 2013 due to budgetary reasons; as of January 2014, the current director is Dr Dennis R. Crabtree; the Plaskett missed becoming the largest telescope in the World, but remained the second largest until the 74 inch reflector at David Dunlap Observatory in 1935 debuted. Top 2 in 1918: The next largest were the Harvard College Observatory 60 inch and the Mt. Wilson 60-inch Hale. NRC Herzberg Institute of Astrophysics Dominion Radio Astrophysical Observatory List of largest optical reflecting telescopes Official Site Dominion Astrophysical Observatory Clear Sky Clock Forecasts of observing conditions. District of Saanich Significant Buildings - scroll down the see the building Paper by John S. Plaskett on the construction of the DAO Paper about 48" telescope Richard A. Jarrell, The Instrument was Instrumental: Plaskett's Telescope and Canadian Astronomy between the wars John S. Plaskett, History of Astronomy in British Columbia Helen Sawyer Hogg, Memories of the Plaskett Era of the Dominion Astrophysical Observatory 1931–1934 Photo of DAO, 1920, U.
Wash Digital Collections
Craigdarroch Castle
Craigdarroch Castle in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, is a historic, Victorian-era Scottish Baronial mansion. It was designated a National Historic Site of Canada due to its landmark status in Victoria, it was constructed in the late 1800s as a family residence for the wealthy coal baron Robert Dunsmuir and his wife Joan. Robert died in April 1889, his sons Alexander and James to take over the role of finishing the home after his death. James commissioned the construction of Victoria's second "castle". Upon the death of Robert Dunsmuir's widow, the Craigdarroch estate was sold to land speculator Griffith Hughes for $38,000 who subdivided the estate into building lots. To stimulate sales during a slow real estate market, Griffiths announced that the home would be the subject of a raffle, to be won by one of the purchasers of the residential parcels carved from the estate; the winner, Solomon Cameron, mortgaged the home to finance other speculative ventures which failed, leaving him broke, in 1919 ownership of the home passed to one of Cameron's creditors, the Bank of Montreal.
The building served as a military hospital, offices, a conservatory, before it was re-purposed into a historical museum in 1979. The museum is owned by the Craigdarroch Castle Historical Museum Society, a private non-profit society, is open to the public; the building is a tourist attraction, receives 150,000 visitors a year. The building was designated as a National Historic Site of Canada in 1992. Since its completion in 1890, the building had six major occupants, including: The Dunsmuirs Military Hospital Victoria College Victoria School Board Office Victoria Conservatory of Music Craigdarroch Castle museum Craigdarroch Castle is believed to have cost as much as $500,000 when it was built, included granite from British Columbia, tile from San Francisco, an oak staircase prefabricated in Chicago; when constructed Craigdarroch stood in grounds comprising 28 acres of formal gardens in Victoria's Rockland neighbourhood. Craigdarroch Castle has over 25,000 square feet; the four-story Craigdarroch Castle still has lavish furnishings from the 1890s and is known for its stained-glass and intricate woodwork.
The Institute for Stained Glass in Canada has documented the stained glass at Craigdarroch Castle. The initial architect of the castle, Warren Heywood Williams died before completion of the home, his work was taken over by his associate, Arthur L. Smith, in 1890. List of historic places in Victoria, British Columbia Official website
223 Robert Street
223 Robert Street, British Columbia is a historic house in Victoria, British Columbia, completed in 1905 and designated as a heritage building in 1990. It is a good example of the Queen Anne Style architecture. List of historic places in Victoria, British Columbia
Church of the Holy Cross (Skatin)
The Church of the Holy Cross is a National Historic Site of Canada, located on one of the Indian Reserves of the Skatin First Nation, in southwestern British Columbia. It is located on the east side of the Lillooet River on BC's first inland Gold Rush trail, the Douglas Road. Skatin Nations is the St'at'imcets language rendition of the reserve-town's usual name in English, Skookumchuck Hot Springs. Missionaries from the Missionary Oblates of Mary Immaculate had first traveled through the Lillooet River valley starting around 1860, they established missions at Port Douglas and Skookumchuck Hot Springs, encouraged the native people of the area to settle together in small villages. Earlier churches are no longer standing. There has never been a resident priest assigned to the villages in the area, they came only once a year, there are many examples of five or six couples all being married or a number of babies being baptised on the same day, when the annual visit of the priest took place. The services took place outdoors, or in the home of a community leader.
There had been at least 2 other places of worship in Skatin before they embarked on the present building. Some of the families travelled outside for seasonal work, had seen the large churches in Sechelt, British Columbia, New Westminster, they were inspired by the prayer cards with pictures of European cathedrals, chose to create a place of worship, a work of art. Although some men may have worked building other churches, they were not trained carpenters, used the tools available to them at the time. Local aboriginal craftsmen laboured for years on the elaborately carved altar and finely worked wood details of this remarkable building, completed about 1905. Materials from the local area were used, huge trees from the forests. Materials were transported by horse-drawn wagons and canoes, or carried on their backs. Many generations have been baptized and buried from the Church which continues today as a place of worship and ceremony for people in the surrounding communities of Samahquam, Douglas First Nation and Mount Currie.
The Church was blessed by the Catholic Archbishop in 1908, but the building belongs to the people of the communities who built it. Some restoration work was carried out in 1982 to 1984, the church was blessed by Archbishop Carney. At that time, elders Henry Peters and Margaret Ann Peters celebrated their 51st wedding anniversary, baptized a great-grand daughter, Jessica; the Church was designated by the national Historic Sites and Monuments Board in 1981 because of its unique Carpenter Gothic architecture and hand-carved interior features. The church builders were commemorated with a bronze plaque erected on June 22, 2006; the tri-lingual plaque is in Ucwalmicwts and French. "Amha Lakwa Lamcalalhcw" Built about 1905 by members of the Stl'atl'imx Nation, the Church of the Holy Cross is remarkable for the beauty and originality of its interior decoration. The craftsmanship of the cedar sculptures,altar and grave markers of this wooden Carpenter Gothic style building attests to the exceptional skills of the local artisans.
The corner towers, rose window, three spires, arched windows contribute to the distinctive character of this'cathedral in the wilderness' In the winter of 2006, conservation work started, stabilizing the interior of the towers and steeples. The following year, work on the foundations was started. In some places where the original wood beams supporting the church were rotted, the ends of the beams were trimmed, new wood inserted; when the front porch was removed, the long support beam under the front of the Church was found to be full of dry rot - 4 to 5 inches of the 16 inch timber had been destroyed. In order to complete the work before winter, a concrete bearing wall was installed under the front of the church; the two towers on the east and west are now supported by concrete foundations. The building is now on a stable foundation, but deterioration of the envelope and decorative trims continue; the work on the foundations was taped by PTV Productions, a one-hour documentary "Saving Places" will be broadcast on History TV.
In August 2009, the Society received notice from Parks Canada that the Canadian government is prepared to enter into a cost-sharing agreement, with funds of up to $202,060 for'eligible' expenses. The volunteers will still have to raise matching funds for the work to proceed. An official Ministerial announcement by MP Randy Kamp was celebrated on November 14, 2009. Since there has been an Emergency Intervention at the Church. Exposed holes have been covered with plywood an tyvar to keep out the weather. Over the winter, a team of architects and consultants will be completed a detailed analysis and plans for conservation work. Conservation will include repair and replacement of decorative trim and exterior cladding, repair of windows, frames and trim, scraping and repainting the exterior, replacement of the roof, nearing 30 years old, upgrading the electrical system, other safet
